Want to know a dirty little secret? Most people will tell you that they hate politics, but that’s not really true…for the most part, they just hate people disagreeing with their own political beliefs. But when two politicians decide to tear into each other at every opportunity, everybody suddenly loves politics. Heck, what’s not to like about famous people turning the respectable realm of politics into a Godzilla vs. Kong-style showdown?
The best example of this occurred nearly a decade ago when Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton squared off against each other in the 2016 presidential election. Obviously, Trump won that election, and (after losing when he ran against Joe Biden) is currently serving his second term. While we’ve seen the former reality TV star mix it up with other leading Democrats like Biden and Kamala Harris, none of it has ever been quite as crazy (or quite as entertaining) as his battle with Hillary.
Care to go down memory lane with us? Hungry to relive the glory days of the nastiest political showdown in American history? Keep reading to discover the craziest moments from Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton’s heated rivalry!
The nastiest debate in presidential history
Part of what made the wildest clashes between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton so engaging is that they happened on live television. As is customary in American politics, the two squared off against each other in several presidential debates. Traditionally, the purpose of these debates for a presidential candidate is to grill each other on questions and try to convince voters that you’re the best choice. Of course, candidates usually pull their punches in order to keep the whole thing from descending into chaos.
However, neither Trump nor Hillary read that particular memo, and they turned their first debate into a political bloodbath. It started off badly enough, with neither of the presidential candidates shaking hands. But things got really personal in short order, with Trump accusing Hillary Clinton of having hatred in her heart and actually being the devil. She tried to score some easy points by asking questions about Trump’s infamous Access Hollywood tape…the one where he seemingly admitted that he sexually assaulted women by grabbing their private parts without consent.
Trump denied ever doing what he said on that tape and maintained that this was just “locker room talk.” He struck back at Hillary by basically blaming her for Bill Clinton’s alleged sexual improprieties, and in a truly stunning moment, he revealed that four of the women who had accused Bill were in attendance during the debate. Looking back, it’s easy to see why so many people have dubbed this one of the ugliest political debates (if not the ugliest) in the history of America!
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Donald Trump involved Hillary Clinton in the Epstein files debacle
During the 2016 presidential debates, Donald Trump’s alleged sexual improprieties were front and center thanks to that infamous Access Hollywood tape. Nearly a decade later, he is at the center of an entirely different sexual scandal thanks to his previous friendship with notorious pedophile and sexual trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. As the public learned more about Epstein’s crimes, there was a growing demand to know which famous figures might have committed sexual crimes with him. In response to that demand, Trump actually campaigned on releasing the Epstein files and revealing these culprits to the world.
However, Trump (perhaps realizing that his own name appears multiple times in these files) later seemed very hesitant to release the files; when the files finally began coming out (not all documents have been made available), they were heavily redacted, leading some Trump critics to say that he was trying to protect himself by restricting the release of this information. After photos of Bill Clinton were released as part of the Epstein files, Donald Trump launched an investigation into Bill and Hillary’s relationship with Epstein.
Trump’s supporters saw this as a righteous crusade to root out powerful pedophiles; his critics saw it as a way to distract from his own Epstein associations. However, we can’t help but think this was Trump’s way of smearing his one-time opponent, Hillary Clinton, and reminding the world how close she and Epstein were: not only did she accept his funding for her political campaign, but his notorious assistant Ghislaine Maxwell attended Chelsea Clinton’s wedding in 2010!
Trump takes swipes on social media, and Hillary goes for the jugular
Even before he was elected president, Donald Trump has loved to share his thoughts with the world via social media. And he never hesitates to use these platforms to strike back at his perceived enemies. For example, as Today reports, Hillary Clinton claimed in a radio interview that “we have a man who’s accused of sexual assault sitting in the Oval Office, don’t we?” When the host asked how Hillary could say that, she replied that her beliefs are “Based on the very credible statements that have come forward from, I think now, a dozen women. And, really, based on his own words.”
In response, Trump took to X (formerly Twitter) to use an old nickname for a new insult: “Crooked Hillary Clinton is the worst (and biggest) loser of all time.” Of course, Hillary was previously quite happy to mock Trump for how much he liked to post on social media. As reported by Politico, she once responded to one of his angry tweets by asking, “Honestly, between tweeting and golfing, how does he get anything done? I don’t understand it. Maybe that’s the whole point.”
From the debate stage to social media and beyond, it looks like the bitter rivalry between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton has never truly ended!
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