The Washington Post - 05.10.2019

A12 EZ RE T H E  W A S H I N G T O N  P O S T.S A T U R D A Y, O C T O B E R  5 ,  2 0 1 9

BY ASHLEY PARKER

The venue: “CBS Sunday Morn-
ing.” The purpose: the first stop on
Hillary Clinton’s publicity tour for
her newly released project, “The
Book of Gutsy Women.”
But first, as her daughter Chel-
sea looked on, Clinton had a few
things she wanted to share about a
certain man — President Trump.
Calm and poised, Clinton of-
fered a political assessment that
seemed specifically designed to en-
rage Trump. She called him a
“threat” to the nation, dubbed him
an “illegitimate president” and
concluded that he was a “corrupt
human tornado.”
The barrage was the latest salvo
in an ongoing feud — alternatingly
confrontational and oblique,
cheeky and serious — that has
smoldered since Election Day
2016, when one of them won the
popular vote while the other won
the electoral college and, with it,
the presidency.
In addition to her pointed jibes
on CBS, Clinton — a former first
lady, senator from New York, secre-
tary of state and 2016 Democratic
presidential nominee — has as-
sailed Trump on Twitter, in speech-
es and even in People magazine.
She has mocked him — reading a
snippet of special counsel Robert
S. Mueller III’s report in the presi-
dent’s muggy Queens baritone —
and chided him, calling for an im-
peachment inquiry.
The president, for his part, has
seemed similarly fixated. Since
taking office, he has called
her “Crooked Hillary” on Twitter
127 times, led his frenzied rally
crowds in chants of “Lock her up!”
and is presiding over a reinvigorat-
ed investigation into more than
100 current and former State De-
partment officials who sent mes-
sages to Clinton’s private email
address when she was secretary of
state.
Nearly three years after Election
Day, they just can’t seem to quit
each other. Like Looney Tunes’s
Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner,
the duo appear trapped in a dis-
jointed call-and-response — cir-

cling, talking past and attacking

each other as if the 2016 contest

never quite ended.

“Part of the reason they’re

locked into this dynamic is be-

cause like any good media narra-

tive, it requires a foe and a hero, or

a foil,” said Angelo Carusone, presi-

dent of Media Matters for America,

a liberal media watchdog group.

“It’s just Narrative 101.”

Through a spokesman, Clinton

declined a request for an interview,

and the White House did not re-

spond to requests for an interview.

Current and former aides to

both accuse the other of strikingly

similar pathologies — being a sore

loser (or, in his case, winner); har-

boring an unhealthy fixation on

their former rival; and re-litigating

the battles of the past rather than

gracefully forging ahead into the

future.

To hear the Clinton folks tell it,

her attacks are largely substantive

and focused on news and policy,

while his are frivolous and based

on personality. They say Trump

simply can’t get over losing the

popular vote to Clinton and is

haunted by this reality, which he

fears undermines the legitimacy of

his presidency.

“We have a president who is

irrationally and sometimes inex-

plicably focused on his opponent

from three years ago, when he’s a

lot closer to having another oppo-

nent in 10 months’ time,” said Nick

Merrill, a senior adviser to Clinton

who was her traveling spokesman

in 2016. “He’s a small person, num-

ber one, and he clearly is smarting

because at the end of the day, he

knows he won the electoral college

but more people who went to the

polls on Nov. 8 wanted her to be

president.”

They add that Clinton is not so

much picking a fight as defending

herself, and weighing in on critical

issues of national importance.

“She engages him like a plumber

engages a clogged toilet: only

when necessary,” Philippe Reines,

a longtime Clinton adviser,

quipped in a text message.

Christina Reynolds, a Clinton

2016 spokeswoman, said that the

former Democratic nominee “is

commenting in a forward-looking

way” while Trump “is commenting

in a backward-looking way” — a

differentiation echoed by several

Clinton allies.

“Most of what she’s doing is

taking a stand on things that are

happening right now that go

against her values, that are worthy

of standing up for, and I think she

is a vital voice as part of that,”

Reynolds said.

In a September speech at

George Washington University, for

example, Clinton accused Trump

and Senate Majority Leader Mitch

McConnell (R-Ky.) of “abdicating

their responsibility” on election

security.

Trump supporters, meanwhile,

fault Clinton, saying that she sim-

ply can’t move past her election

loss and is not handling her defeat

graciously. Kellyanne Conway,

counselor to the president, pointed

to Trump’s comments shortly after

his victory as evidence that he tried

to set a friendly tone.

At his inaugural luncheon at the

Capitol, Trump said he was “hon-

ored” that Clinton and her hus-

band, President Bill Clinton, had

attended and urged them to stand

up to receive an ovation. “Honestly,

there’s nothing more I can say be-

cause I have a lot of respect for

those two people, so thank you

both for being here,” Trump said at

the time.

