The Republican national convention has begun to resemble a sort of demented linguistic limbo, with Donald Trump and his supporters jostling to see just how low they can go when it comes to insulting Hillary Clinton.

There have been a number of impressively low lows so far, including Chris Christie’s bizarre mock trial of Clinton on Tuesday. And then there are the merchandise stands, which are doing a brisk trade in pins and shirts emblazoned with insults more petty than witty.

One of the hottest shirts at the convention, for example, is the “Hillary for Prison” number that you can accessorize with a “Life’s a bitch, don’t vote for one” pin.

However, ladies and gentlemen, I think we may have just reached a new low! It’s the Bill Clinton rape shirt. The latest fashion must-have for the classless in Cleveland sports a picture of his face with rape in block capitals underneath, making a nuanced reference to allegations against the prospective first gentleman.



Sneak Preview of the Next Big Fashion Statement. pic.twitter.com/63g1w84Rhr — Alex Jones (@RealAlexJones) July 19, 2016

The creative director behind this number is Infowars host Roger Stone – a longtime Trump supporter.

While the rape shirt may not exactly be subtle, it is symbolic – not just of the tone of the RNC but of the election as a whole. The T-shirt is representative of some of the most important issues at play in this year’s election.

The first is the increasing use of misinformation as a campaign strategy in a post-factual world. This recently played out in the Brexit vote, where the leave campaign successfully betted on the power of fantasy over fact. As the Guardian’s editor Kath Viner recently wrote, “When a fact begins to resemble whatever you feel is true, it becomes very difficult for anyone to tell the difference between facts that are true and ‘facts’ that are not.”

So if you call Clinton a rapist enough times, then it’s likely that people will start to believe it is a “fact”. There are lies, there are damned lies, and there are damned lies that help win elections.

Another anti-Hillary shirt. Photograph: infowars

Trump has long been aware of the power of spreading misinformation and has found a kindred spirit in Alex Jones, who is considered by many to be America’s leading conspiracy theorist. Both Trump and Jones have raised Clinton’s rape allegations before; Jones discusses them in a YouTube clip titled Donald Trump Accuses Bill Clinton of Rape, for example.

What is clear from this clip is what really outrages Trump and Clinton is not the idea of rape itself, but the idea that the Democratic party is criticizing Trump for being misogynistic while Clinton has a history of unsubstantiated rape accusations.

Which leads us to the second big issue: Trump’s strategy for winning women. You see women don’t really like Trump, God knows why. Trump probably wouldn’t care but seeing as women make up 51% of the population and more women vote than men, he needs them. Particularly as Clinton is in possession of that pesky woman card, you know?

So, in the past few months, Trump has made something of an effort to woo women. In April, for example, he wheeled out his wife and daughter to explain to the media that he’s actually a misunderstood feminist. And on Monday he held a Women Vote Trump event. Unfortunately it was very, very empty.

Hillary for prison. Photograph: infowars

Trump seems both unlikely and unwilling to win women with kindness at this stage. So it seems that he’s trying to take women’s support by forcefully discrediting Democrats, rape being sort of discrediting.

The final thing the T-shirt is a sign of? Well, that it’s probably the worst election ever. You might think rape-as-fashion-accessory would be rock bottom, but I’m afraid November is still a while away and there’s likely a lot more low to go.