Bill Clinton hoped his tearing into President Trump and call to unity would be the highlight of his Democratic convention speech. Instead, it was his very action of speaking at the convention at all that was the most noteworthy as scrutiny of his behavior toward women again bubbled to the surface of political conversation on Tuesday.
“Donald Trump says we’re leading the world,” the former president said in his speech. “Well, we are the only major industrial economy to have its unemployment rate triple. At a time like this, the Oval Office should be a command center. Instead, it’s a storm center. There’s only chaos. Just one thing never changes — his determination to deny responsibility and shift the blame. The buck never stops there.”
Clinton took a dig a Trump’s frequent use of Twitter.
“Now you have to decide whether to renew his contract or hire someone else. If you want a president who defines the job as spending hours a day watching TV and zapping people on social media, he’s your man,” he said.
The nation’s 42nd president pushed hard trying to make presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden the 46th one.
“Our party is united in offering you a very different choice: a go-to-work president. A down-to-earth, get-the-job-done guy. A man with a mission: to take responsibility, not shift the blame; concentrate, not distract; unite, not divide. Our choice is Joe Biden.”
Those with an eye on the convention, though, were more focused on Clinton’s place in the Democratic Party and what message his presence at the convention sends.
On Tuesday, the Daily Mail reported never-before-published photos of Clinton receiving a massage from Jeffrey Epstein’s accusers, Chauntae Davies, during a trip to Africa in 2002.
While Davies was 22 at the time and said that Clinton “was a perfect gentleman during the trip” and that she “saw absolutely no foul play involving him,” the images called attention not only to the unproven allegation that he visited Epstein’s private island but other numerous allegations of sexual assault and harassment, as well as his sexual relationship with then-White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
Following the release of the photograph with Davies, CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski asked a question that went viral on Twitter: “How is Bill Clinton still getting prime time speaking spots post Me Too era?” Commentators on both the Left and the Right chimed in to express disapproval of the former president receiving a speaking slot.
How is Bill Clinton still getting prime time speaking spots post Me Too era?
— andrew kaczynski? (@KFILE) August 18, 2020
The criticism leaked into some Democratic National Convention events. One person in a public chat during a Native American Caucus meeting wrote, “There are so many talented, powerful, amazing women… why is the DNC allowing Bill Clinton talk tonight?”
Evidence that Democrats would rather Clinton stay out of Democratic events going forward goes further than comments on the internet.
A CBS national poll conducted Aug. 12-14 found that 44% of Democrats said that they would not like to hear Clinton speak at the Democratic National Convention, more than any of the 11 speakers measured in the survey except former Republican Gov. John Kasich. For comparison, 63% of respondents said that they would like to hear from New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, while 37% said they would not. For Hillary Clinton, 58% said yes, and 42% said no.
In 2018, the New York Times wrote that the former president did not campaign for any candidates in the midterm elections that year and was thrown into “political purgatory, unable to overcome past personal and policy choices now considered anathema within the rising liberal wing of his party.”
