Adding to the challenge is a long-standing conservative narrative about Clinton’s health and stamina that began with her high-profile illness and fall in 2012, which left her with a concussion, at the close of her tenure as secretary of state. Clinton has fueled that narrative, even among some of her own supporters, with a series of stumbles that aides have attributed to the normal fatigue of a vigorous campaigner.
But these aides vehemently deny that there is any underlying stamina problem for Clinton — and in fact, they say that nothing could be further from the truth. They also say the accusation is sexist. They hope that, given Trump’s mounting troubles in the GOP-nominating contest, the time is right for an effective counterpunch.
“I don’t think anybody else would get that question,” said Anita Dunn, a chief strategist for Obama in 2008. “I think a lot of people are going to push back on [Trump] and call foul.”
“The purely sexist attacks on Hillary, the slightly veiled ones, are going to backfire [in the general election] in a way that they don’t in a primary,” she added.
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