Rachel Maddow Thinks Bill Clinton Call Could Sink Trump's Chances

The Washington Post reports the pair spoke just weeks before the reality TV star launched his campaign.

Rachel Maddow marveled at Donald Trump's ability to draw Republican voters even while committing what would for other candidates be considered gaffe after gaffe. But she thinks there's one thing that could knock him down a few pegs.

"We keep thinking that the over-the-line things that Donald Trump says will have some sort of political cost for him -- that every new third-rail comment he makes will hurt him this time," Maddow said on her program Wednesday. "But none of this has happened. ... For some reason, the normal political rules don't apply to him, or they apply to him in reverse."

However, Maddow said Trump's call with former President Bill Clinton, reported by The Washington Post yesterday, could be the thing that sinks him. The Post reported that Trump and Clinton spoke weeks before the reality TV star launched his presidential bid, and that Clinton "encouraged Trump’s efforts to play a larger role in the Republican Party and offered his own views of the political landscape."

"It might be toxic for him if he is now seen as someone who is running for president with the support of former President Bill Clinton," Maddow said. "That is the wooly implication from this very provocative report from The Washington Post."

It seems some Republican voters have interesting priorities, if calling Mexican immigrants rapists and questioning Sen. John McCain's heroism only propels Trump higher in the polls, yet an innocuous conversation with a former president could be the thing that knocks him off his pedestal.

Gabriel Arana is senior media editor at The Huffington Post.

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