Trump Campaign Struggles to Explain Gennifer Flowers Invite

[DonViejo]

Just a day after Donald Trump threatened to rattle Hillary by bringing one of Bill's mistresses, the Trump campaign wasn't exactly clear if the invite was legitimate.

JACKIE KUCINICH
OLIVIA NUZZI

09.25.16 12:27 PM ET

Two days before the first presidential debate that could determine the trajectory of the general election, Donald Trump took to Twitter to taunt Hillary Clinton with the possibility that he would invite one of her husband’s former mistresses to sit in the front row.

A day later, on Sunday, his campaign’s top surrogates were forced to waste precious time cleaning up after him--saying, at turns, that Gennifer Flowers hadn't been invited, that they didn't expect her to come, and that the entire thing was a lighthearted joke.

Just as the polls are narrowing and Trump’s handlers’ attempt to restrain him seems to be paying off, he went off the rails again--a common theme in 2016, and one that underscores the Republican nominee’s unpredictability right when it could prove most lethal to his White House hopes.

Trump’s almost-invitation to Flowers, which she gleefully accepted with a kiss emoji on Twitter, came after billionaire Trump troll Mark Cuban announced he would be in the front row of the debate.

-snip-

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/09/25/trump-campaign-struggles-to-explain-gennifer-flowers-invite.html

[BootinUp]

1. Its hilarious! nt

[Hortensis]

18. Bet Perky's hair is growing out silver, and she's only

been his "campaign manager," i.e., clown handler, for 5 weeks.

[BootinUp]

21. She knew the job was dangerous when she took it, no sympathy here! lol. nt

[uppityperson]

2. No struggle needed as it's simple, really. Donnie is a jerk

[Gothmog]

3. trump got mad because Cuban got under Trump's thin skin

[wordpix]

31. it's a strategy and

it's working

[asiliveandbreathe]

4. But, they aren't talking about Russia now are they..

...deplorable Donald..and his alt right minions...seriously America?

[Yonnie3]

5. "the entire thing was a lighthearted joke"

WTF? More like the Rump showing his a$$.

[wordpix]

32. actually it's quite dark hearted to even think of it

What a complete fucking jerk he is.

[rumdude]

6. DT's first reaction was a crass low-class move - nt

[anneboleyn]

7. Mike Pence stumbled all over the question on Chris Wallace/Fox right now. Looked idiotic.

And he said Trump's favorite line that excuses all of Trump's behavior in Trump's mind -- "she started it!" (Mark Cuban is the one who made comments, and Cuban is very different than Flowers).

Pence stated that Flowers would not be at the debate.

[BayouBengal07]

26. Journalists need to follow up on that excuse.

Implicit in the "she started it!" excuse, from birtherism to Flowers, is that whatever she "started" is bad, because otherwise what would the point be to throwing the behavior back on Clinton? So if that's the case, why doesn't anyone ask why it's terrible for Clinton to have "started" these things (whether she did or not aside), and why does that make it OK for the Trump camp to engage in such behavior?

[mucifer]

8. Oh for F sake can the people at the daily beast talk about issues and not this crap

so annoyed.


This is a presidential election, not a soap opera.

[gabeana]

9. Good article but

polls are not narrowing overall they are trending in Hillary's favor

[trueblue2007]

10. TRUMP IS A LIAR.

[nolabear]

11. Poor Gennifer. Another body with Trump skid marks on it.

You'd think the would-be grifters-along would catch on.

[Ilsa]

23. Yep, trump used her and now his campaign is dumping her.

There's no angle in this reaction from which trump looks good.

[tblue37]

12. And then the campaign "uninvited" her after she had already accepted

in a very public way, thus humiliating her unnecessarily.

That won't look good to a lot of women. It smacks of the kind of a**h*** who pranks the unpopular girl by pretending to invite her to the prom and then just not showing up after she has spent all that time and money getting all gussied up.

[Cracklin Charlie]

14. I think more like...

Asking your ex girlfriends new boyfriends ex girlfriend to the prom.

But, still the work of an asshole.

And, this stuff will hurt Assface...he's shallow, and seemingly enamored of reality teevee.

Problem is, he's getting beat on that angle of the campaign, as well. So, he's losing on policy, substance, and fluff.

The man is failure in a suit. And a really long tie.

[tblue37]

15. But after inviting "your ex girlfriend's new boyfriend's ex girlfriend to the prom,"

he stands her up--and that insults and humiliates the pawn who was invited only for the purpose of embarrassing the other person.

[Cracklin Charlie]

17. Trump only has the best fails!

He will be colossally failing so much, we'll get sick of all the fail!

[Blue Idaho]

13. I hope he has invited her, I hope she shows up.

I can't imagine anything that will piss off and energize Democrats and independents more. It proves what a total shit Trump is. He is nothing but a petty small minded child.

[Princess Turandot]

16. The Trump campaign had already made reference to Flowers in a campaign ad this week, before Cuban

announced that he was going to attend the debate:

As a voiceover says, "leaving the past behind," the ad shows a shot of a screen playing an interview with Bill and Hillary Clinton, which Politico identified as video from a 1992 episode of "60 Minutes" where Bill Clinton denied having an extramarital affair with Gennifer Flowers.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12512430750

I don't think that the 'invitation' was a solely spontaneous Trump-only idea, given the above. It sounds like something Ailes would have suggested to him: trying to humiliate a spouse for 'losing her man', because that's probably how he and Trump rationalize their own actions.

[wordpix]

33. Donald Trump, high school frat boy

I would not follow him down the street, much less any action he might take.

[tandem5]

19. Has anybody considered that he didn't actually invite her.

Oh sure he floated the idea, but Flowers may have maneuvered quickly and invited herself. In Trump psychology he is constantly assessing whether he is coming across strongly or weakly. The ambivalence might arise from dueling perceptions: he thinks that he would appear foolish if people perceived that Flowers stole his narrative, but on the other hand there is nothing strong about backtracking on supposedly inviting her in the first place. Based on everything he has said and done to date I would think he would care little that it is an act of sexism to rub her nose in Bill Clinton's infidelity and that that is the source of the "struggle."

What I'm getting at is there may be leverage in suggesting Flowers took control of his narrative.

[Avalux]

20. Tweets that led to the speculation:

If dopey Mark Cuban of failed Benefactor fame wants to sit in the front row,
perhaps I will put Gennifer Flowers right alongside of him!
— Donald J. Drumpf (@realDonaldDrumpf) September 24, 2016

Flowers, via Twitter and a spokeswoman, responded that she’d be happy to attend.

Hi Donald. You know I'm in your corner and will definitely be at the debate!...💋
— Gennifer Flowers (@gennflowers) September 24, 2016

[tandem5]

22. Right and I can interpret that more than one way...

Flowers may have injected herself into his twitter rant and stole the show. Regardless of what the truth is Trump does not want to appear weak so to suggest that Flowers invited herself in his mind would be a knock to his power and control.

[Avalux]

24. His usual fall back - a 'joke' on his part.

Any interpretation leads to Trump stepping in it with no regard to consequences.

[Arkansas Granny]

25. Trump started this sideshow with his tweet.

Without that, Flowers would have never entered the conversation.

[tandem5]

27. That wasn't really the point I was making, but that's true.

[vdogg]

28. Must not have been polling well.

Oops.

[Thinkingabout]

29. Rev Faith Green Timmons could possibily keep Trump on subject.

[GeorgeGist]

30. Oh look over there, shiny thing.

Suckers!!!