America makes a show of everything. The nation’s ability to add an entertaining component out of everything it does is perhaps one of the things that set it apart from other countries in the world. Gather your friends around, buy some beers and popcorns, and be prepare for the biggest political show this Sunday as Donal Trump, the Republican Party candidate for president squares up with Hillary Clinton the Democratic Party candidate in the second presidential debate.
After some hasty unscientific polls conducted minutes after the record-breaking debate on September 26 claimed that Trump had the upper hand, it is now generally agreed that Clinton bested her populist challenger.
After the debate, Trump had claimed that he took things easy and suggested that he restrained himself from attacking the personality of Mrs Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton. Soon after the debate, the Trump campaign was already talking about switching his style in the second debate and be more confrontational.
But after Friday’s release of a 2005 video where Mr Trump was heard making lewd and degrading comments about women, it clear that the businessman-turn-politician will throw caution to the wind and come out swinging from all corners.
He stated this much in a video apology released on Friday night. He subsequently blamed the media and his rival for conspiring to bring him down while ignoring the sexual predatory past of Mrs Clinton’s husband.
The release of the video now being referred in the media the #TrumpTape, has hit the Trump campaign like a tsunami, causing at least 36 top members of his party to disavow their support for him. There is an increasing call for him to drop out of the race. Though he stated that he would not consider it in a million year and was in the race to the end.
Trump is the real Teflon Don. No matter what he does or says nothing seems to stick to him. Like he himself said he could shoot someone in the street and his core supporters would still not withdraw their support for him.
But this one seems to be different. Forget the defiant non-apology, forget the tough talk, Trump’s campaign is sinking faster than the Titanic. According to a New York Times report quoting insiders, the Trump campaign is going through a meltdown.
“Aides described Mr Trump as shaken, watching news coverage of the video with a mix of disbelief and horror,” the newspaper wrote. According to the paper after initially stating that the tape will not elicit so much outrage, Trump became worried as leading Republicans started avoiding him like he had Ebola. Even his running mate Mike Pence, issued a statement condemning the lewd comments. He, however, asked American to accept Trump’s apology and focus on the real issues in the election.
Also, Mrs Clinton is dealing with a crisis of her own. Email released by whistle-blowing site, Wikileaks, appear to show some difference between her public stance on free trade and those she espoused in private paid-for-speeches granted to Wall Street executives.
Conflicting stance on critical issues is the reason why she elicits much distrust among many of her traducers. Many people see her a dishonest, manipulative and untrustworthy.
While the Clinton campaign is yet to specifically respond to some of the issues highlighted in the email hack, it is blaming Russia for hacking her email in order to help Trump win the election.
It is hoped that he would be asked questions about these email today. How she answers them will help in forming how would be perceived in the eye of the American public. She should also be ready to confront the barrage of attacks about her husband’s rowdy past, at least Trump has said that would be the focus of his campaign in the coming days.
She has been accused of attacking and threatening her husband’s accusers.
Today’s debate might break the record created less than two weeks ago by their first debate. Many people will tune in to see how trump will respond to direct question about lewd comments and whether Mrs Clinton will want to push the angle further or allow Trump self-immolate like he is wont to do when caught in a corner.
