With debate coverage at its height and only hours to go before Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump square off, many in the media were seemingly drawn into covering a name from the past. Gennifer Flowers entered the 2016 election news cycle on Saturday after a tweet and reports regarding Mark Cuban attending the debate in the front row prompted Trump to reply on Twitter, as he is apt to do:
If dopey Mark Cuban of failed Benefactor fame wants to sit in the front row, perhaps I will put Gennifer Flowers right alongside of him!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2016
The Trump campaign provided Fox News with a follow up on the situation, denying any invitations from Trump to Flowers or anybody else:
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump tweeted Saturday that he would invite former Bill Clinton paramour Gennifer Flowers to sit in the front row at Monday’s first presidential debate against Hillary Clinton, but a campaign insider told Fox News on Sunday he would not invite any special guests to call attention to the Clinton family’s history.
Gennifer Flowers will not be at the debate per @johnrobertsFox
— Pat Ward (@WardDPatrick) September 25, 2016
This did not stop the news from trickling out, with Flowers herself even acknowledging and accepting the apparent invite before the Trump campaign denied it.
Hi Donald. You know I'm in your corner and will definitely be at the debate!…💋
— Gennifer Flowers (@gennflowers) September 24, 2016
The reports also prompted a response from the Clinton campaign, noting that they will be keeping the debate to topics that will “make a difference in people’s lives” before noting that it isn’t a surprise that Trump took a “different path.”
Clinton camp statement on reports of Gennifer Flowers attending Monday's debate: pic.twitter.com/lBrc9eh6Kw
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 25, 2016
Trump’s current campaign manager Kellyanne Conway made the rounds on Sunday morning, addressing the issues and attempting to place the blame on Clinton according to The Guardian:
Conway appeared on Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union. Asked if she could confirm Flowers’ attendance, as the Trump campaign had avoided doing on Saturday, she said: “No, I can’t confirm that and I can’t believe how easily the Clinton campaign was baited.”
Flowers, she said, “had not been formally invited. I don’t expect her to be there as a guest of the Trump campaign.” “It seems odd,” she added, that the Clinton campaign would give the story “life and breath”.
Speaking to ABC’s This Week, Conway repeated her contention that the Clinton campaign had started the row by inviting Cuban and elaborated on her claim about “baiting”, criticising the Clinton camp for issuing a statement on the subject on Saturday night.
This is contrary to much of the thinking online, with several folks believing that this is evidence that Trump himself was baited — a criticism levied by Clinton during her speech at the 2016 DNC — noting that Trump easily took it to the level he did after only a seemingly innocuous tweet from Mark Cuban:
See how easy it was to make Trump pull this Gennifer Flowers stunt? Imagine other world leaders playing him like the bottom bitch he is.
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) September 25, 2016
Anyone who believes Trump has maturity to be president is either a bully or simply doesn't get the insanity of his Gennifer Flowers stunt.
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) September 25, 2016
Others showed disgust with Trump bringing up the Clinton sex scandals:
Wait, who is Gennifer Flowers? (The generation that will decide the presidency has no clue who that woman is.)
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) September 24, 2016
https://twitter.com/DebraMessing/status/779826277637382144
At the end of it all, George Takei keeps the entire situation in perspective and warns people about ignoring the true purpose of the debate:
Media, don't take the bait. On debate night, don't talk about who's in the front row. Talk about the ISSUES.
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) September 25, 2016
We’ll have to wait and see if this will be brought up during the debate. Knowing Trump, it is possible and the media will already be heavily focused on the scene.
(Via The Guardian / CNN / Fox News)
