At Donald Trump's "No Labels" townhall event in New Hampshire Monday night, one audience member stood and attacked him as being anti-woman. Trump handled the question as Trump does, but today he posted on Twitter slamming the whole thing as a setup from the Bush campaign.
"@Politics_Reddit: That feminist who called out Trump last night? She's a Jeb intern. http://t.co/aRroatryt6" Jeb always gets caught, sad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 13, 2015
The video of the moment is above. His tweet links to a post from blog Last Refuge which elaborates on the fact that the woman who asked the question, Lauren Batchelder, worked previously with Jeb's campaign, though whether she was paid or not is unclear. Last refuge also has the spin from CNN:
For their part, Bush's camp acknowledged the connection, but claimed no responsibility for her appearance at the Trump event.
“Like many in NH, Lauren is a student at St. A’s who is passionate about and active in politics and attended this event on her own accord. While this question was not sanctioned by the campaign, we can’t help but notice Mr. Trump does seem to be very sensitive about being challenged by women,” a campaign aide said.
That last line is a blunder in itself, as Ed Morrissey at Hot Air explains:
So if Batchelder is a plant, she maneuvered Trump into … proclaiming his pro-life creds in front of a potentially hostile audience? Er … a sick burn it ain’t. Even if Batchelder went there on her own, this exchange raises some uncomfortable questions for the Bush campaign. Jeb Bush has a very good record as a pro-life governor, but Batchelder’s arguing pro-choice and largely debunked income-inequality positions and demanding government intervention on both.
What Republican candidate would not react negatively to a question that presumes every possible left-wing trope?
Planted or not, this works out fine for Trump and not so fine for Jeb Bush. But the real winner, as usual, is Twitter.
@EdMorrissey @CalebHowe these are also bush plants pic.twitter.com/6qwvRIyasU
— Bizarro Sirotá (@dad_of_jacob) October 13, 2015
