Clinton will have no trouble getting under Trump's skin

It’s a sad commentary on the state of American politics when the debates between candidates for the highest office in the land, instead of being heated exchanges about issues of importance sound like spats on an elementary school playground. Of course, when one of those candidates is a thin-skinned misogynistic bully who, when he’s losing or feels that he’s been bested, lashes out like a spoiled brat. While I am disappointed that the Clinton campaign has decided that getting under his skin is the way to deal with Trump, given who and what he is, I understand it.

From his actions since the first debate, that tactic seems to be working. Even before going into the debate, he was classic Trump; threatening to bring up Bill Clinton’s marital infidelities in the debate, or inviting a woman who claims to have had an affair with him when he was governor of Arkansas to sit on the front row. He, of course, did neither, and then after the debate, he and his minions portrayed this as a sign of his greatness and compassion. Hah! His dawn-hour Twitter rant, attacking former Miss Universe Alicia Machado—using language that no civilized gentleperson, much less a presidential candidate, should ever use. I won’t repeat h ere any of the things he tweeted; there’s no sense giving this crap any more air time. I will, however, talk about the author of said crap.

Whenever he’s criticized, or suffers a setback, Trump gets personal and combative, and if the source of his discomfort is a woman, he really dives into the gutter, getting into their sexual behavior—either they’re having too much, or too little. I imagine that even a cloistered nun would be attacked if she were ever to disagree with the Donald. Of course, when doing this, he conveniently ignores his own past somewhat sordid sexual history.

This man has no shame. He’s always right—according to him. And, what really makes this an American tragedy is that he has so many people who aid and abet him in his atrocious behavior. The debate fell short on discussion of issues, and his minions and supporters blame it all on Clinton, without mentioning that he offered nothing in the way of rational policy proposals during the debate, and when he wasn’t sniffling and looking uncomfortable, was interrupting Clinton in an effort (I imagine) to throw her off stride—which he was singularly unsuccessful in doing.

All he’s managed to say throughout the campaign is that America is in shambles, and it’ll stay that way unless he’s elected president, because, you see, he’s so smart and so successful, he’s the only one who can get the job done.

So far, his only concrete proposals, some of which he’s backed off on and picked back up again, have been things that’ll cause more harm than good. You’ve no doubt heard them numerous times, so I won’t dignify them by repeating them—in that, I’m stealing a page from the Trump playbook. Trust me.

Trump has been proven a liar on numerous occasions by his own recorded and video-taped words. Does this change the way his hard core supporters feel? No! Even Ted Cruz, whose wife Trump slammed in a most disgusting way during the primaries, is supporting him now. Same goes for Chris Christie, who was humiliated on national TV and in public appearances by Trump. Want to know how Trump’s legions feel? I recently took a poll on Newsmax, a conservative news site, which asked to compare Trump with Clinton on things like honesty, would you let him babysit your kids, would you trust him with your bank account, etc. By a margin of two to one and more in some cases, Trump was categorized as honest and trustworthy. I’m willing to bet that none of the contractors or workers he’s abused over the years took that poll.

So, while I’m not particularly fond of negative campaigning, I’ll hold my nose and wish Clinton well in her efforts to get under Trump’s skin, and say this, once you’re under there, twist it a few times for good measure.