One way or another, a story has broken that will allow the Clintons to go there. And now Trump may find himself having to use his sex scandal self-defense mechanism as more than a threat, even as his political survival may depend on the degree to which Bill Clinton has changed the standards to which the public holds elected officials.
Another problem: Trump has been caught on tape. Granted, he is not doing anything. But in addition to adulterous talk, his comments can be read as boasting of nonconsensual sexual behavior, or at least claiming celebrities don’t need explicit consent from the women they kiss, grope or grab.
Bill Clinton has always had plausible deniability when it comes to the worst things he has been accused of. And even when his denials were implausible, as in the case of Monica Lewinsky, there was no audio of him bragging about his conquests.
Trump’s temptation will be to bring up Juanita Broaddrick, Kathleen Willey and Paul Jones — and Hillary Clinton’s lack of support for such accusers — to even the score. But unlike the Clintons, Trump will not have the media on his side. There will be no Nina Burleigh justifying Trump’s misdeeds on the grounds of lofty policy goals.
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