The XX Factor

Trump Surrogate at Rally: The Clintons Don’t Have Sex, So Don’t Vote For Hillary

This man, John H. Sununu, likes to judge candidates’ capacity to lead based on how he imagines their sex lives.

Scott Eisen/Getty Images

Opening for Donald Trump at a New Hampshire rally on Friday, former New Hampshire Gov. John H. Sununu implied that Hillary Clinton’s husband does not want to have sex with her.

“Do you think Bill was referring to Hillary when he said, ‘I did not have sex with that woman?’ ” Sununu, who served as George H.W. Bush’s chief of staff, asked the audience, according to reports in Talking Points Memo and the Washington Post. Referencing Bill Clinton’s denial of his affair with Monica Lewinsky, Sununu aimed to discredit Hillary as a viable presidential candidate by casting doubt on her fuckability.

This was a perfect way to set the stage for Trump, who has crafted his entire persona around repeated evaluations of women’s sexual desirability. For many voters, Trump’s misogyny is a large part of his appeal—he says what (supposedly) everyone’s thinking and doesn’t try to be politically correct by filtering out his endorsements of sexual assault or, oh, I don’t know, waiting outside while teenage beauty pageant contestants change their clothes in a dressing room.

Former Sen. Bob Smith of New Hampshire was at Friday’s rally, too, to back up Sununu’s estimation of Clinton’s sexual worth and, thus, capacity to lead the United States. “I think that Bill Clinton endorsed Donald Trump,” he said, then put on an accent to impersonate the former president. “I’m going to tell you what, I want you to go out there and vote against Hillary. … You know, if she goes to jail, I’m going to be free as a bird to do whatever I want to do!”

Other reports noted that a member of the crowd at the rally called for Trump to execute his opponent, something Trump has suggested his supporters should do.

John H. Sununu isn’t running for office, but his son, Chris Sununu, is in a tight race for the governor’s seat against Democrat Colin Van Ostern, as current Gov. Maggie Hassan takes on ex–Trump supporter incumbent Kelly Ayotte in a Senate race. We have reached out to Chris Sununu’s campaign to ask how the he feels about his father judging a presidential candidate by her imagined sex life four days before the election and will update this post if we hear back.