Trump in 2008: Clinton will go down in history “at a minimum” as a great senator (h/t @KFILE @NY1) pic.twitter.com/zvxHOButEH
— Beth Ponsot (@bponsot) October 19, 2016
Donald Trump’s comments towards Hillary Clinton in the last few weeks of this election cycle have been, shall we say … not kind. But the two weren’t always mortal enemies. A video interview with NY1 from 2008 has resurfaced to show Trump glowingly talking about Clinton, saying “at a minimum” she will go down as a great senator.
Much of Trump’s campaign rhetoric involves him claiming how country is in the gutter and that Clinton is responsible. “Lock her up” has been a Trump rallying cry, and he does not refrain from name calling. Yet there was a time when the Trumps and Clintons got along well. In the 2008 interview, Trump flat-out calls Bill a great president and claims Hillary will go down as a great senator. He went on to praise the Clinton presidency, something he has flip-flopped on this election season:
“You know you look at the country then … The economy was doing great. Look at what happened during the Clinton years. I mean, we had no war, the economy was doing great, everybody was happy. A lot of people hated him because they were jealous as hell. You know people get jealous and they hate you. Bill Clinton was a great president. Hillary Clinton is a great woman and a good woman.”
And the praise did not stop there. CNN points out how Trump wrote a 2008 blog post, which deserves an investigation of its own because it features him heaping further heaping praise on the Clintons. The most illuminating remark Trump made within the post is how the Clintons are “fine people:”
“Hillary is smart, tough and a very nice person, and so is her husband. Bill Clinton was a great President. They are fine people. Hillary was roughed up by the media, and it was a tough campaign for her, but she’s a great trouper. Her history is far from being over.”
Politics sure can change people’s attitudes, as Trump has doubled down on his rhetoric towards Clinton in these final weeks of the election.
