Donald Trump seems to forget: Hillary Clinton is running for president, not Bill

To Donald Trump, it does not seem to matter. In his view, they are essentially the same person because they are married to each other.

By convening several women who have accused her husband of sexual assault - and attempting to seat them in the Trump family box at last night's debate - the Republican nominee for president appeared as if he were campaigning against Bill, not Hillary. In Trump's first responses to the hot-mic video from 2005, rather than genuinely apologize for his words, he made a boys-will-be-boys statement, saying, "Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course - not even close."

These allegations against Bill Clinton are not new. As my Washington Post colleague Glenn Kessler has pointed out, Bill admitted being unfaithful to Hillary, but he has denied the accusations of Paula Jones, Juanita Broaddrick and Kathleen Willey, who were at Sunday night's debate. (The fourth woman present, Kathy Shelton, wasn't a Bill accuser; Hillary was tapped to defend a man Shelton accused of rape.)

Hillary Clinton has had to publicly address her husband's infidelity for decades and has stood by him throughout. But she has also gone on and had her own political career. In hosting this news conference, and in his golf-course statement, Trump seems not to realize that Hillary and Bill are two different people. That being married to someone accused of sexual assault is not the same thing as talking about women as if you, yourself, freely assault them.

At the news conference before Sunday night's debate, Broaddrick said: "Mr. Trump may have said some bad words. But Bill Clinton raped me, and Hillary Clinton threatened me. I don't think there's any comparison."

Yet by placing the women's accusations side by side with Trump's recorded conversation condoning sexual assault, the Republican nominee is attempting to make comparisons. He is comparing his comments to a former president's alleged actions, saying, I'm not that bad - look at this other guy.

But that other guy is not running for president. And his wife is not responsible for his actions, alleged or otherwise.

In speaking about women as if their consent does not matter, Trump has already made clear that he does not consider women to be autonomous beings. That what a man wants - what a famous man wants - he gets. That impulse can be seen in the way Trump talks over Clinton; the way he invades her personal space; the way he threatens to jail her.

By attempting to make Hillary Clinton look guilty by association, he is again ignoring a woman's autonomy.