ColumnAnother week and yet another disgusting thing happened in the GOP race to the presidential nomination.
It’s not like we’re surprised that the race has got this bad or that there have been unfiltered attacks on two of the GOP nominees’ wives. But we are pretty grossed out with just how bad the attacks are.
This whole stupid “thing” started March 21 when it was reported that an anti-Trump superPAC ran a Facebook ad campaign targeting Utah voters. The superPAC used a near-nude photo of Melania Trump, Donald Trump’s wife. The ad, meant to target female Mormon voters, also featured the text” “Meet Melania Trump, Your Next First Lady. Or, You Could Support Ted Cruz On Tuesday.”
Trump, as well as anyone who respects women and the whole “leave the spouses out of it” thing, were disgusted by the ad. Soon after the ad ran, Trump alluded that Ted Cruz, his opponent and the person he blames for the attack, should be careful in a tweet:
“Lyin’ Ted Cruz just used a picture of Melania from a G.Q. shoot in his ad. Be careful, Lyin’ Ted, or I will spill the beans on your wife!”
And later that week, on March 24, Trump pulled Heidi Cruz, Ted Cruz’s wife, into the mud by retweeting a derogatory tweet making fun of Heidi’s appearance.
The photo contains two images: one of Heidi looking like a normal, frazzled human, and one of Melania looking like an airbrushed model. The text on the picture reads: No Need to “Spill the Beans” The Images are Worth a Thousand Words.
“It’s not easy to tick me off. I don’t get angry often,” Cruz said. “But you mess with my wife, you mess with my kids, that’ll do it every time. Donald, you are a sniveling coward, and leave Heidi the hell alone. Our spouses and our children are off-bounds. It is not acceptable for a big, loud New York bully to attack my wife.”
Yeah, it’s already that bad.
And while it’s the GOP presidential candidates’ wives that are currently in the spotlight, we all know that it’s just a matter of time before people start to focus on Bill Clinton and his affairs. After all, everyone has an opinion about how Hillary should have handled the whole thing; should she have left Bill, reacted differently to the affair, better accepted Bill for who he is/was… and the list goes on.
But in all reality, why Hillary stayed with Bill is her business. And maybe you dislike how Hillary handled the situation. That’s fine. But the truth is that Hillary’s reactions make her the person–and presidential candidate–she is.
Perhaps all the presidential candidates can start to see that the public disliked the attack on spouses angle and keep the fighting quietly amongst themselves. But who are we kidding? It’s just going to get worse.
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Image of Melania Trump via Shutterstock, Rena Schild