Bill Clinton, 42nd president of the United States and potential husband of the 45th, denied convincing businessman Donald Trump to run in the latest presidential race, in what would have been one of the greatest pieces of trolling in history.
Speaking to American chat show host Stephen Colbert, Clinton disappointingly downplayed his powers of triangulation, saying that he had spoken to the Trumpster over the phone but not discussed his campaign to run for the White House on the Republican ticket.
“I get credit for doing a lot of things I didn’t do like that. His daughter told my daughter that he tried to call me and I didn’t get the message. So I simply called him back. And I don’t know whether he ever intended to discuss this with me or not.”
“This has happened to you before I bet,” he added, pointing to Colbert. “I think by the time I got him back he had forgotten why he’d called me in the first place, probably.
“I had a very pleasant conversation with him and it wasn’t about running for office. So I missed a chance.”
Earlier in the interview Clinton discussed the appeal of populist figures like Trump, including Hillary Clinton’s rival Bernie Sanders, a socialist who has been making significant gains in the polls.
Bill Clinton noted that many people are “hacked off”, feeling that political systems are stacked in favour of the rich, and that candidates like Trump look to some like they can break political gridlock, an infamous feature of Washington politics.
Image Credit – Bill Clinton, Civil Rights Summit, April 2014 by LBJ Foundation
