Trump: Hillary is a snob.

Both candidates are attempting to make the election a referendum on the other.

Trump found a new point of attack on Hillary: The Clintons are social climbers.   He is calling Hillary a snob with contempt for the working class.  The charge may stick.

It is easy to see each side attempt to make the election a referendum on the other:  Hillary Clinton's new ads show a series of top Republicans saying that Trump is a racist, a bully, a con artist and generally unfit for office.  For an example of them:   Click Here   

He is too big a risk to take, she says.  She has lots of points of attack, ones which were made by Trumps various primary opponents.  Videotape of them--and of Trump--is still around.  You need not take Hillary's word for it.  Ask Mitt Romney and Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.   They will tell you the same thing.

The risk in this is that Trump might appear to change, to "grow up", to be able to exercise self control.   Happily for Hillary within the same news cycle that he courteously said he hoped Hillary would get well (creating a news story that Trump acted gracefully) Trump had said that he would order shots fired if Iranian sailors on tiny boats made insulting gestures at Americans.  Trump is Trump, which has both strengths and weaknesses for him.  He may be a bull in a china shop, but he is a consistent and authentic bull in a china shop.

Snobby Hillary has contempt for you

But the Clintons changed, and it gives credibility to Trump's new criticism of Hillary.  The Clintons are social climbers.  They moved up.  Hillary is a snob.  They turned their backs on working class Americans.

It is a new point of delegitimization of Hillary to go on top of her being crooked and sickly.  He now says she has disdain and contempt for policemen, firemen, and working class Americans" Trump said.   "These are the people Hillary Clinton so viciously demonized."  Watch Trump:   Click Here

Hillary handed this issue to him, and it has credibility because it fits with the public profiles of the two candidates.   Trump is Trump, but the Clintons have, indeed, evolved.

As a candidate back in 1992 the story on Bill Clinton was that he was, to use southern shorthand, "Arkansas trailer trash."  He sounded southern, he ate McDonalds burgers, he grew out of his suits, and he had a reputation for involvement with secretaries with big hair and a lot of lipstick.  This image diminished when in the White House but the revelations under Kenneth Starr's investigations brought it back to the surface.  Paula Jones fit the tabloid trailer park image and Monica Lewinsky kept Bill looking sleazy.  Meanwhile, Hillary, the wronged wife, presented to the public as the proper one, the ice queen, who was better than Bill.  That image is coming back to haunt her now.

The life they left behind

In the post-presidency both Clintons became more formal, with the rough edges worn off.  Bill Clinton gave up fast food and as far as the press and public know, fast women.  They have climbed a social class ladder.  Bill used to be "Bubba."  No more.   They go to Martha's Vineyard; they associate with people who go to symphonies, not tractor pulls; they are comfortable with people who make million dollar gifts to global charities.  Bill is quieter now, less Elvis, more the elder statesman.   Hillary and Bill have become establishment, celebrity peers of the rich and powerful, the donor class of new and old money.

The new Bill Clinton

This had a big downside for Hillary in the campaign against Sanders since it documented that she was part of the revolving door network of big money, celebrity, and political power that has presumably corrupted American politics.  And today Trump attributes to Hillary snobbery and disdain for working class Americans, a charge made more credible because Sanders said it, and because the Clintons have changed styles.  

Think: We do not see Bill drinking beer and eating the fast food "regular Americans" eat.  There are no recent photos of Bill with BBQ sauce on his face, pigging out at a Razerback tailgate party.  I do see photos of Hillary Clinton getting into vans to be driven by men in black suits, rather than Hillary herself driving a Chevrolet.   (She said she hasn't driven a car in fifteen years.)  Bill and Hillary got rich.  They went from people who scrambled for money to people who have a great deal of it.  Financially and culturally, they did in fact move up, which implies a criticism of their past selves.  

Saturday Night Live satire: the old Bill

Trump understands this, and he can make the argument because in fact he has retained a vulgarity and crassness that makes him accessible and credible to working class Americans.   He announces that he is rich, really really rich.  He is photographed sitting on gold chairs.  He has a succession of young beautiful wives.   He has casinos and a TV show.  He is a working class person's side of what it would be to be rich.  He is like Scrooge McDuck, the cartoon character to sits on a pile of gold coins and jewels in a great vault, enjoying running money through his fingers.   He is the fulfillment of the dreams of a working class person buying a lottery ticket.   He does not critique working class aspirations, he celebrates them.

Trump enjoying his wealth

The polls are close and small things can tip the balance.   Trump has an issue we will hear more about.   Hillary and Bill can be shown to have turned their backs on the "regular working class American" because, personally, they have done just that, and Hillary's "deplorable" comment gives Trump the document he needs to hammer Hillary.

Click here for the Podcast    Thad Guyer and I have a podcast where we look closely at the campaign, with a close look at Hillary Clinton's problems.