Alicia Machado

Clinton is known for having a herd of famous surrogates supporting her campaign. She has strategically picked allies with compelling stories to target Trump and relate to voters, especially women. Due to the recent Trump scandal where he talked about kissing, groping and trying to have sex with women during a 2005 conversation, Clinton has taken this opportunity and exploited it for all that it’s worth. Alicia Machado, the first winner of Miss Universe after Trump purchased the program, is one of Clinton’s “enthusiastic allies with a compelling story.” Clinton’s campaign claims they strategically waited to tap into the Machado story knowing that Trump’s treatment of women would arise as an issue on it’s own. According to the Washington Post, “Emails released by WikiLeaks show that the Clinton campaign was aware of Machado’s story in December 2015,” but yet she waited to release the “October Surprise” during a time of weakness for Trump to evoke drama.

Machado’s abusive treatment from Trump started in 1997, which is not that long ago realistically. Trump “fat-shamed” her on national television and later on referred to her as “Miss Piggy” after she gained some weight. Crooks & Liars claims, “This is harassment. Workplace harassment. Sexual harassment. It caused Machado to suffer from eating disorders for years afterward.” Trump abused his power as her employer, causing her to become humiliated and physically damaged. Many voters are perceiving this behavior as carrying through to his presidency if he gets elected. Voters are worried he would mistreat his White House employees and abuse his power to settle every imagined grudge, proving yet again that he can never, ever be given that power.

The most important part of the Machado case, is that Trump cannot deny that it ever happened, along with the earlier mentioned 2005 incident because of tangible proof of the truth. This really displays the character of Trump and those running his campaign. If they can’t counter the truth, they’ll just try and distract everyone with meaningless lies. After Machado’s weight gain, she was photographed with Trump working out at a gym. He commented how she loves to eat and mocked her for her Latino accent, calling her “Miss Housekeeping.” Trump’s campaign tries to cover up the story with an obvious lie explaining how he encouraged her to go to the gym to benefit her personal health when really he just didn’t want to be looked at as associating with fat women. Having a president that is constantly trying to avoid the truth instead of claiming his faults and enacting a change is terrifying to citizens. Machado has become a powerful surrogate for Clinton and because of her claim, over eleven more women victimized by Trump’s behavior have come forward with compelling stories impling his false morals. Is this really the kind of president you want being a role model to our country?

Enemy?

Hillary Clinton, who was once the candidate enemy of Barack Obama, is now campaigning for president with Obama’s full support. During the time they were simultaneously running for presidency, Obama said some hateful claims about Clinton to convince voters she was unfit for office so he could win. It is interesting now to see him try to justify those claims to convince voters to think the opposite of what he once said. Obama made an ad in 2008 that was condemning, attacking, and questioning Hillary as his opponent.  His main claim from the add was, “Hillary Clinton, she’ll say anything and change nothing.” These attack ads are extremely effective especially now that they are being dug up and used against Clinton in the 2016 election, even though Obama wants her to win. Politico quoted Trump saying, “I rarely agree with President Obama- however he is 100% correct about Crooked Hillary Clinton. Great ad!” The video ad is prime bait that Trump can, and is, using against Clinton claiming even her surrogates don’t see her as a good president.

Friend?

On the other hand, the man who has spent the last eight years in the White House leading this country and learning what it takes to be the President of the United States should have a good idea of what type of person would be fit to be President next. I personally have come to value his opinions highly, but I believe most citizens are overlooking what he has to say about the candidates. We should be taking into consideration that he is whole-heartedly supporting Hillary Clinton as president and has happily accepted to be one of her surrogates. As the president, he is obligated to support certain people and do certain things, but according to Obama in regards to the candidates he said to CNN, “Can I just say, I am really into electing Hillary Clinton. This is not me going through the motions here. I really, really, really want to elect Hillary Clinton,” Obama said. “We take for granted sometimes what is steady, and what is true. Hillary Clinton is steady. And she’s true.” A voter should take both sides of the argument into consideration to decide if Obama is being genuine in his support of Hillary or not. In my opinion, putting all the time and effort into being Clinton’s surrogate, implies that Obama does actually want her to be president. The attack ad from 2008 I think was simply him trying to play the political game of doing whatever it takes to beat out the other candidates.

