Clinton World stunned by Trump remarks.
Donald Trump’s public mocking of Hillary Clinton has renewed criticisms of crass, sexist comments by the Republican presidential front-runner.
Clinton’s campaign on Tuesday decided against a frontal attack, with communications director Jennifer Palmieri inviting others on Twitter to repudiate Trump’s comments.But behind the scenes, Team Clinton saw the remarks at a Monday rally as a new low, and some allies predicted they would lead to his demise.
“We are watching the Donald melt down,” predicted Ellen Tauscher, the former congresswoman who served as undersecretary for Arms Control and International Security Affairs under Clinton.
“His racist, sexist, xenophobic rants are now wearing on people generally,” she said.
“Even the folks caught up in the celebrity culture that thought these performances were funny initially, which is stunning, now realize these comments seem predictable and pathetic,” Tauscher added. “What the Donald seems to miss, as he claims he loves women, is that this is a historic election for women and they are done with the juvenile, prurient, potty talk behavior.”
Other political observers contacted by The Hill weren’t so sure.
Trump has a history of attacks on both men and women — notably GOP presidential rival Carly Fiorina and Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly.
So far, that hasn’t hurt him with supporters.
“At this point, I don’t know how much more crass he can get,” said Martin Sweet, a political scientist and commentator. “If any other candidate would have said any of this stuff, he or she would have been gone a long time ago."
Katherine Jellison, a professor of women’s history at Ohio University agreed.
“It seems like he says whatever he wants to say and his fans like him more,” Jellison said. “No matter how crude, his fans seem to like it. In the wake of Trump’s latest remarks on Clinton, “his poll numbers will probably go up.”
