Monday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” “PoliticsNation” host Al Sharpton said if Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump uses Bill Clinton’s sexual indiscretions to go after Hillary Clinton it will be a “Christmas gift” to the Democratic presidential hopeful because Sharpton believes her base will be “energized” by the attacks.
Sharpton said, “I think the mistake he may be making is he may energize Clinton’s base. a lot of us have been saying there’s no real energy with Clinton. I think for him to say in effect ‘I’ll say what I want about women and bring up not even you but your husband — not even you — your husband’s indiscretion.’ It might be the thing that gets a lot of people, now, wait a minute, all of the things we’re saying that has caused this whole problem with women and your defense is going to be your opponent’s husband had a discretion 20 years ago? That’s your defense? I think it’s really a stretch.”
Bloomberg’s John Heilemann said, “There’s two different ways to look at this question. One is the question of what Trump is doing and whether it works for Trump. The other way of looking at this is the question of Hillary Clinton. As we prepare to head into 2016, we’re about to see Bill Clinton play a much bigger role in the campaign, at least that’s what we’re starting to get intonations that Bill Clinton is going to hit the trail, he’s been relatively behind the scenes throughout 2015. If you’re Hillary Clinton, you certainly want to fight with Donald Trump over gender, right? Anything that riles up her base is good for her. But is the specter of Trump or anybody starting to talk about the very complicated history of Bill Clinton, is that something that gives you any pause if you’re Hillary Clinton —about the fact you’re about to roll him out really for the first time in this presidential campaign? He’s seen as unalloyed good in most instances. Bill Clinton brilliant.”
Sharpton countered, “I think you and I and all of us know the Clinton are adults in politics. They know Bill Clinton and the complicated history will be an issue anyway. I don’t think they’re prepared for this. You couldn’t have a better person bringing up for them than Trump rather than someone considered more main stream and more of a problem for their base. If Donald Trump is leading the charge on something expected, I think that’s a Christmas gift to Hillary Clinton.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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