Hillary Clinton on Tuesday doubled down on her strategy of painting presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump as a heartless tycoon who profited in 2008 as average Americans suffered during the financial crisis, a narrative that she hopes will stick to the businessman between now and November.
The attacks — rolled out in unison by the Clinton campaign, Democratic Party arms and progressive advocacy groups — are somewhat reminiscent of the 2012 Obama campaign argument against Republican Mitt Romney. That assault, which centered on Mr. Romney’s time as the head of Bain Capital, seems to have been somewhat effective in convincing voters the former Massachusetts governor was out of touch with average Americans.
Political specialists say it’ll be harder to mount a similar offensive against Mr. Trump, who has shown a spectacular ability to counter-punch against attacks and control the narrative around him.
Still, the Clinton campaign has made clear that this will be one part of a multi-pronged strategy to discredit Mr. Trump ahead of the fall election.
Specifically, the Clinton camp is pointing to Mr. Trump’s comments before of the 2008 financial crisis, including a statement in 2006 that a housing market crash would allow him to “make a lot of money.”
Analysts say the strategy used against Mr. Romney in 2012 could work against Mr. Trump this cycle, though it will likely be more complicated.
“There are some parallels. In some may be more difficult for them to brand Donald Trump just in the sense that people already know a lot about Donald Trump and Mitt Romney was just sort of a blank slate and Democrats got out there before Mitt Romney got out there to define himself,” said Travis Ridout, a political scientist at Washington State University and co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project that tracks political advertising. “In that regard it is going to be a little more difficult to come up with something to characterize Donald Trump.”
The Clinton camp also is tying the issue to Mr. Trump’s refusal to release his tax returns by suggesting those files may reveal that he made a substantial amount of money as a result of the 2008 crash.