Some Post-Debate Season Thoughts

I wrote last week of potential for people to hold on to biases even in the face of logic, and while I’m still sure there are women who will continue to vote for Trump, allow me to submit that Clinton has stood out as a better candidate for president in comparison. In each debate, there was a moment when Trump seemed angry and on edge.

For those whose rider is decently in control of their elephant (reasoning able to overcome one’s biases rather than search for ways to validate it), they would have to admit that this last debate wasn’t the performance needed to get his campaign out of the dumps, one notable reason:

Wallace: But, sir, there is a tradition in this country, in fact, one of the prides of this country is the peaceful transition of power and no matter how hard fought a campaign is that at the end of the campaign, that the loser concedes to the winner. Not saying you're necessarily going to be the loser or the winner, but that the loser concedes to the winner and the country comes together in part for the good of the country. Are you saying you're not prepared now to commit to that principle?
Trump: What I’m saying is that I will tell you at the time. I'll keep you in suspense, okay?

And Trump kept voters in suspense for a day before announcing that he won't accept the results. But casting that tidbit aside, the fact that he refused to honor the results if he didn't win isn't something that should surprise people. He did the exact same thing when he refused to say that he wouldn't run as a third party candidate if he lost the primaries. But as the moderator said, one of the most important aspects of this country is continuing its stability through a peaceful transition of power. Trump's refusal to adhere to that transition on national television made him seem petty.

As for Clinton’s performances during the debates, I don’t entirely buy this Huffington Post headline that suggested #IamaNastyWoman became a call of solidarity for Hillary. Yes, to many women that moment might have made Clinton seem relatable. But given the virality of hashtags, participation usually means that people were inclined to support her or bash Trump in the first place. Clinton’s poll rise seems more about the actions of her opponent than of Clinton herself--not only did he cause the two hashtags of the previous debate, but also made himself appear defensive for the past few weeks.

Vox’s Ezra Klein, who is one of their chief writers covering the election, says that Clinton’s success in the debates was largely due to her ability to exploit and attack Trump based on his weaknesses and knock him off-balance:

Klein made a valid point about Clinton’s preparation to set the Alicia Machado trap. That much is evidenced by the press tour and the way Clinton drives much of her attacks on Trump about how he treats women. At the same time, however, I wouldn’t give Clinton’s debate performance all the credit for her rise in the polls.

From his meltdown on Twitter following the first debate and onwards from that moment, Trump had been reeling to widen the poll gap between him and Clinton. And once left off-balance, it was hard to get back to his numbers before the debates. When he used the women’s panel before the second debate, for instance, it was a sign that he was desperate to improve his image, so much so that he didn’t seem to have spent a lot of time to prepare for the debate.

By the time of the third debate Trump had, perhaps, acknowledged defeat in his own way. Once spinning the narrative of Crooked Hillary wasn’t giving him the campaign punch he needed, Trump began to sell another narrative--the election is rigged. In this narrative, the establishment GOP and Dems are out to get him for exposing issues within their own parties. Crooked Hillary is actually terrible to women, but her supporters will resort to ballot stuffing. The media doesn’t like him because he calls things as he sees them without regard for political correctness. Trump doesn’t like playing by anyone’s rules, and he’ll suffer for it because everyone is against him.

In this regard, I will concur with President Obama:

I will give this to Trump, though; at least he is actually comprehending that there’s a possibility for him to lose the election. It’s a tiny step up from how he used to act in the primaries. While I think Clinton appeared more composed in her answers in the debates, I’m not quite sure if I lean towards her because of how she performed during the debates...or because of how much better her performance looked in comparison to Trump in light of the past month.

At least one thing is certain: whether you’re a Nasty Woman or a Bad Hombre, people on the fence are turning from Trump as his campaign takes a nosedive, and Clinton is poised to take their votes.