A made-for-TV drama about the Clinton-Lewinsky sex scandal couldn’t debut at a worse possible time — just weeks before the 2020 presidential election.
FX has announced that “American Crime Story: Impeachment” will chronicle former President Bill Clinton’s encounter with then-White House intern Monica Lewinsky and the impeachment proceedings that followed.
The release date, Sept. 27, 2020 — could be a political pain for Democrats. Election Day is on Nov. 3.
“Timing is everything and the timing they chose couldn’t be worse for the Democrats,” said political consultant Hank Sheinkopf, whose clients have included Clinton and former Mayor Mike Bloomberg. “It’ll be a great day for Donald Trump.”
Veteran TV reporter Mark Harris tweeted, “Airing this during the final six weeks of the 2020 election is an abysmal idea … I hope FX reconsiders the timing.”
Filmmaker April Wolfe added, “I’m sure this new American Crime Story will be interesting and good but am also sure I won’t be able to handle it coming out right around the 2020 election when Trump desperately wants to rehash Trump vs. Clinton.”
Although neither Bill nor Hillary will be on the ticket, the TV show could haunt whichever Dem becomes the party’s standard-bearer, Sheinkopf said.
“The question will be, especially with the Me Too movement … where was [Joe] Biden and all the others and why didn’t they act? Why didn’t they protect this woman?” he said.
The show’s creator, Ryan Murphy, thought it was integral for Lewinsky to be part of the project, and she has agreed to be a co-producer.
“I told her, ‘Nobody should tell your story but you, and it’s kind of gross if they do,” he told The Hollywood Reporter.
Lewinsky said that after decades of her story being told at her expense, she was ambivalent — but later changed her mind.
“People have been co-opting and telling my part in this story for decades,” she told Vanity Fair.
“In fact, it wasn’t until the past few years that I’ve been able to fully reclaim my narrative; almost 20 years later.”
The decades-old story will be at the forefront of voters’ minds as it airs, and will “mobilize the evangelicals” and other religious groups, Sheinkopf said.
“[Lewinsky] is finally going to get her revenge against the Democrats for not standing up for her,” he said. “Republicans should send her flowers, chocolates, gifts.”
But another Democratic strategist, Joe Trippi, waved off the notion that any of the party’s candidates could be tarred by the Clinton scandal.
“How would Beto [O’Rourke], for example, possibly be tied in to that?” he asked. “And Joe Biden ran against Hilary … I just don’t see it being germane to the presidential campaign.”
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