But, by Conway’s telling, Clinton

did not reciprocate Trump’s benev-

olent gesture. “Hillary engages

with the president to stay rel-

evant,” she said. “It’s unbecoming

of a former presidential candidate,

U.S. senator and secretary of state,

but it seems to be her only release.”

Cliff Sims, a former White

House aide, shared a video of Clin-

ton’s CBS interview on Twitter and

asked, “Is it not destructive to our

democracy for the sore loser of a

national election to say — with no

justification whatsoever — that

her opponent’s victory was illegiti-

mate?”

Clinton allies, however, say that

she is almost compelled to respond

to the president’s attacks on her.

Yes, there are other failed presi-

dential nominees who slinked

more solidly into quiet obscurity —

now-Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) in

the immediate wake of the 2012

election, and Democrats John F.

Kerry and Al Gore after their re-

spective 2004 and 2000 losses. But

these are unprecedented times,

they say, and a norm-shattering

leader such as Trump demands a

countervailing force.

“Setting aside 2016, she was our

secretary of state; she’s been a

presidential candidate,” said Kar-

en Finney, a spokeswoman for

Clinton’s 2016 campaign. “Frankly

in this moment in international

politics, she has a really important

and valuable perspective.”

Clinton told MSNBC’s Rachel

Maddow in May that “I’m living

rent free inside of Donald Trump’s

brain” — a perch she seems to

relish at times.

At a recent art exhibit in Venice,

for example, Clinton sat at a replica

of the Oval Office’s Resolute Desk

and, for about an hour, read

through a stack of her deleted

emails.

For Trump, continuing to lace

into his former electoral foe serves

several purposes. People close to

him say there is a certain nostalgia

in the attacks for a president who

enjoys reliving his 2016 victory —

the ultimate flouting of the politi-

cal elites he so resents. More im-

portantly, the broadsides also mo-

tivate base voters who view Clin-

ton as the ultimate enemy.

Media Matters calculated that

Fox News host and Trump ally

Sean Hannity mentioned Clinton

in 86 percent of his show’s epi-

sodes between Trump’s inaugura-

tion and the end of August. Over

the past year, the group found,

Trump has mentioned Clinton at

least 149 times in tweets, speeches,

interviews and news conferences.

“There is at least a political ben-

efit for the president to bring up

Clinton because to this day it fires

up the conservative base,” said

Andy Surabian, a former White

House aide. “The Clintons have

been enemy number one to Repub-

licans and conservatives for al-

most 30 years now, so just because

she lost in 2016 does not erase

three decades of hard feeling

toward her and her husband from

the right.”

But at least in recent weeks, it

has been Clinton — who is actively

promoting her new book, which

she wrote with her daughter —

who is driving much of the conver-

sation. In a range of television

interviews, she has expressed her

support for House Democrats’ im-

peachment inquiry into Trump.

The inquiry, she told ABC’s “The

View,” was “absolutely unavoid-

able,” and it would have been “a

dereliction of duty at that point for

the Congress” not to have moved

forward with an investigation of

the president’s actions involving a

controversial July 25 phone call he

had with the president of Ukraine.

She has also been punchy, espe-

cially on Twitter. After Rudolph W.

Giuliani, Trump’s personal attor-

ney, chastised the media on Tues-

day for not investigating “the Clin-

tons and crooked Clinton Founda-

tion,” Clinton offered a wry rejoin-

der: “Yes, I am famously under-

scrutinized.” And after Sen.

Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) offered

a Twitter defense of Clinton follow-

ing news of the State Department’s

intensifying email probe of her

former aides, Clinton replied, “But

my emails. (Thank you.).”

“I hope @HillaryClinton never,

ever goes away & always uses plat-

form she has to advance causes of

women & children, AND share her

views on politics,” tweeted Jennifer

Palmieri, Clinton’s 2016 communi-

cations director, adding “#More-

Hillary.” Her tweet was in response

to some anti-Clinton backlash

from those who say Clinton should

try to fade from public life.

Trump also seems eager to keep

Clinton around as a foil. On Thurs-

day, during a speech at The Villag-

es retirement community in Flori-

da, a man shouted out “Lock her

up!” and the president invited him

to stand up.

“I admonish you,” Trump said

sarcastically.

Shortly thereafter, the Clinton

heckler shouted again, and the

president returned to him.

“I sort of like him,” Trump said.

“I can’t admonish him again.”

[email protected]

Clinton and Trump can’t seem to quit each other

JULIO CORTEZ/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton answers a question during the second presidential debate

against Republican candidate Donald Trump at Washington University in St. Louis in 2016.

They continue their

attacks as if the 2016

election never ended

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