Trump Economic Adviser: “I don’t know why so many people in America hate Hillary Clinton,”

On the one hand and on the other. The Los Angeles Times has the details:

Peter Navarro, an outspoken member of Trump’s economic advisory team, called it “sweet manna from heaven.”

It was the day Hillary Clinton came to San Diego to give his run for Congress a boost...  in San Diego in 1996.

Navarro was a Democrat then, and had then written quite extensively about the virtues of the free trade deals he now reviles. In his 1998 tell-all memoir “San Diego Confidential,” Navarro details his encounter with Clinton alongside a large picture of the two standing together with wide grins.

“I don’t know why so many people in America hate Hillary Clinton,” Navarro wrote. “I found her to be one of the most gracious, intelligent, perceptive, and, yes, classy women I have ever met.” He wrote admiringly of how Clinton lured 3,000 people to come to his rally the Saturday before election day, and stirred up an enthusiasm he had not previously experienced.

“Walking up to the podium before the cheering crowd, I felt like the pope in Buenos Aires, Larry Bird in the Boston Garden, and Billy Graham in Oklahoma all rolled into one. What a thrill it is to give a speech to a crowd that roars with approval at your every utterance!”

Reached by phone, Navarro said he was simply among the many in the 1990s where were seduced by the charm and power of the Clintons...

Navarro said his “evolution” to judging the Clintons to be “two of the most corrupt political figures in American history” came only years later, as he focused his research on the trade deals they pursued, their effect on the economy, and the donations from foreign leaders that flowed to their foundation. He now accuses them of running “an arrogant scam” that is “Bernie Madoff-esque.”...

Now he smiles as crowds at Trump rallies chant, “Lock her up.” Navarro calls Clinton “almost like the sociopath who does not know right from wrong.”...

But the economist also said then he had no regrets, writing, “The Hillary rally was a heavenly experience.”