Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton during the debate
Donald Trump issued an unmistakable threat to Hillary Clinton Sunday night: I am willing to cross any line to make the next 30 days of your life hell.
Capping the most devastating 48 hours of his presidential campaign, Trump stunned the country on Sunday by convening a press conference with women who have accused Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct and calling the former president an abuser of women in a nationally televised debate.
The Republican presidential nominee’s decision to bring women from Bill Clinton’s past into the debate both physically into the debate hall and into his verbal attacks against Hillary Clinton signaled a remarkably defiant strategy anchored in some of the most electric allegations that have been leveled against the Clintons in their decades in public life.
It also guarantees that in the final, ugly month of the 2016 election, the country’s first female presidential nominee will be repeatedly subjected to the indignity of confronting the most painful moments of her marriage in public.
As Bill Clinton looked on from the front row with his daughter Chelsea — and with Juanita Broaddrick, who has accused Clinton of rape, also sitting in the audience Trump charged that the former president was “abusive to women.”
“There’s never been anybody in the history of politics in this nation that’s been so abusive to women,” Trump said. “Bill Clinton was abusive to women.
Hillary Clinton attacked those same women and attacked them viciously.”
Appearing irritated, and at times even furious, Trump even claimed that Clinton would be “in jail” if he were president.
Throughout it all, Clinton showed a remarkable level of composure throughout the night. And the lines of attack may not have the impact Trump intended.
A CNN/ORC poll found 57% of debate watchers thought Clinton won compared to 34% who thought Trump came out on top. The poll only represents the views of people who watched the debate and has a slight advantage than average CNN polls of all Americans.
Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook told NBC’s “Today” on Monday that Trump’s actions and language are the sign of a “spiraling campaign.”
“Hillary’s steady, she’s strong, she’s not going to get thrown off her game,” Mook said. “That’s what Donald Trump tried to do.”
Just hours before the debate began, Trump held a last-minute press conference featuring women who have accused Bill Clinton of inappropriate sexual behavior.
Broaddrick looked directly at a small group of reporters in the room and said: “Actions speak louder than words. Mr. Trump may have said some bad words but Bill Clinton raped me and Hillary Clinton threatened me. I don’t think there’s any comparison.”
The spectacle continued even after the debate, with Bill Clinton’s accusers appearing in the spin room to speak with reporters.
Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, meanwhile, told CNN’s Dana Bash she’s been alone with Trump and he’s been “gracious and a gentleman.”
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