Now-critical Trump once sang praises of ex-prez Clinton
In 2015, he called him the best leader in recent times
There may be one complication for Donald Trump in attacking former president Bill Clinton’s record on the economy: Donald Trump.
The real estate billionaire and presumptive Republican presidential nominee fired an opening salvo on Tuesday in response to Hillary Clinton’s plan to put her husband in charge of revitalizing the economy.
“How can Crooked Hillary put her husband in charge of the economy when he was responsible for NAFTA, the worst economic deal in U.S. history?” Trump tweeted.
Yet as recently as last year, Trump called Bill Clinton the best of the past four U.S. presidents. In 2008, Trump called him a “great president” and said the Clintons are “fine people.”
In a June 2015 interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Trump was asked to pick the best of the past four presidents, and he chose Clinton.
“I would really say Clinton, probably,” he said. “Had he not met Monica, had he not met Paula, had he not met various and sundry semi-beautiful women, he would have had a much better deal going.”
Most of Trump’s public praise for Bill Clinton came during the late 1990s as his presidency wound down.
“I think Bill Clinton has done a terrific job. I don’t think he’s been treated very fairly,” Trump told CNN’s Robert Novak in 1997.
The battle between Hillary Clinton and Trump in the fall is expected to be the fiercest in the industrial heartland and rural Appalachia, communities where working-class, white voters have been devastated by manufacturing and coal industry job losses.
To offset Trump’s appeal in these areas, Clinton has in the past few days attempted to put her husband out front, hoping he remains a popular figure in the region. Clinton carried many of these states, including Kentucky and West Virginia, in both his presidential elections.
While Trump has based most of his criticism of the Clintons on character issues, including President Clinton’s treatment of women over the course of his public life, the top concern for most voters is the economy and jobs, and that is where the Clintons will focus.
It may not matter to these voters that Trump was previously complimentary to Bill Clinton as they’ve proved to be loyal supporters of the real estate mogul in a series of primary states. Further, Hillary Clinton’s March comments about putting the coal industry out of business — which she later apologized for — have proved toxic in these once-friendly states.
Yet the Clinton campaign is hoping that Bill Clinton can help if the former president plays a more prominent role on economic policy. And Trump’s previous praise gives him a talking point.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment.