The only way Sunday’s town hall debate could have been better was if Trump had come whirling onstage like Jim Carrey in “The Mask” and shouted, “Somebody stop me!”
There are candidates who would have been chastened after political archeologists unearthed a tape of them boasting like high school jocks about their way with women.
Those candidates might have begged Hillary on behalf of all females to forgive them.
They might have thanked the “unbiased” moderators for giving them the opportunity to grovel before millions of viewers.
But they wouldn’t be named Donald Trump.
Trump is the John Paul Jones of presidential candidates. With water sloshing over the deck Trump yells, “I have not yet begun to fight!” He’s one-armed Gen. Phil Kearny at Chantilly, surrounded by Confederates, trying to cut his way out with a cavalry sabre.
He’s America’s populist id defying the false cordiality and empty smiles of politics.
Don’t get me wrong here. I know Trump is going to lose.
Like Kearny he’ll be shot down by the Clinton cabal and its eager media volunteers, but like Kearny, Trump is going down hard.
I’ve attended comedies that didn’t generate the laughter and joy that Trump produced as he lit Hillary up. Trump went after Cruella Clinton in a way conservatives have wanted to see since she slithered into public life. The Bushes, the Rubios, the Grahams and the Kasichs would have debated Hillary as if her bloviating about plans and “smart solutions” really merited serious consideration — while ignoring the rotten character and its accompanying failures that are the real issue with Hillary.
It’s tough to pick the five best Trump toppers, but here’s my contribution:
1) Trump on his “How Stars Impress Women” tape: “Mine are words and his [Clinton] was action . . . Hillary Clinton attacked those same women, and attacked them viciously, four of them here tonight . . . So don't tell me about words. I am, absolutely, I apologize for those words, but . . . when Hillary brings up a point like that and she talks about words that I said 11 years ago, I think it's disgraceful and I think she should be ashamed of herself.”
2) After a long exchange about Hillary’s email cover-up and Trump’s promise to appoint a special prosecutor if he’s elected:
Hillary: “It's just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country.
Trump: “Because you would be in jail.” (Back and forth about email continues).
Cooper: Please allow her to respond. She didn't talk while you talked.
Clinton: Yes, that's true. I didn't.
Trump: Because you had nothing to say.
Clinton: I didn’t in the first debate and I’m gonna try not to on this debate because I would like to get to the questions people brought to us tonight.
Trump: And get off this [email] question.
3) Hillary asked about her leaked statement that politicians need differing public and a private issue stances She answers by saying how much she enjoyed Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” movie and watching devious old Abe:
Trump: “Look, now she is blaming — she got caught in a total lie . . . Now she’s blaming the lie on the late great Abraham Lincoln . . . Okay, Honest Abe never lied. That’s the good thing. That's the big difference between Abraham Lincoln and you. That's a big, big difference. We’re talking about some difference.”
Trump on Hillary’s record of no accomplishment [finally!]: “Hey . . . for 30 years she’s been doing this, Anderson, I say it all the time, she talks about health care. Why didn't you do something about it? She talks about taxes. Why didn't she do something about it? She doesn't do anything about anything other than talk. With her, it's all talk and no action. Her and Obama . . . the way they got out of Iraq, the vacuum they left, that's why ISIS formed in the first place. They started from the little area and now they are in 32 different nations, Hillary. Congratulations. Great job.”
Trump asking why Hillary doesn’t spend her own money: “She used the power of her office to make a lot of money . . . why don’t you put 10 or 20 or 25 or $30 million into your campaign . . . just curious?”
Trump needed to shore up his base after the conveniently timed release of the dating tips tape and his indifferent performance in the first debate. Sunday’s performance did that.
I realize I spent the debate reveling in unseemly delight over tactics that may well have alienated beta males and women, but I can’t help it.
It’s about time a Republican presidential candidate stood up for himself and confronted Democratic, establishment GOP, and media hypocrisy.
He’s speaking truth to power and power doesn’t like it.
Trump may be doomed, but you can bet he will go down fighting.
Michael R. Shannon is a commentator, researcher for the League of American Voters, and an award-winning political and advertising consultant with nationwide and international experience. He is author of "Conservative Christian’s Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now with added humor!)." Read more of Michael Shannon's reports — Go Here Now.
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