Facing a difficult path to the presidency after alienating middle-aged suburban women across the country in recent weeks for statements deemed by the media to be misogynistic and for only valuing women for their physical attributes rather than their character and intelligence, Donald Trump doubled down on a questionable strategy on Saturday insinuating Hillary cheated on former President Bill Clinton.
"Hillary Clinton’s only loyalty is to her financial contributors and to herself. I don’t even think she’s loyal to Bill [Clinton], if you want to know the truth," the Republican said before a packed rally in Pennsylvania. "And really, folks, why should she be, why should she be."
The statements follow Trump issuing a warning to the Clinton campaign saying that he can be "nastier than Hillary" in response to what he believes have been disproportionate attacks on his personal life and family in recent weeks as the Democrat has turned towards assailing Trump’s personal character.
The Republican appears to feel that he was blindsided during the debate when Hillary Clinton uttered allegations from a former Miss Universe winner Alicia Machado that Donald Trump had called her "Miss Piggy" and "Miss Housekeeping," the latter of which Clinton insinuated carried a racial component, after the beauty contestant put on nearly 60 pounds only months after winning the contest.
Trump found himself immersed in a 5-day long media spin cycle regarding these comments after stoking the flames by suggesting that Machado was involved in a drive-by shooting, threatened to kill a judge, and was in a sex tape – all allegations which Machado refused to deny and seemed to even confirm during an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper saying "we all have our pasts."
The Republican may be estimating that by attacking Hillary Clinton for infidelities, whether or not there is proof, may undermine the strong base of female voter support who looked the other way for her husband’s own well-documented indiscretions as something that she had no power over.
However, it seems that the statement will likely shift the presidential discussion back into the venue of reality television fantasy that has so much dominated this electoral cycle with Trump likely to come out on the losing end with the punditry seeing this as the latest misogynistic attack on feminist ideals.
Trump also imitated Hillary Clinton’s collapse at the 9/11 Memorial in a hysterical off-the-cuff comedy routine that suggests he has broken away from the advice of his advisors to be "more presidential."
"Here’s a woman, she’s supposed to fight all these different things and she can’t make it 15 feet to her car, give me a break," said Trump.
