Donald J. Trump (Evan Vucci/AP)
Thuggish and menacing behavior, his special brand of inappropriate bullying that has blown him to the top of the GOP ticket, Donald J. Trump dragged down the campaign for the presidency to a new low last night during the second debate by threatening his opponent with incarceration, accusing her husband of 'much worse' behavior than his own bombshell publicized recording of his admission to sexual crimes on women and repeating his already debunked and fact checked laundry list of grievances against Secretary Clinton that continue to remain mostly untrue.
To have a presidential contender threaten his opponent with the words "You'd be in jail" if he were President is unparalleled in American history. The peaceful and orderly transfer of power, regardless of the enmity of the political narrative during campaigns, has been a hallmark of American democracy and a bedrock acknowledgement that the trust in the will of the people supersedes petty differences between candidates. Trump has built a huge grass roots support from Americans which a RealClearPolitics poll says are older, less educated and earn less than the average Republican, that he has whipped up with hateful, divisive and cruel rhetoric on the stump and across social media over the past year.
Watching his support falter among the powerful and common people at once, 48 hours before the debate with the leaked video and recorded admission on an Access Hollywood 'hot mike' video from 2005, Trump was heard bragging that "when he meets beautiful women he feels able to "grab them by the pussy" "You can do anything," he continued. "When you're a star they let you do it." This resulted in GOP fallout that was devastating as 22 GOP officials in office denounced and withdrew their support from the candidate within the following two days. Paul Ryan (R-WI), Speaker of the House, stated that he will not withdraw his endorsement of Trump but will no longer defend or campaign with the GOP nominee, dis-inviting Trump from a planned mutual appearance the day before the debate.
Trump, in response, came to the debates with the single minded goal of destroying his opponent with his own unique talents for cruel, gutter-based antagonism. The same menacing tactics and verbal combat that have shaped his business model for decades where he charms the investors, bullies, degrades, slanders and denigrates the competition.
But we have to look to totalitarian regimes to find equivalent threats or actions of Trump's 'jail time' comment during the debates. Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez was jailed last year for a 14 year sentence on what the ex-prosecutor who has fled that country now says was 100% fabricated case. Putin's opponent Mikhail Khodorkovsky was jailed for 10 years on politically motivated charges. The arresting of the opposition leader in the Congo, Moise Katumbi, on a three year sentence for the charge of anti-government protests takes him out of the running. It is the same behavior we've decried as the enemy of liberty and that Donald Trump embraced on the debate floor when the threatened his opponent four weeks before a national election.
Hillary Clinton
Secretary Clinton, for her part, never once took the bait. She reiterated her commitment to 'when they go low, you go high' tactic, and continued to talk about the issues, most notably speaking to the concerns of undecided voters as each candidate feels confident their base will show up on election day to support them. For many she remained the adult in the room with her calm and measured approach to each question exhibiting a Presidential quality .
When both candidates discussed their talking points the debate felt stilted, only coming alive in the bitter back and forth between Trump's endless blaming rhetoric, continually ignoring a question to blast another prosecutorial barb at his opponent, while Clinton continually responded that Trump was incorrect yet again, avoiding the word 'liar' that he tossed at her repeatedly, and directing viewers to her website where they were fact checking her opponent in real time. Trump continued to repeat his barn storming sound bites that get him cheers on the campaign trail blaming the Secretary for everything he could think of, including the Iran peace treaty which was completed two years after she was out of office.
Republican strategist Steve Schmidt said the debate "was like watching a cobra and a mongoose in a steel cage."
Clinton kept to her script of talking points on helping families, her record in helping foster children and being a champion for women's rights at home and globally. She was speaking directly to the 'soccer mom' demographic now famously undecided this late in the game, and famously in Pennsylvania and elsewhere across the country. She talked about building a coalition to fight ISIS, and to be tough on the Russians who were bombing Syria. Trump countered that as Senator why didn't she do anything then? "Because there was a Republican President," she countered, which got scattered applause.
