Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, January 18, 2010. (U.S. Air Force Photo by Master Sgt. Jeremy Lock)(Released)
In the WSJ, Jason L. Riley makes the case that Bill Clinton’s conduct lowered the bar for acceptable behavior in the White House, subsequently allowing a Donald Trump to be president.
Mr. Clinton’s predatory behavior—and the left’s response to it—didn’t just make Mr. Weinstein’s antics more acceptable than they otherwise might have been. The former president also greased the skids for someone like Donald Trump. Post-Clinton, a presidential candidate’s character became much more of a secondary consideration for voters. This is one reason so many were willing to look past Mr. Trump’s misbehavior on the campaign trail and are still willing to give him a pass today.
Continuing fallout from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe obviously could change the president’s fortunes for the worse, while successful tax-reform legislation might change them for the better. But right now, Republican voters are standing by their deeply flawed president. And to anyone who wants to harp on those flaws, they have a ready response: Compared with whom?
Read more here.
