Trump Attacked Clinton For Watching Adele

During an interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump criticized Hillary Clinton for watching Adele in concert. “Nobody complains when she goes to an Adele concert all night long, while I’m making two speeches at rallies with, you know, massive crowds,” Trump told Stephanopoulos Wednesday, in response to a question about the criticism he's received for taking time off from his presidential campaign to attend the opening of his Washington, D.C. hotel.

“I built one of the great hotels of the world... What am I supposed to do, not show up?,” Trump told Stephanopoulos. “I can’t take one hour off to cut a ribbon at one of the great hotels of the world? I mean, I think I’m entitled to it.” He then pivoted to his presidential opponent, who attended an Adele concert in Miami on Tuesday night. “I think it’s so unfair," Trump said, "Hillary Clinton goes to see an Adele concert last night, and everybody says, ‘Oh, wasn’t that nice. Isn’t that wonderful?’”

Attacking the former secretary of state for attending an Adele concert was a bad political move on Trump's part for a few reasons.

First and foremost, Adele is pretty universally beloved — but perhaps no demographic reveres her more than suburban moms. Try finding a minivan in Lower Merion, Pennsylvania or Shaker Heights, Ohio that hasn't blasted "Someone Like You." One of the big groups Trump needs to have in his corner to eek out a win on Nov. 8 really freakin' likes Adele. Clinton probably only seems more relatable and not as dishonest, distrusted, and "crooked" as she's been perceived this election.

Secondly, there are many substantive issues that Trump could be hammering Clinton about — and should be hammering her about if he wants to win. And I mean hammer, not just tweet or mention it a few times. The Podesta emails drop more questionable to flat-out disconcerting information about the Clintons nearly every day. This includes, but by no means is limited to, the fact that President Barack Obama may have known about her private server before he publicly stated he did, and that Clinton's team tried to scramble to "clean this up." She was also discouraged from her "huge flip flop" on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and there's evidence Clinton received a question in advance from Donna Brazile before a CNN primary debate (Brazile and CNN have denied this claim).

There's also the fact that Clinton's right-hand woman, Huma Abedin, referred to the American Israel Public Affairs Council (AIPAC) as "that crowd," and discouraged Bill Clinton from speaking to the group — which could certainly be seen as more than hinting at anti-Semitism (as an American Jew, I certainly sensed some). Also, as The Atlantic's David A. Graham noted, Trump hasn't pressed her "head-on" on the pay-to-play concerns about the ties between the Clinton Foundation and the State Department under her leadership.

Perhaps Trump has some sour grapes toward Adele, since the Grammy-Award-winning singer gave a shout-out to Clinton at her concert Tuesday night. She said of Trump, "Don't vote for him," and added, “I can’t vote, but I am 100 percent for Hillary Clinton. I love her, she’s amazing.” But you know what? Let it go, Donald. If you want to win, focus on your real target.

Also, pro tip: Attacking Adele is never a winning strategy.