Donald Trump’s supporters in Congress are urging him not to bring up Bill Clinton’s personal infidelities as he looks to rebound after the first presidential debate.
Trump was self-congratulatory about avoiding any mention of Bill Clinton’s affairs during the debate Monday, but his campaign is now urging supporters this week to raise Hillary Clinton’s treatment of the women involved as a salient talking point in the 2016 election.
But Trump’s supporters in Congress, many of whom only slowly came around to supporting him, cautioned against those personal attacks Thursday.
‘We need to stay on the issues that are important to the American people, you know?” said Rep. Bruce Babin, a Texas Republican, when asked Thursday whether Trump should bring up names like Monica Lewinsky and others.
“That’s ancient history, it certainly shows the corruption that goes on there Mrs. Clinton was part and party to that, when her bimbo eruption and activities, that’s not what folks are interested in, they’re interested in jobs, they’re interested in the economy, they’re interested in securing our borders and protecting us from terrorists infiltrating our refugee program,” he said.
Babin and other House Republicans supporting Trump met one last time at the Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington before heading back to their home states to campaign for Trump and their own re-election.
Clinton’s campaign is also proactively addressing the issue, by saying that Trump and his surrogates would regret taking this route of attack.
“While Trump and lieutenants like Roger Stone and David Bossie may want to dredge up failed attacks from the 1990s, as many Republicans have warned, this is a mistake that is going to backfire,” Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon said in a statement Thursday.
Trump suggested last week that he might seat Gennifer Flowers in the front row at the debate, but that never happened and the campaign later said they never formally invited her. And Trump congratulated himself for avoiding the topic during the 95-minute showdown with Hillary Clinton, by bringing up the issue.
“I’m really happy I was able to hold back on the indiscretions in respect to Bill Clinton. Because I have a lot of respect for Chelsea Clinton,” Trump told CNN’s Dana Bash after the debate.
Asked what he would have said, Trump said, “Maybe I’ll tell you at the next debate. We’ll see.”
Despite broad consensus that Trump lost the first debate, an angry Trump told supporters Wednesday to argue that he won. And talking points circulated to Trump’s supporters Wednesday urged them to attack Clinton on the issue.
“Mr. Trump has never treated women the way Hillary Clinton and her husband did when they actively worked to destroy Bill Clinton’s accusers,” read one Trump campaign talking point.
But lawmakers supporting Trump, who have been meeting weekly to coordinate with his campaign, were adamant that personal attacks would hurt him.
“The more we can focus what’s impacting people day-to-day, the stronger our message becomes and that’s the two cents that I’ve offered,” Rep. Tom Reed, a New York Republican, said as he left Thursday’s meeting.
Rep. Ryan Zinke, a Montana Republican, said Trump needed to stay on the issues and avoid personal attacks like the ones he said Clinton brought up at the first debate. Zinke cited Clinton’s hammering on Trump for criticizing Alicia Machado’s weight, the exchange which came to dominate the first debate.
“You see the personal attacks, she’s right back to attacking Mr. Trump on previous things that were said or were alleged to be said, I think at the end of the day it’s: jobs number one, national security, it’s immigration, it’s repealing and replacing Obamacare,” Zinke said.