Donald Trump and Roger Ailes, two sunbaked toads you’re puzzled to find wetly defecating in your bathtub, are maybe working together. The New York Times reports that Ailes, having golden-parachuted out of Fox News following a round of sexual harassment allegations, is now“advising” the Trump campaign. The Trump campaign denies the story.
Trump has previously described Ailes as “a great guy,” adding, mysteriously, “A lot of people are thinking he’s going to run my campaign.” The Times spoke to three anonymous people who said he will indeed be advising Trump, even as he continues to reap that $40 million from the supposed news organization. His role is, at the very least, to help Trump get ready for the first debate against Hillary Clinton, and “could extend beyond” that, the Times’ sources told the paper:
Mr. Ailes is aiding Mr. Trump’s team as it turns its attention to the first debate with Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee, on Sept. 26 on Long Island, according to three people briefed on the move, who insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.
Two of them said that Mr. Ailes’s role could extend beyond the debates, which Mr. Trump’s advisers see as crucial to vaulting him back into strong contention for the presidency after a series of self-inflicted wounds that have eroded his standing in public opinion polls.
Trump has supposedly been trying to “win back women voters” all summer (when he had them is unclear) and what better way to do that than to hire a man who’s spent years doggedly pursuing women no matter how loudly they tell him to go away, allegedly?
Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks has broken her customary frosty silence to say no, that’s not true:
Meanwhile, Politico reports that Clinton is getting ready for an all-but-certain round of vicious and particularly personal attacks in that debate from Trump. Politico reports that the campaign is looking for a Trump stand-in to imitate the distinctive style of the man himself, by saying the most terrible shit possible to her:
The person picked to be Hillary Clinton’s sparring partner in her upcoming debate prep sessions is expected to confront her about the death of Vincent Foster, label her as a rapist’s enabler, and invoke the personally painful memories of Monica Lewinsky and Gennifer Flowers.
The issue, Politico notes, is finding someone willing to be as shitty to Clinton as Trump is likely to be. They call the mock debates “inherently awkward,” which, again, is pretty good prep for the real thing.