Republican in tailspin over lewd remarks and alleged sexual misconduct as one GOP strategist says ‘any other Democrat would be 15 points ahead, nationwide’

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

In a Saturday Night Live skit last weekend, a CNN anchor flashed to Hillary Clinton’s Brooklyn headquarters for reaction to breaking news of a 2005 recording of Donald Trump bragging about kissing and groping women without their consent.

Clinton, played by Kate McKinnon, contorted awkwardly to Celebration by Kool and the Gang as staff danced smugly behind her. “I’m sorry I didn’t see you,” she told the anchor as she twisted the cork off a bottle of champagne. “We were so busy preparing for the debate tomorrow. I am studying so hard. I’m really nervous for this one.”

In the real world, with Trump hit by a torrent of allegations of sexual assault and nose-diving in the polls, the past seven days have dramatically altered the shape of the presidential race. Clinton has simply done everything in her power not to interfere.

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“There’s an old principle,” said William Galston, a former adviser to Bill Clinton and now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. “When your opponent is hanging himself, get out of the way. The Clinton campaign is adhering to that principle.”

This week, Clinton clocked thousands of miles on campaign trips to battleground states. But she stayed conspicuously quiet on the subject of the floundering Trump campaign. She has no public appearances scheduled for the coming days and aides said she would spend time preparing for the third and final debate next week.

Galston said Clinton was wise to cede the spotlight. A slate of powerful Democrats have travelled the country on her behalf, including her husband, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, vice-president Joe Biden and two senators, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

“In a media frenzy such as this one,” Galston said, “there just isn’t room for a second narrative and if you pop your head up you’re a part of that story whether you want to be or not.”

Trump has forcefully denied the allegations against him. On Thursday Michelle Obama delivered a potent rejection of the Republican nominee and his treatment of women. At a fundraiser in San Francisco, Clinton praised the first lady’s speech. Commenting on her opponent’s troubles – and the travails of the election, generally – she said: “It makes you want to unplug the internet – or just look at cat gifs.

“I’ve watched a lot of cats do a lot of weird and interesting things.”

Furthermore, the controversies engulfing Trump’s campaign have distracted almost entirely from the daily dump by WikiLeaks of nearly 2,000 emails hacked from the Clinton campaign.

The Clinton camp has blamed the embarrassing emails — which have revealed among other things her advisers’ deliberations over her weaknesses as a candidate — on Russian intelligence agencies bent on swaying the election in favor of Trump. The FBI is investigating as part of a wider inquiry into Russian cyberattacks.

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And still Clinton is reaping the benefits of Trump’s spectacular fall, as several high-profile Republicans have disavowed their own nominee.

On Thursday, Clinton hinted at hopes of a landslide victory. Aides said the campaign was considering moving aggressively into traditionally Republican states such as Arizona and Georgia, even as it was reported that the Trump campaign was pulling out of Virginia, usually a battleground state.

Just last month, polls showed Clinton and Trump running neck and neck. Now Clinton holds a nearly seven-point lead nationwide, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average.

The Republican strategist Liz Mair, who is extremely critical of her party’s nominee, said Clinton’s good week was more a reflection of Trump’s weakness than her strength.

“Any other Democrat would be polling 15 points ahead of him, cleanly, nationwide,” Mair said. “But she’s a really bad candidate so it’s less.”

Trump advisers have threatened to turn to a scorched earth strategy. At a rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, on Friday, Trump complained of a vast conspiracy between the Clinton campaign and the media – and again attacked his opponent’s stamina.

“Crooked Hillary is doing no more public events until after the debate,” Trump said. “They say she is doing debate prep, but she is just resting.”

He also chided Clinton for saying he had entered her personal space on the debate stage in St Louis last Sunday. Clinton had walked by him, he said, adding: “Believe me, I wasn’t impressed.”

The Trump campaign has also telegraphed plans to ratchet up the attacks on Bill Clinton. “We’re going to turn him into Bill Cosby,” campaign CEO Stephen Bannon told Bloomberg News this week.

The Clinton campaign has vowed to stay above the fray.

“It’s a very smart move on her part,” said Lis Smith, a Democratic strategist. “Donald Trump is digging himself deeper and deeper into a hole. There is absolutely no need to take the shovel out of his hands.”

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The conservative shock jock Alex Jones, who runs the conspiracy-peddling Infowars website, is offering to pay protesters who accuse Bill Clinton of rape at her rallies. Protesters shouting “rapist” were ejected from Clinton events in Miami and in Pueblo, Colorado, this week.

“You do have to feel a little sorry for them,” Clinton said in Colorado, laughing as chants of “Hillary” drowned out the protesters. “They’ve had a really bad couple of weeks.” She then impressed on the crowd that she wanted to be a president for “all Americans”.

After another week sure to have provided endless fodder for the writers of Saturday Night Live, Clinton returned to New York on Friday.

Robby Mook, the Clinton campaign manager, said on a conference call: “While Donald Trump’s behavior has sometimes overshadowed a lot of other things in the news, Secretary Clinton is not going to stop talking about the things that she wants to do to make a real difference in people’s lives.

“She did that at the last debate, she is going to do it at the next one.”