On the debate stage Sunday night, we saw a lifelong public servant with total grasp of the issues and concrete plans to take the nation forward. And we saw a fraudulent boor who knows nothing about anything and brags about groping women. Let’s not pretend anymore that we have an actual choice.
Let’s not pretend there is any question about who “won” the debate, because only one candidate — Hillary Clinton — actually debated. Donald Trump did nothing but spew dangerous and incoherent nonsense, demonstrating in the process how fortunate we are that his electoral prospects finally seem to be circling the drain.
“circling the drain” — sounds about right.
Those are the first two paragraphs of Trump can’t stop his campaign’s death spiral, Robinson’s column for Tuesday’s Washington Post.
In his next paragraph Robinson notes Trump’s threat to go after Clinton through the Department of Justice then writes
I believe those have to be the most shockingly un-American words ever uttered at a presidential debate, and they made me sick to my stomach.
most shockingly un-American sounds about right.
He makes the comparison with banana republics, then pivots to the Access Hollywood tape, about which I would note that there are still a shocking number of Americans who have not yet seen it.
Examining the approach Trump took in the debate, he writes
The message to the GOP establishment was clear: If you join the exodus, I’ll pull the whole party down with me.
But of course, as Robinson reminds us, the polls show that Trump’s support was already plummeting. Then noting what Paul Ryan said yesterday, Robinson notes
That could be the death knell the Trump campaign so richly deserves.
Of the excuse that the words on the tape were just locker room talk, Robinson opines
Trump was essentially claiming that his moral character does not matter. But of course it does.
Robinson then pivots to Trump’s attempts to rattle Clinton with the stunts with the 4 women, and notes it failed because she remained composed. He t reinforced by mentioning the lurking, to hammer the point home.
He concludes with these words:
As for substance, she offered plenty and Trump offered none. Campaign aides have tried to get him to learn something about health-care policy, or the Syrian conflict, or his own tax plan. Those aides have failed.
Trump lost the debate. Now he should lose the election and go away.
I agree — Trump no longer has anything he can do or say to recover. He is totally dependent on outside events — aka Vladimir Putin — to even bring him close.