Let’s not let this moment get lost:
She brought up his abuse of one of his beauty-pageant contestants — noting, as an aside, his fondness for hanging around them — and that he called one contestant “Miss Piggy” and, because she is Latina, “Miss Housekeeper.” When Trump fell for the trap by demanding her name, Clinton supplied it: Alicia Machado, driving home the justifiable impression that Clinton sees her as a human being, unlike her opponent, who sees her as a piece of meat.
As the Clinton campaign gamed out the debates, they clearly wanted a big send-off, something with real impact that would close the debate and hopefully dominate much of the post-debate narrative. They had to assume that either Donald Trump would debate her to a draw, simply by meeting his low-low pre-debate expectations, or that he might’ve even scored some points. So this was all pre-programmed, a set-piece, to try and own the night.
The setup was great, “Miss Piggy”? Brutal. That sly side mention about how Trump loved to hang around beauty contestants? Awesome. He is creepy. Sleazy. Old guy hanging around beauty queens? Ew. And he had to buy his way into that.
And Trump, Instead of keeping his mouth shut, did take the bait, demanding to know who Clinton was talking about. That alone was stupid: has he insulted so many women that he can’t keep them straight anymore? (Of course he has …) And at that moment, boom, Clinton humanizes this person. Gives her a name, a face. She’s Latina? Even better, because “Miss Housekeeper” is now further evidence of his racism. So he’s sexist, racist, and creepy. That’s not a winning combination.
That’s some powerful stuff, even if it ended up overshadowed by the rest of Trump’s brutally bad evening. But again, it showed the difference between someone who has had to work twice as hard as any man to get to where she is today, and the guy who has never helped anyone, sacrificed anything, or had to really work for anything his entire life.
Tuesday, Sep 27, 2016 · 5:29:24 PM +00:00
·
kos
As people are pointing out in comments, this moment isn’t really lost anymore thanks to Trump’s inability to let anything go. Doubling down on his attacks on Machado has given the story big legs. So yeah, it was overshadowed last night, not so much anymore thanks to Trump being an f’n moron. Good!