Ross: 1990s Clinton controversy gives Trump a useful template

You young folks won’t remember, but for some of us, recent revelations about President Trump’s real estate deals are a little trip down memory lane.

And, because it has happened before, there is a template the president can follow if it comes up in the debate tonight.

First, talk about the money being wasted on investigations.

“This thing’s been going on for over three years – tens of millions of dollars have been spent,” then-President Bill Clinton said in 1997, at the tail-end of the now-infamous Whitewater controversy.

Point out you have been repeatedly vindicated.

“There have been, by the way, two federal reports by independent agencies that what I said and what my wife said were true,” Clinton detailed.

Point out that you actually lost money.

“This whole inquiry is all about two people who lost money on a real estate deal made almost 19 years ago now,” Clinton said.

And then righteously declare that nothing is going to distract you from the job at hand.

“There are too many people in Washington, D.C., that spend all their time trying to destroy each other, and not enough time trying to build up the American people,” Clinton stated. “I’m going to spend all my time doing the American people’s business.”

And that’s how he got re-elected, despite losing $40,000 in a real estate deal, and famously taking a $6 tax deduction for three pairs of used underwear. All Trump has to do is add a few zeros.

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