The Washington Post quoted four Trump allies and one Clinton associate as saying that [Bill] Clinton encouraged Trump’s efforts to play a larger role in the Republican Party.
Roger Stone, author of “The Clintons’ War on Women” and a longtime confidant of Trump’s, claims that Bill urged Trump to get in the race and told him he thought he could get the nomination. “That’s why the people with the tinfoil hats are convinced the whole thing is a setup,” Stone says. “Bill can’t help himself from giving advice. He loves the game. He’s the great kibitzer.” Stone said Trump also asked Bill three years ago if anyone could be elected president as an independent, and Bill told him no.
I tried to get to the bottom of this murky story that day [last summer] at Trump Tower, but when you’re dealing with Bill and Donald and truth, it’s an elusive goal.
“Did Bill tell you that you should run?” I asked.
“He didn’t say one way or the other,” Trump replied, over a plate of meatballs.
November 2, 2016
Did Donald Trump become a candidate for President because his friend Bill Clinton urged him to do it?
Maureen Dowd digs into the story in "When Hillary and Donald Were Friends":
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24 comments:
Oh please tell me this is true, especially if Trump wins. Hillary will kill Bill, and hopefully stroke out at the same time.....
"Over a plate of meatballs" is the best part of this article.
That's a very careful answer from Trump.
That said, I am not a lawyer and have played one on TV or the Internet.
Bill Clinton provide self-serving advice to a friend? Really??
So Bill wanted to see Donald go ahead and run. The purpose could have been to call Donald's bluff; or to see Donald break up the weak GOP Governor's campaigns; or to give Hillary an easy opponent to crush.
Hmmm. All three happened, but SUDDENLY, Trump got the outsider scitick going and it morphed into the leader of a Movement.
And now the poor guy Donald is stuck with wearing body armor and ducking the sniper crossfires for the rest of his term.
gah - have not played one on TV or etc, etc...
Read TWICE then post. Good advice.
When we're dealing with MoDo, there's a question about truth.
Please investigate and reach a legal conclusion before election day.
But something tells me Trump doesn't need encouragement to do anything, eh.
Obama easily making fun of Trump at the 2011 White House Correspondent's Dinner may have provided all the encouragement Trump needed.
Trump is easily bated and acts like a second grader when anyone says anything negative about him.
>
Apologies to second graders ...
Trump is easily bated and acts like a second grader when anyone says anything negative about him.
He's not as easily bated as my breath. Please post more quickly.
It's a given that Bill encouraged Trump to run. Whether Trump would have run without Bill's encouragement is the question.
Still, if Trump wins, Bill's going to have some 'splainin' to do with Hillary...
Maybe you guys don't hang out on the correct #NeverTrump Twitter timelines or whatever but this is seriously old news.
Geez, think about the fact that Dowd probably makes more than almost all of us.
"Trump is easily bated and acts like a second grader when anyone says anything negative about him."
I see the opposite. The media has been attacking Trump 24/7, most of the debate moderators were openly hostile. Trump behaved rather graciously in response. Recall one of the few times Obama actually faced criticism. He rudely walked away from Governor Brewer in the middle of a conversation. Or how short Obama has been with the media on the rare occasion they actually asked him a challenging question. Do you actually think Obama or Hillary would respond better under similarly relentless hostility?
"... over a plate of meatballs."
My eyes are up here. I'm not just a free dinner.
No other republican candidate would have called bill a rapist and made it a big part of the campaign. I don't think Bill is going to like the Cosby treatment.
I read her article. I thought Dowd was going to provide some interesting titbits of gossip that she had picked up along the way. No such luck. We learn that both men love golf, not wisely but well. Their relationship is all about golf. I bet they've had some foursomes that we'll never hear about.......Dowd points out that the Trump brand has been damaged, perhaps irreparably by his run for the Presidency. What lobbyist would you very want to stay at a hotel operated by the Republican nominee for the Presidency. If he wins the election that will spell doom for all Trump enterprises. With the exception of being the nominee, there's no greater mark of failure than being a Republican President. If Trump wins, he will dine on cheeseburgers at lonely state dinners that all decent people will avoid.
Obozo Punks Drumpf
BHO and WJC played a long-con on Trump and the republicans.
Every other republican candidate wouldn't need to call Bill a rapist to win easily. Trump was the only guy Hillary had a chance to beat.
"Trump was the only guy Hillary had a chance to beat."
Maybe. But I don't see anyone else generating the turnout and overall enthusiasm like Trump. Why? Because he was able to uncouple himself from the political class. The vote he receives will be less pro-Trump and more anti-elites. Again, who else could've done this?
Hillary was the only candidate that a Republican could beat.
"Maybe. But I don't see anyone else generating the turnout and overall enthusiasm like Trump. Why? Because he was able to uncouple himself from the political class. The vote he receives will be less pro-Trump and more anti-elites. Again, who else could've done this?"
We can only guess right now whether the voters he's motivating are enough to outweigh the ones he's turned off. In a week, we can write our post-mortems. But I'll note that Hillary is a unique opponent, in that she came built in with a majority of Americans not liking her and no natural constituency that she could motivate to vote FOR her, rather than AGAINST her opponent. So competing against her is like playing against a team missing most of its starters.
"Hillary was the only candidate that a Republican could beat."
Or at least the one a Republican has the best chance against. I include Gore and Kerry in that too.
I thought some Podesta e-mails clearly recommended favoring Trump as the easiest to beat? Bill was probably sent out to do his hob.
The Clinton campaign thought they had a Todd Akin candidate. Instead they got Archie Bunker and they don't get why he's so popular.
"Norman Lear originally intended that Bunker be strongly disliked by audiences. Lear was shocked when Bunker quietly became a beloved figure to much of middle America. Lear thought that Bunker's opinions on race, sex, marriage, and religion were so wrong as to represent a parody of right wing bigotry."
"Sammy Davis, Jr., who was both black and Jewish, genuinely liked the character. He felt that Bunker's bigotry was based on his rough, working-class life experiences and that Bunker was honest and forthright in his opinions, showing an openness to changing his views if an individual treated him right. In 1972, Davis appeared in episode 21 of season 2 of All in the Family, and later appeared in episode 19 of season 1 of spin-off Archie Bunker's Place."
Wouldn't it be ironic if the Clintons tried to handpick a Republican opponent and it ended up being their downfall? And quite possibly the comfy corruption that has grown up around DC?
Regardless of who else the Republicans might have nominated, I can't imagine any of the others being a threat to the status quo. The closest might have been Cruz, but even then Cruz never seemed like he had enough personal charisma to lead a movement.
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