Former President Bill Clinton, the accused rapist and serial sexual harasser, lashed out at a campaign event in New Hampshire on Sunday at the cohort of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders backers dubbed “Bernie Bros,” accusing them of engaging in “vicious trolling” of Hillary Clinton’s supporters.
“People who have gone online to defend Hillary and explain why they support her have been subject to vicious trolling and attacks that are literally too profane — not to mention sexist — to repeat,” Clinton told a crowd of 300 gathered at Milford Middle School Sunday afternoon according to Politico and Bloomberg Politics.
Though Clinton did not use the derisive term “Bernie Bros,” he was making a clear reference to Sanders’ male supporters, who some reporters claim use sexist language online to attack Clinton and her allies.
The Clinton campaign has increasingly injected gender and sex into the 2016 Democratic primaries. On Saturday, former Sec. of State Madeleine Albright shamed young women voters, many of whom are supporting Sanders, saying that “there’s a special place in Hell for women who don’t help each other.” (RELATED: Madeleine Albright Tells Young Women Voters ‘There’s A Special Place In Hell’ For Them If They Don’t Support Hillary)
And on Friday, 81-year-old feminist Gloria Steinem, a Clinton supporter, asserted that young women are flocking to Sanders because “the boys are with Bernie.” She apologized for the remarks on Sunday, saying she was misinterpreted.
But Bill Clinton’s involvement in floating the sexism narrative is a curious choice given the numerous allegations that women have made against him over the years. Juanita Broaddrick, a retired health care executive, has accused Clinton of raping her in a Little Rock hotel room in 1978.
A former White House aide, Kathleen Willey, accused Clinton of sexually assaulting her in 1993. Clinton also paid Paula Jones an $850,000 out-of-court settlement to drop a sexual harassment lawsuit against him. Clinton also had an affair with Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern who was 22 years old when the tryst began.
