Bill Clinton Explains the Appeal of Donald Trump with the Perfect Backhanded Compliment

YouTube


Former President Bill Clinton appeared on the Late Show on Tuesday night, where he was asked by host Stephen Colbert to explain the meteoric rises of both Sen. Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump.

While he was quick to tout Sanders’ appeal as resonating with voter frustration that the system is “rigged against them,” Clinton actually had far more to say about his former friend Trump than he did about his wife’s increasingly formidable challenger from Vermont.

“He’s a master brander and he’s the most interesting character out there,” Clinton said of Trump. “And because he said something that overrides the ideological differences.”

“There is a macho appeal to saying, ‘I’m just sick of nothing happening. I’m going to make things happen. Vote for me,'” he added.

This is the second time Clinton has called out Trump for running a political campaign based on branding. Just last week, he hit back at Trump’s insults describing his wife’s tenure as secretary of state as the very “worst in history.”

“Well the thing about branding is, you don’t have to be—you can be fact-free,” Clinton told CNN‘s Erin Burnett.

On Tuesday, Clinton also shut down a previous report citing his influence on Trump making a run for the White House. Watch above.

Fact:

Mother Jones was founded as a nonprofit in 1976 because we knew corporations and billionaires wouldn't fund the type of hard-hitting journalism we set out to do.

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2022 demands.

payment methods

Fact:

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2022 demands.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate