The question on everyone’s mind is who wins tonight’s presidential debate? But, what does winning mean? It means different things for each candidate. In a way, Hillary is right that there is a double standard in tonight’s debate. What she fails to mention is she created it.
Ever since the end of the republican primary, Hillary adopted a strategy of diminishing the seriousness of Trump’s candidacy. For months we have heard how he is racist, sexist, a failed businessman, a joke candidate, a man without any real ideas, someone who is not serious about winning, a rapist, and the second coming of Hitler. However, instead of turning people away from Trump, this strategy has simply reduced everyone’s expectations of Trump’s performance.
Trump’s campaign director, Kellyanne Conway demonstrated this fact when asked by George Stephanopoulos, “what would be a victory for Trump in tonight’s debate?” Conway’s answer? “A victory for Trump will be answering the questions.”
The fact that most of us, not to mention George Stephanopoulos, find no objection to such a low threshold for victory, demonstrates how successful Hillary has been in branding Trump an idiot. As long as Trump shows up, without a swastika on his lapels, and avoids tearing a tendon trying to put his foot in his mouth, we’ll all say he had a successful night.
On the other hand, Hillary has a much harder road to travel. In addition to properly hydrating herself and not passing out, she must find a way to make people like her, when spending half a billion thus far and 30 years of public notoriety, not to mention the historic nature of her genetalia, have all proven insufficient for the task.
One might have thought that if anyone on Hillary’s campaign was even halfway competent, they would have noticed that portraying Trump as illegitimate was a strategy tried by 17 other candidates; all of whom lost. The fact that open republican primaries were the contests Trump won the easiest should have indicated to Hillary that it isn’t only “right wingers” who support him. However, to be fair, if the latest polls are any indication, it might not matter what Hillary does in tonight’s debate. She might have already lost. After all, the fact that she is tied with Trump in every battleground state, despite all Trump’s controversies, is a clear indication that the American people would rather choose a loudmouth inexperienced buffoon over a dehydrated, amnesia prone, Short circuiting liar with cirrhosis of the soul.