TRUMP

288 ANATOMY OF A MONSTROSITY
carefully? In the time you spend trying to clear up the basic facts of
Whitewater, Trump will have made five more allegations.
Even a skilled campaigner would have a very difficult time parrying
such endless attacks by Trump. Even the best campaigner would find
it impossible to draw attention back to actual substantive policy issues,
and would spend their every moment on the defensive. But Hillary
Clinton is neither the best campaigner nor even a skilled one. In fact,
she is a dreadful campaigner. She may be a skilled policymaker, but
on the campaign trail she makes constant missteps and never realizes
things have gone wrong until it’s too late.
Everyone knows this. Even among Democratic Party operatives,
she’s acknowledged as “awkward and uninspiring on the stump,” carrying
“Bill’s baggage with none of Bill’s warmth.” 16 New York magazine
described her “failing to demonstrate the most elementary political
skills, much less those learned at Toastmasters or Dale Carnegie.” 17
Last year the White House was panicking at her levels of electoral
incompetence, her questionable decision-making, and her inclination
for taking sleazy shortcuts. 18 More recently, noting Sanders’s catch-up
in the polls, The Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin said that she was a
“rotten candidate” whose attacks on Sanders made no sense, and that
“at some point, you cannot blame the national mood or a poor staff
or a brilliant opponent for Hillary Clinton’s campaign woes.” 19 Yet in
a race against Trump, Hillary will be handicapped not only by her feeble
campaigning skills, but the fact that she will have a sour national
mood, a poor staff, and a brilliant opponent.
Every Democrat should take some time to fairly, dispassionately
examine Clinton’s track record as a campaigner. Study how the ‘08
campaign was handled, 20 and how this one has gone. 21 Assess her
strengths and weaknesses with as little bias or prejudice as possible.
Then picture the race against Trump, and think about how it will
unfold.
It’s easy to see that Trump has every single advantage. Because the