If you're floundering around in a rage-seizure after hearing Republican presidential candidate and rich racist uncle you regret making your kids be nice to, Donald Trump, bring up the 1993 suicide of Bill Clinton's deputy White House counsel Vince Foster and call it "very fishy," you've probably got a desire to fire rhetorical bombs in every direction at Trump. And you should feel utterly aghast that Trump is determined to drag down Hillary Clinton by acting like nothing was ever investigated on any of the allegations, as if the 1990s wasn't a series of congressional inquiries and endless independent counsel probes. It's the reason why we're up to our 800th Benghazi committee. Nothing is concluded if Republicans don't say it's concluded (for example: You can't blame Bush for anything now because Republicans say you can't).
But there is a foundational belief in all of this that needs to be turned back on Trump: the Clintons are liars. Sure, you have to ignore the fact that they have provided a constant stream of documents and answered a ludicrous amount of questions under oath, but that's the nature of blind faith in Trump.
The temptation is to throw everything at Trump: his bankrupt businesses, his mob associations, his profiting off the misery of others, his affairs and marriages. The Clinton campaign might have surrogates or super-PACs do it, but it's generally what you see in these types of situations. It's what we saw the John Kerry campaign attempt with George W. Bush in the wake of the Swift Boat ads. The big difference is that Bush (eventually) distanced himself from that smear. In the case of the Clinton "scandals," the actual Republican candidate is doing the smearing.
Clinton isn't going to wallow in the mud with Trump. Instead, she needs a clear, concise message that can be repeated so often that crowds can call it back to her, like they do with Trump or Sanders, like they did with Obama.
It's very, very simple: "Show me the money, Donald." That's it. You can hashtag it. You can bumper sticker that up. You can chant it. For many people, it's even got a certain cultural vintage to it.
Focus very clearly on what Trump says his net worth is. He claims, as we all know (because he repeats it so much - see how that works?), that he is worth $10 billion. Yet, other than asserting it, in debates, in speeches, on his financial disclosure forms, he has given no proof. The best, most generous estimate of his wealth is between 3.5 and 4.5 billion. That's an enormous amount, but it ain't 10 billion. You've probably heard the one estimate that puts it as low as $150 million. Still not chump change, but the man wandered the nation saying that he had made $10 billion.
And that's it. Clinton or anyone else can say that Trump needs release his tax returns. When he makes his nonsense claim that he can't while they're being "audited," he can also provide other legal documents that prove his worth.
If he refuses, then Clinton can say that anything Donald Trump says is worthless if he can't demonstrate he's as rich as he says he is. Heck, she should say she won't even debate Trump unless he, you know, shows us the money (or the assets). It'll frustrate Trump's followers. They'll say she's scared or whatever. But it's about as simple a request as anyone can ask. Trump's voters are so deluded and racist that they won't care if it turns out he's just a hobo who has been tricking everyone all along, but it'll make him seem clearly like the clown he is.
Hammer that message. Leave aside the other, more convoluted attacks about how Trump made money or who he gave money to. He has to be made to apologize. He has to be introduced to the idea of public shaming. He needs to become toxic to the average scuzzy Republican. In fact, making Trump either refuse to prove his wealth or show that he's been lying will give mainstream Republicans a chance to jump off the train
The most subversive part? If it turns out that, miracle of miracles, he is worth $10 billion, then we can move on. Just like Trump himself did when he demanded President Obama's birth certificate.
(Note: Yeah, Trump and the right will go nutzoid over the Wall Street speeches. But it's pretty easy to say that it's not the same thing. We know Clinton made speeches. We know how much she made. And she's revealed everything about what she's worth. No comparison.)
