Gennifer Flowers Might Appear At The Debate

As if the 2016 presidential election wasn't strange, tiring, problematic, enough as it is, things are getting even stranger, more tiring, and problematic. Former President Bill Clinton's various skeletons are apparently fair game for GOP nominee Donald Trump, who has proven time and time again that he's not very presidential. Most recently, he has threatened to bring back a former lover of Clinton's just in time for the first presidential debate on Sept. 26. So who is Gennifer Flowers?

The model and actress reportedly had a sexual relationship with the former president in 1998 and Trump is threatening to seat her in the front row of Monday's debate because, apparently, Flowers is somehow relevant to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's bid for the White House. Trump made the threat via Twitter (unsurprisingly) after the Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was invited by the Clinton campaign to sit in the front row at the debate. According to the Clinton aide who spoke with CNN, Cuban was invited because "he has proven to be singularly effective in making the case against Trump and for Clinton."

In retaliation, Trump tweeted: "If dopey Mark Cuban of failed Benefactor fame wants to sit in the front row, perhaps I will put Gennifer Flowers right alongside of him!" Clearly he was nervous about Cuban being a distraction at the debate.

I personally don't see how Flowers is at all relevant to the election or to Clinton's campaign. Then again, I don't understand most of Trump's ostentatious claims and actions. To some extent, it seems that part of his strategy for the election is to just insult everyone else and pull out the "receipts" so that he doesn't have to talk about his own platform.

In 1998, Flowers had an affair with the former president, which is something he reportedly admitted at the time when he was under oath, according to CNN. This wouldn't be the first time that Trump has dug up former President Clinton's previous extramarital affairs as a campaign strategy: He has alluded to Clinton's relationship with his former intern Monica Lewinsky, telling reporters in Florida in July that during the DNC, "The story told by [Bill] last night, he left out the most interesting chapter. I won’t get into that." He added, "the chapter that I waited for, I never heard. He left it out."

Frankly, it's time Trump stops playing these cards. The need for him to step up with some actual policies and platforms is long overdue. As for Flowers, I guess we'll have to wait and see whether she gets her front row seat after all.