By the numbers Trump is strong with women in his own base, by slightly over half. The deep concern in his camp after the reveal of his offensive recording of lewd statements about women will erode that support, which is crucial as he's currently polling nationally about seven points behind Clinton. Clinton was speaking to them directly when she repeated her work for women's rights globally, her work as a senator to improve adoption for foster kids and the eight million children who received insurance which was her signature policy issue when she was First Lady.
The question for many voters now, the numbed and desensitized electorate, disgusted as they are at the political machine in this country is: does the office of President still require a test of character? Trump's lack of character has been one of his strongest points as his 'anti-candidate' status let him rise to such heights as an outsider to be a finalist in the nomination for leader of the most powerful country of the world. But will a man who's never held public office, has 3500 lawsuits against him over three decades, recorded a billion dollars of losses in his failed businesses in 1995 allowing him to avoid paying federal taxes for the last two decades, who cheated hundreds and possibly thousands of small contractors and employees out of fair contracted payments through harassment and threats of litigation to take pennies on the dollar of what he owed them and who carries an estimated $685 million dollars in debt to foreign banks be qualified to hold public office? And if all that didn't dissuade voters, many are saying the new revelation of his predatorial sexual behavior towards women will be the final straw that broke the electorate's back.
On the other side a relentless two decade campaign to discredit the Clinton's has finally worked its magic, revealed last year by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who when on track to become speaker of the house after John Boener announced his retirement said:" "Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. Why? Because she's untrustable. But no one would have known any of that had happened, had we not fought."
The gaffe revealed a rare glimpse into GOP back room tactics and proved to be McCarthy's own undoing as Paul Ryan was picked to replace John Boehner over him. Two GOP commissions each spending millions of dollars were concluded and there has never been one criminal charge against Secretary Clinton. But that hasn't stopped the talk of a third commission to be started and one can now deduce it's not to find any answers, but merely to keep her on an endless trial for the political advantage of keeping her suspect.
To many veterans of political campaigns the civility expected as common place during the long road to the White House, Trump's tantrum throwing, erratic and occasionally un-hinged behavior has turned a curiosity into a behemoth whose endless disgraceful remarks against Mexicans, Latinos, African Americans, President Obama, women, POWs, fellow GOP public servants and anyone else who he might causally find disfavor with, would have disqualified him from a neighborhood watch committee, let alone any public office, and certainly not the office of the President. But in the year of the anti-character, this only seemed to prove his authenticity of a 'straight talker.' But his straight talk is laced with bigoted statements and racist epithets. His major campaign promise is to build a wall between Mexico and the United States to keep 'the Mexicans' out. He promises to deport 11 million undocumented illegal aliens. He has called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States. His inability to denounce David Duke immediately upon the ex-KKK leader's support, or denouncing other white nationalist groups supporting him have emboldened hate groups across the country who were used to hiding in the shadows and communicate only within their own networks. They now proudly blast their hateful rhetoric across public social media and show up en mass to Trump's public events. Voters in opposition to Trump now want to remake Trump's slogan of "Make America Great Again' into 'Make Racists Afraid Again."
But the question for the anti-character candidate, who uses language as a means to an end, not caring how true the content is, and acts continually without repentance uncaring and unapologetic to anyone hurt in his path, as if proving they are above the 'rules of the game' as the only way to prove they are authentic, is how far an inappropriate action is too far?
The outrage and disgust so many have felt about Trump's acknowledgement of committing sex crimes on women merely because of his entitlement, have left many with a bitter taste in their mouth that some political pundits feel won't wash out. And that is even among his own base. "When people show you who they are, believe them" is the famous quote from Maya Angelou and which Clinton mentioned in the first debate.
H.L. Menken put it succinctly at the turn of the last century:
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."
It's up to the voters to be the guardian at that gate and keep the Banana Republic that Trump operates in his office suite atop Trump Tower, hidden in his castle, locked up in a tower of his own making, debt ridden and complaining at how unfair the world is to him, back in the shadows where he belongs.