Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. 

By Britt Nelson

Despite everything that’s happened this week, from disgusting juvenile comments demeaning a woman to Sunday night’s debate, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump remains a contender in his campaign against Democrat Hillary Clinton. Many are saying that Trump is finished but national polls still show him within striking distance for the Nov. 8 national election.

Last Friday the Washington Post newspaper released a damning audio tape secretly recorded that caught Trump trash talking about a woman with lewd and vulgar comments that sent the Trump campaign into a crisis causing dozens of fellow Republicans to withdraw their former endorsements for Trump in a knee-jerk reaction.

According to news reports, the leaked audio tape was recorded in New York City as Trump was traveling on a private bus to a TV studio to be a guest on a daytime soap opera. It was uncovered from the archives of NBC News and released to the Washington Post for publication to intentionally cause the most political damage possible before the second debate in a blaring show of media bias.

Quick to react, Trump issued a videotaped apology that did little to lessen the tsunami of criticism that washed ashore just two days before the second Clinton-Trump town-hall format debate in St. Louis.

“This was locker-room talk and I am not proud of it. I have apologized to my family and the American people,” Trump said near the beginning of the debate. From there the questions from the CNN and ABC News moderators plus pre-selected questions from the audience ranged from the Affordable Care Act health insurance to national security, illegal immigrants flooding into the USA, leaked excerpts of Clinton’s Wall Street speeches and Trump’s failure to release his past tax returns. Even four of former President Bill Clinton’s female sexual-abuse accusers were sitting in the debate audience in full view of his wife, Hillary Clinton, who in the past has called these same women “bimbos.”

The debate audience cheered loudly when Trump stated that if he’s elected he would direct his attorney general to select a special prosecutor to look into Clinton’s past for anything prosecutable involving her highly criticized private email system and the subsequent FBI investigation, as well as allegedly lying before the U.S. Congress when Clinton gave 11 hours of testimony under oath involving the Benghazi incident in Libya in which four Americans were killed while she was U.S. Secretary of State under President Obama’s first term.

The third and final Clinton-Trump debate is set for Oct. 19 in Las Vegas.

Political commentators across the board are saying Trump’s vulgar comments and Sunday’s debate did little or nothing to change the way American voters view Trump or Clinton. It’s too soon after the debate for national polls to measure the effect of Trump’s lewd comments and the debate upon voters, but Clinton maintains a 3.7 percentage point lead nationwide over Trump, according to Real Clear Politics 4-way poll averaging that includes third-party candidates Libertarian Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein.

The final question from the audience asked both candidates to say something positive about each other. Clinton answered first saying she admired Trump’s children for their good character and devoted support of their father. Trump, meanwhile, complimented Clinton on her perseverance and her ability to fight on and not give up. Then Trump and Clinton shook hands, something they did not do at the beginning of the debate which did not go unnoticed.

Both sides are claiming victory in the debate, which is expected. But Sunday night the voters got to see just how far this presidential race has sunk to the level of a cheap, tawdry soap opera full of sex, lies and audio tape. The Monday morning news shows on CNN, CBS, NBS, ABC and Fox News were ablaze with pro and anti-Trump comments mixed with Clinton’s supporters bashing Trump.

It’s hard to tell who won the second debate but that’s not the point. Voters got to see these two candidates, neither of which represents the highest of values, go at each other with verbal assaults on their character. This presidential race is not about these two personalities, but rather the future of the American way of life as interpreted by the U.S. Congress and future rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court that affect everyone.

In a few days national polls will again show a snap shot of the America voter, but the Nov. 8 election – less than a month away – will decide the fate of the United States of America for a generation or longer. Polls are like a bikini — what they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital.

 

About the Author

Britt Nelson relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he served as news editor for the Palatka Daily News, a newspaper owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group (NYT-RNG) for 20 years.

Nelson served the NYT-RNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, staff writer, senior staff writer training new reporters, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member.