We all know what the 2016 edition of Donald Trump thinks of Hillary Clinton. It isn’t particularly nice. But it wasn’t long ago that what appears to be the same human Donald Trump, not a body double, appeared destined to own an “I’m with her” T-shirt someday. During a 2008 NY1 interview, Trump wasn’t just complimentary of his now-rival, he positively gushed about her, and her husband’s presidency:
Her history is far from being over, I’d like to answer that question in another 15 year from now. I think she’s going to go down at a minimum as a great senator. I think she is a great wife to a president and I think Bill Clinton was a great president. … Hillary Clinton is a great woman and a good woman.
Whaa?
The Republican nominee, who has taken dirty campaign rhetoric and tactics to a previously unimaginable level, also had this to say about the Clinton’s treatment during the 2008 campaign*:
I thought they roughed her up pretty good. I think she’s a wonderful woman. I think she’s a little bit misunderstood. You know, Hillary’s a very smart woman, a very tough woman, that’s fine … but she’s also a very nice person. … I thought she was roughed up. … I’m not knocking the other side, you know, you want to win a battle so if it gets a little bit nasty it is politics and politics is a tough game, but I thought she was perhaps unnecessarily roughed up.
I’d like to see what 2016 Donald would do to 2008 Donald in a debate.
Correction, Oct. 24, 2016: This post originally misstated that Donald Trump was referring to Hillary Clinton getting “roughed up” during Bill Clinton’s presidency; Trump was referring to her treatment during the 2008 campaign.
