Donald Trump facing crucial test in second presidential debate

The Republican nominee, who today goes head-to-head against his rival in the second US Presidential debate, faces not only his Democratic counterpart but a seething public.

Trump is at crisis point, after the sensational release of a 2005 recording in which he made obscene remarks about women.

“When you’re a star they let you do it,” he told Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush in the audio broadcast by the Washington Post. “You can do anything … grab them by the p---y. You can do anything!”

He also detailed how he can’t help but kiss beautiful women without permission and his attempts to seduce Bush’s married co-anchor Nancy O’Dell, adding that she now had “big phony tits.”

The recording has caused uproar, with senior Republicans including Senator John McCain withdrawing their support for the US presidential candidate and wife Melania blasting her husband’s comments as “unacceptable”.

But Trump appears unrepentant, insisting there was “zero chance” he would drop out of the race. In an “apology video” broadcast by CNN he issued a dire warning for his opponent. “I said some foolish things but there is a big difference between the words and actions of other people.

“Bill Clinton has actually abused women and Hillary has bullied, attacked, shamed and intimidated her victims.

“We will discuss this more in the coming days. See you at the debate on Sunday.”

It looks as though we can expect fireworks tonight, as Trump and Clinton field questions from the public in a town meeting style forum at Washington University, St Louis.
But if Trump goes through with his threat, he may lose any chance of winning over undecided voters.

Dr David Smith, senior lecturer in American Politics and Foreign Policy and academic director of the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, said the Republican needs to change tactics.

While Trump kept a mostly calm head against Clinton in the first debate, his comments afterwards about former Miss Universe contestant Alicia Macado were a “self-inflicted” wound, according to Dr Smith.

“Trump’s biggest mistake happened after the debates,” Dr Smith told news.com.au. “Clinton brought up his treatment of women and the Miss Piggy comment and he went on to defend those comments.
“It created little sympathy for his struggle as the outsider.”

In a strategic blow towards the end of the debate, Clinton raised the issue of Trump’s history of insulting women, revealing how he once called a beauty pageant contestant Miss Piggy.
“He called her Miss Housekeeping because she was Latina,” added Clinton.

But instead of apologising for his past behaviour, Trump defended his comments by going on the attack on Fox & Friends.
 

“She was the winner and you know she gained a massive amount of weight and it was a real problem,” Trump said. “And (Clinton) found the girl and talked about her like she was Mother Teresa and it wasn’t quite that way, but that’s OK. Hillary has to do what she has to do.”

Trump also claimed he could have easily defeated Clinton in the debate but was “holding back” because he “didn’t want to embarrass her”. He previously said he held back to avoid embarrassing the Clintons’ daughter, Chelsea, with his team saying he had planned to bring up Bill Clinton’s infidelities, but changed his mind.

It looks as though this time, he might actually go through with it.

Dr Smith said the biggest mistake Trump could make was repeating his behaviour from after the first debate. Ultimately, Trump’s defence of his comments about the beauty queen showed he was hard to control, added the academic.

It was vital Trump was “nice” when dealing with questions from potential voters and CNN anchor and debate moderator Anderson Cooper, said Dr Smith.

“It will be interesting to see how he deals with this. Will he be nice to the moderator or offer insults? We will have to see if he’s capable of being nice.”

Dr Smith believes the most crucial tactic for Trump to adopt will be staying cool and not being caught off guard. He said it would also be a huge test for Trump to contain himself because it was clear “he found it hard” to stop talking about himself.

As for Clinton, she will need to work hard to derail him early on, to show she is in control.

“The second and third debates, historically, don’t have as high as much interest as the first,” Dr Smith said. “Generally they’re not as important (to voters), but are still vital for undecided voters.”

After the drama of the past few days, this debate is likely to be even more explosive than the last.

BATTLE TACTICS

Clinton will do doubt be looking to hit Trump where it hurts, and will try to make him angry to prove he’s quick to temper and unfit to be President.

Trump remained largely composed at the state of the first debate and began strongly by presenting himself as the outsider while highlighting how Clinton has been in government in 30 years but hasn’t fixed anything.

However Clinton’s first strike was getting Trump off guard about his taxes, asking when he was going to release his returns.

“I will release my tax returns against my lawyers’ wishes, when she releases her 33,000 emails that have been deleted. As soon as she releases them, I will release my tax returns and that is against ... my lawyers say don’t do it,” Trump said.

And instead of seizing on her email scandal Trump avoided answering the tax issue all together.

Dr John Hart, a research fellow at the ANU School of History and a specialist in American politics and elections, said this was a key point which turned the debate on its head.

Trump’s performance was largely downhill from there, he said.

Clinton will be looking to derail him again using the same tactics and most of all she will be prepared just as she was in the first debate.

Many regarded Trump’s failure to prepare as proof he is too lazy to be president of the United States and voters will be looking to see if he has learned from that mistake.