Donald Trump could be Hillary Clinton’s winning ticket
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump after speaking at a campaign rally at the Port Columbus International Airport in Columbus, Ohio, on Tuesday, March 1, 2016. Credit: Bloomberg / Ty Wright
Facing Donald Trump would offer Hillary Clinton her best chance to win the White House, some strategists suggest.
Picture the debates. When Trump calls Clinton a liar, she could cite his numerous and most recent false claims. If Trump attacks her as overprivileged and incompetent, she could marvel at his inherited wealth and multiple business failures.
She can easily respond to the whole Benghazi-Syria-e-mail litany by pointing out his own contradictory responses to foreign-policy questions. Money? Her campaign and the Clintons’ foundation have received thousands from Trump in the past.
Clinton’s flaws as a campaigner are legion. But much of the script against Trump comes pre-crafted by Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, and even from Trump’s newly minted supporter, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who lectured Trump before the Iowa caucuses: “Being president is nothing like being in a fake boardroom in Manhattan and looking across the room and saying, ‘You’re fired.’”
But that rhetoric didn’t work for Christie — and a seasoned Democratic strategist allied with the Clinton camp has a less than sunny view of a matchup against Trump.
“Everyone on this side that I’ve spoken to thinks this is the greatest thing in the world — that she’d kill him in a debate,” the consultant said. “Possibly. But I tell them: You’re not listening to the debate with the ear of a disaffected white audience, who this guy is talking to with a dog whistle.
“Forget the intellectual exercise, it’s an emotional exercise. On a stage with only two actors, he sucks up all the oxygen.”
Debates aside, there are other potential factors in her favor that may not exist should Rubio, Cruz, or Ohio Gov. John Kasich or Ben Carson make the ticket. In a speech Jan. 7, Sen. Chuck Schumer, the New York Democrat nominated for a fourth term this week, cited statements from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
“When asked what would happen to Republican electoral prospects if Trump or Cruz were the nominee,” Schumer said, “Senator McConnell said, tellingly, that each senator must run their own race and watch out for themselves.”
And, according to one published report this week, McConnell privately told colleagues that if Trump is the presidential nominee “We’ll drop him like a hot rock.”
Once aligned against the Trump forces, the Clinton camp would undoubtedly evoke an urgent need to save the body politic from a dangerous buffoon. That alarm could bring along some supporters of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who might otherwise sit out the vote if he loses the nomination.
David Catalfamo, an Albany-based GOP political strategist, said, “The Clintons are good at blocking and tackling. They know how to run campaigns. Once it’s one-on-one, they’re going to dissect Trump and put up negative ads in places that make a difference. To African-Americans, they’ll talk about the KKK. For Univision, they’ll talk about his wall.
“They’ll talk about women. They’ll go piece by piece, hammer and tongs. They’re good at doing that.”
As his GOP rivals may have learned too late, a Trump candidacy practically invites his opponents to go negative.
Dan Janison is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