O’Keefe’s Video Unveil

James O’Keefe is a conservative undercover journalist for Project Veritas who recently leaked a video of two men who work for Clinton’s campaign. Robert Creamer and Scott Foval were discussing ways to provoke Trump supporters at his rallies. The big argument between Trump and Clinton surrogates is whether O’Keefe is a vicious liar out to get Clinton or if he unveiled what citizens deserve and should know about Clinton’s motives. Many people, including Clinton’s surrogate Christine Quinn, are arguing that O’Keefe falsely recorded and edited the undercover excerpts to purposely frame Creamer and Foval. She continuously questioned the validity of the video clip saying it is so easy for media specialists to “fudge” footage to depict any kind of meaning. The most regarded statement from the video was stated in an article by The Washington Free Beacon   that said, “Honestly, it is not hard to get some of these assholes to pop off,” Foval said. “It’s a matter of showing up to want to get into the rally in a Planned Parenthood t-shirt or, you know, Trump is a Nazi, you could message to draw them out and draw them to punch you.” If in fact these actions are true regarding Clinton and her campaign team, it portrays an undignified character that voters are not going to want to support.

The Harsh Reality Of Social Media

Surrogates are often seen giving speeches defending their candidate regarding an undesirable action or statement the candidate may have done or said. The rhetoric of this generation of elections is so easily turned upside down because of our access to social media. Junkyard journalism has become a big part of political campaigns because of the malicious attacks into the already public lives of the candidates. Forty years ago, it would have taken weeks for this scandal to be seen across the country. Because of new technology, a voter can see the O’Keefe video on TV, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter in a matter of five minutes. Mobile technology has allowed easy on-the-go access to the most recent news updates and can inform citizens the instant a new article gets published. Influencer outreach has become a way for candidates to attack and defend themselves in social media by directly connecting with reporters, bloggers, and online activists one-on-one behind the scenes. Candidates can use the media for rapid response by journalists to push back against attacks and unfavorable coverage by gatekeepers to reach voters directly. Surrogates lately are spending just as much time defending their campaign against hateful claims as they are promoting the goals of the candidate.

We need to address the big orange elephant in the room which is that Hillary Clinton has a huge advantage against Trump with her army of strong surrogates behind her campaign. The gap between the two candidates, I would argue, is too big for Trump to ever be able to catch up to Clinton. Hillary’s surrogates proved how valuable they were last month when she spent a week dealing with pneumonia, but her campaign did not skip a beat due to her surrogates filling in for her. But even before her illness, US News said, “Clinton’s front-line validators were having a multiplying effect in battleground states whereas Trump has largely been relying on his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, to pitch his case separate from him.”  The difference between Clinton and Trump surrogates is that Hillary has surrogates that will go and campaign FOR her, but Trump’s surrogates will only go campaign WITH him. Hillary’s has an evident ability to form positive relationships with political figures. For voters, it is much more convincing to elect a president (Clinton) that is proud to support a candidate by speaking on their behalf, rather than electing one (Trump) that is struggling to have people willingly speak for him.

US News said, “Trump’s surrogate gap is about the size of the Grand Canyon. It reinforces an advantage that Hillary Clinton has in resources, staff and support, and that puts you in a stronger position across all these critical battlegrounds.”

Surrogates use a verbal and nonverbal rhetoric to influence voters. Celebrity surrogates are a way for uneducated voters to see that an important person is voting a certain way and often that audience will vote the same. Clinton’s database has allowed her to pull a vast array of resources for her platform. An effective group of surrogates is one that can satisfy a diverse group of voters. Clinton has done a good job of having a database of surrogates to target certain crowds. When Clinton wanted to bring gun control to the fore of the national debate, she brought mothers whose children were killed by gun violence on the trail. Clinton can hit the trifecta of surrogates and gain a huge advantage if she can send President Obama to Pennsylvania, Michelle Obama to North Carolina and Bill to Ohio while she is in Florida. Trump does not have as much luxury to pick who he wants to speak on his behalf. If Hillary continues to take advantage of her available surrogate resources, her army of supporters will continue to grow, bringing her even closer to her Presidency in the White House.