Donald Trump called former President Bill Clinton “one of the great abusers of the world” and said women “don’t like Hillary Clinton” at an end-of-2015 rally Wednesday in Hilton Head, S.C.
The Republican White House frontrunner said he had “no choice” but to go on the attack against the Clintons given charges of sexism from the leading Democratic presidential candidate.
{mosads}“You can’t let people push you around. You can’t let people tell lies,” Trump said, adding that “nobody respects women more than Donald Trump.”
“She’s hitting me really hard with the women card,” Trump said. “She’s not going to win.”
Trump then turned to her female base: “Women don’t like Hillary. I see it all the time.”
The business mogul this week has put a renewed emphasis on attacking the Clintons, including reports of Bill Clinton’s adulterous relationships.
It’s a line of attack that Trump believes could undermine Hillary Clinton’s support with women while also hurting the former president’s image. Bill Clinton is expected to be a powerful surrogate on the campaign trail for his wife.
“I had to mention her husband’s situation,” Trump said Wednesday, adding that it’s a “tremendous abuse of women.”
Trump also knocked Clinton for neglecting to mention him in her final town hall of 2015 in New Hampshire on Tuesday, instead fielding questions from children and focusing on issues close to the Democratic front-runner.
The billionaire businessman went on to tie Clinton to his GOP rival, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who frequently spars with Trump but continues to lag behind him in polls.
“Hillary is a disaster. She’s controlled by her money, so is Jeb,” Bush said. “She has lower energy than Jeb Bush.”
Trump holds a strong lead in South Carolina’s GOP primary, according to a RealClearPolitics average. The early-voting state will holds its GOP primary on Feb. 20.