The New York Times did a front page hit piece on Donald Trump over the weekend. Among other things, the article accuses the presumptive Republican nominee of having done the following things over the last four decades: offering a model who didn’t have a swimsuit at a pool party at his mansion to wear one he had available, and then saying “wow” when she tried it on; commenting to one of his female executives who apparently was overweight that “you like your candy”; kissing one of the Miss Universe beauty contestants on the lips when he introduced himself to her, causing her to think to herself “oh my God, gross”; and generally commenting on women’s looks frequently (probably too frequently.)
If you’d like to read the entire article, click here.
That’s just the New York Times. The Washington Post has assembled an “army of reporters” to examine everything Donald Trump has ever done with a fine-toothed comb. And I can assure you that they’re not looking for good stuff. They want to do everything possible to undermine any hope Donald Trump has of winning the presidency, now that he’s clearly going to be the Republican nominee. When Trump was running against 16 other Republican candidates, the press, to a considerable degree, propped up his primary campaign by giving him far more coverage than any other candidate. But against Hillary Clinton in the general election, it’s going to be an entirely different story.
Back to the New York Times hit piece on Trump. The thing that really bugs me is this. Even though Trump’s behavior with some, maybe many, women over the years has been boorish, and perhaps worse, it pales in comparison to Bill Clinton’s known behavior with respect to women. There are dozens of women who have accused Bill Clinton of mistreating them, or even sexually assaulting them. Here are some of the more egregious. Juanita Broaddrick accused Bill Clinton of raping her. Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey, Ilene Wellstone, Sandra Allen James, Christy Zercher, a 22-year-old Yale student, and an Arkansas student, have all accused Bill Clinton of sexually assaulting them. And of course there’s Monica Lewinsky, who was a naive 21-year-old intern at the White House, whom Bill Clinton famously claimed, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.”
Donald Trump has criticized Hillary Clinton for being an “enabler” of her husband’s abuse of women. Trump says “she’s not a victim. She was an enabler. She worked with him… some of the women have been totally destroyed.”
Trump’s right. Hillary famously blamed the accusations against her husband on a “vast right-wing conspiracy.” The truth was that the allegations against Bill Clinton were true. And the then-First Lady, Hillary Clinton herself, led the effort to discredit any women who came forward with any allegations against her husband. Allegations against Bill Clinton were so common that the Clinton campaign organization had their own term for them – “bimbo eruptions.”
So is it fair that the New York Times, or the Washington Post, puts its resources to work trying to dig up dirt on Donald Trump? Yes. But it’s also only fair to put the same time and effort into investigating Bill Clinton’s mistreatment of women over the years, and most importantly, Hillary Clinton’s enabling that behavior.
But don’t hold your breath to see it happen.