Tonight, it's on.
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton will finally meet one-on-one in a presidential debate. Even describing it right now feels like I'm talking about a cage match.
This election has been nasty from the start: There's no way around it.
Clinton and Trump are polar opposites. And yet, for two people in such an excessively heated race, the candidates seem to have an awfully friendly history.
Let's take the early '90s, for example: Back then, Trump had taken his two elder sons to the White House with him, and they had met with Hillary Clinton. He would later write, "The First Lady is a wonderful woman who has handled pressure incredibly well."
Or how about the time Donald Trump went out of his way to defend the indefensible incident of 1999?
Just before the turn of the century – in an interview with The New York Times – Trump tried to downplay the Monica Lewinsky scandal for his old pal, Bill. He said,
It's sad because he would go down as a great President if he had not had this scandal. People would have been more forgiving if he'd had an affair with a really beautiful woman of sophistication. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe were on a different level.
Clearly, Trump was a fan of the Clintons.
And it's easy to see why: Trump is a powerful New York businessman, and the Clintons are a powerful New York family.
It's no surprise that they'd run into each other at fundraisers, as they did during the summer of 2000. At the time, Clinton's vice president, Al Gore, was running for president.
Trump has also openly said that he's donated to Clinton's political endeavors. It's been well-documented that he's given money to the Clinton Foundation.
But nothing tops the most infamous Trump-Clinton moment, when the two clans took a picture together at the businessman's wedding to Melania.
Their cordial relationship even lasted well into President Obama's presidency. Here's Trump in March 2012, talking about how much he likes both Bill and Hillary, and how he's known them for a long time.
And even as Trump pushed the often debunked idea of Obama being born outside the United States, President Clinton repeated a similar line two months later, in May 2012. He told CNN,
You know, Donald Trump has been uncommonly nice to Hillary and me. We're all New Yorkers. And I like him. And I love playing golf with him.
We can tell, Bill.
The love affair between the two famous families wasn't only reserved for the patriarchs. Trump even praised Chelsea Clinton during the 2012 election season, saying she got the "best" of the Clinton traits.
And, of course, that brings us to Chelsea and Ivanka's friendship. These two rich kids of New York have a well-known relationship that has seemingly endured even this fiery election season.
All in all, the evidence seems clear.
So, even when you watch the two candidates trade jabs tonight, never forget that the Clintons and Trumps are the best of frenemies.
