| The Sunday night debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump has to be assessed in the context of the Trump’s claim of having made multiple sexual assaults. On Friday a videotape surfaced in which Trump was heard claiming, in lewd language, that he had attempted, but failed, to seduce a married woman. In addition, he bragged that he kissed women on the mouth and groped their genitals without their consent because as a media star, they could not repel his actions. By Saturday, these behaviors had been roundly condemned and a number of Republicans, some of whom had previously supported Trump, announced they could no longer support him. To deflect the charges of sexual assault against him, Trump began to raise the issue of Bill Clinton’s philandering and charge that Bill Clinton was guilty of rape while Trump himself was only guilty of using lewd language. To reinforce the rape charge against Bill and support the claim that Hillary helped silence and intimidate women charging Bill, Trump brought out four of the women alleging sexual predation by Bill in a bizarre staged event prior to the debate. Only Trump seemed oblivious to how his predatory sexual behavior and his use of four women as illustrative decoration, both represent the objectification of women. |
| On Sunday, prior to the debate, Trump continued to lose support from well-known Republicans and face a rumble of calls for him to be removed from the ticket, if possible. Before Friday one would presume that Trump’s primary strategic goal was to gain support, especially among white women. By Sunday’s town hall debate, Trump’s goal had to be stemming the flow of support from Republican notables. Hillary’s goals were to maintain the Presidential demeanor and exhibit the substantive expertise with which she had carried the first debate. Also, in light of the calls to replace Trump with Mike Pence as the Republican presidential candidate, one can presume that Hillary did not want to outdo him so much that the calls to replace him would increase. Both Trump and Hillary achieved their goals. Trump was able to staunch the flow of Republican establishment support and Hillary appeared knowledgeable and Presidential without knocking Trump out of the box. Of course, Trump was descending while Hillary was climbing in the polls before Friday night. That trend is expected to continue. Further, Trump’s subsequent behavior is likely to make matters worse for his campaign rather than better. The probability of a Trump Presidency is growing more and more remote by the day. Rather than who will win the Presidential election, the question now is what will a Hillary Clinton administration look like. |