WP: "Trump escalates attack on Bill Clinton"

I heard about Trump's new attack ad and pulled it up to show my husband this morning. It was as bad as you would expect (and I'm not going to link to it - you can google it yourself). I had to tell my nine-year-old daughter to leave the room while we were watching it; there was some graphic description I'm just not ready to be talking with her about.

Trump is an asshole. He is also extremely good at the media game, which makes sense since he spent over ten years doing "crafting an image" type story telling in "reality television land". For those of you who have saved your sanity by NOT watching any, let me walk you through the basics:

Activities and speeches are selectively edited to craft a narrative -- "this person is mean" or "this person is sweet" or "this person is incompetent". These clips are then played over and over again so that everyone watching understands the archetypes of "hero/villain" and "winner/loser".

Lyndon Johnson used to talk about asking a candidate "are you still beating your wife?" style attacks that have no good answer (yes, you suck because you beat your wife/no, you suck because you are still beating your wife), so what Trump is doing is nothing new. By the time the first three people reply to this post disputing the attacks, the message has already been received and the next clip is being cued up.

This message is simple: Hilary's husband is an accused sexual predator.

Don't bother to deny it - it's the truth. He is ACCUSED and now the narrative is set.

Want to argue whether the accusation is valid? Care to discuss how credible the accusers were? Want to know why, if it was real, there weren't charges filed? Oh, and if it wasn't true, why didn't he sue them for slander? It was probably true -- everyone knows how women who are sexually assaulted usually aren't believed, especially with a powerful man....does America want an ACCUSED sexual predator back in the White House?

Seriously, are you still beating your wife?

(And for the alert happy crowd, I AM NOT AGREEING with this shit -- I am pointing out HOW IT IS BEING DONE and WHY IT WORKS.)

This isn't politics as usual -- this is politics as entertaining blood sport reality television.

"I don't want to play that game at all," Trump said. THAT IS A LIE. Trump has already set the stage for him to be the HERO with his television show carefully editing him to appear competent, decisive and intuitive. He may have made wrong decisions that people disagreed with (which controversy generated buzz for his show), but then he moved on to the next exciting installment, and any wrath about "he fired the wrong person!" was quickly old news. His team also has cultivated positive media relationships in the "entertainment" industry, and let me assure you, more people watch "entertainment shows" than "news shows". Added bonus: the consequences for any bad decisions Trump made didn't involve pictures of dead children.

Picture that one: pictures of dead children in Iraq, their mothers bloody and crying over them, while Hillary's speeches are played over them. "We gave the Iraqi people the gift of freedom." Or the drowned refugee children fleeing Libya, with her smirking about "we came, we saw, he died" following it. The tag lines write themselves...

Bill and Hillary Clinton have never been subject to the type of accountability that comes with somebody with the stature of "legitimate opponent whose remarks must be covered not only for the ratings, but also because responsible journalists cover both sides of an issue." Hillary might want to talk about the issues, but issues aren't as interesting as the stories. Trump doesn't appear to be afraid of having his possible transgressions exposed, but honestly, in a mud slinging festival, both parties get dirty.

Yes, yes, Bernie Sanders is already "crazy Bernie" but Bernie has practiced his own game of "reality television" by serving in the House of Representatives for sixteen years where ripping into each other with pretend courtesy is the favorite past time, and ten years as a Senator where they do it with statesmanlike pretend courtesy, plus his baggage isn't as well established in the public eye. Let me give an example --

Bill with a cigar <-- instant reminder of Bill and Monica in the Oval Office being inappropriate.

Bernie with a cigar <-- who cares?

As First Lady, Hillary had automatic respect and gravitas. She had some EPIC bungles (TravelGate, White Water, Health Care Reform, etc.) but her favorables went UP as "publicly humiliated spouse". As Senator her support for the Iraq War, cluster bombs and flag burning amendment look like she's an idiot who accomplished nothing. Her record as Secretary of State is tainted beyond belief with regime change debacles and an FBI investigation because she couldn't even send emails without creating a scandal. The narrative is not one of "leader" or "fighter" or "winner" because supporting something doesn't mean you actually accomplished anything. And Bernie is going to have the same problems convincing entertainment hungry voters that government work is actually WORK, and that he did anything useful while he spent time vacationing in Congress.

Trump should scare everyone to death because the rules have changed and putting him against Hillary with her ethic challenge issues and Clinton fatigue in general has me convinced "hail Trump" is in our future. Bernie's integrity may save him, but I'm not convinced it's a guarantee. Trump mowed through horrible, but experienced challengers in the Republican race, and several of them were good at playing dirty.

It's going to be the Chinese version of interesting times.