Donald Trump has effectively "kneecapped" Hillary Clinton from further accusing him of sexism by raising the specter of former President Bill Clinton's alleged sexual misadventures, Daniel Henninger, deputy editorial page editor of Wall Street Journal, tells
Newsmax TV.
"To his credit, I think he has kneecapped Hillary Clinton's war-on-women strategy," Henninger said Monday on "The Steve Malzberg Show."
"That was all sitting there, the problems Bill Clinton has had in the past … and it fell to Donald Trump to just go into her face and say 'You bring this up and I'm going to bring this stuff up relentlessly.' I think he's done some damage to them."
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Over the weekend, the billionaire developer and GOP presidential front-runner ripped Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential front-runner by referencing her husband's alleged affairs and sexual misconduct in a fiery Twitter rant.
His phrase "penchant for sexism" is a tit-for-tat payback following Clinton's use of the words to describe Trump in an interview in the Des Moines Register.
Trump had been criticized last month for saying Hillary Clinton had been "schlonged" in her 2008 primary loss to then-Sen. Barack Obama. "Schlong" is a saucy slang term for the male reproductive organ.
Last week, Trump also tweeted:
During his presidency, Bill Clinton paid $850,000 to Paula Jones to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit. He also admitted to a relationship with former Arkansas state worker, Gennifer Flowers. Most notably, he was impeached after a fling with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
Henninger believes Hillary Clinton will likely lay low on future mentions of sexism when it comes to Trump, who was involved in his own messy extramarital affair in the '90s.
"I think she's going to downplay it. Certainly if she does [go ahead with] it with him, you know he's going to raise some of these incidents. Paula Jones and Juanita Broaddrick, one after another, and the press will have to recite what he is talking about. I think he's put her in a tough spot," he told Malzberg.
Henninger has also been studying Trump's career as a TV star in the successful reality show "The Apprentice."
"What Donald Trump discovered is that people enjoy conflict. 'The Apprentice' was built around conflict, although it was supposed to be a team exercise. He essentially pits one team against the other and then pits members of the team against each other," Henninger said.
"Almost every other day he finds another way to toss out what I would almost call an episode in the Trump campaign. One for instance was a week or so ago when he attacked Congressman Trey Gowdy, the head of the Benghazi committee for endorsing [Sen.] Marco Rubio [of Florida].
"People said, 'Why the heck is he attacking Trey Gowdy of all people?' Well, that was an example and he just keeps it going, keeps the spotlight focused on himself. The other thing he learned in that program over the 10 years or so he was in it is Donald Trump really does have a huge element of personal charisma."