Will sexist remarks bring Trump down?
After the publication of a video in which Donald Trump makes disparaging comments about women, even leading Republicans have distanced themselves from their candidate. In the TV debate with his Democratic rival he apologised for the statements and then went back on the offensive. Commentators assess Trump's chances of getting the keys to the White House after this latest scandal.
Republicans poised for defeat
Donald Trump's nomination plunged the Republican Party into a historic crisis, L'Obs believes:
“It's as good as certain that America will wake up on November 9 to a field of rubble, namely a Republican Party that is deeply divided between the hardline populist wing of the Tea Party, the followers of Trump and the more moderate camp that will insist on the need to rebuild the party and its discourse to be able to win in the future. Good news for Hillary Clinton? Not necessarily. The two right-wing camps will try to outdo each other in Congress. The collapse of the American right is unprecedented in modern history. No one can still say how long it will need to get back on its feet (that often happens quicker than one might imagine). But this defeat will only surprise those who wanted to close their eyes to Donald Trump's personality.”
White American males' fear of strong women
The fact that Trump is so popular with a large section of the population despite his sexist comments shows that many white American males have a problem with strong women, the Times explains:
“That’s not how wildly successful sixtysomething seducers talk. That’s how horny fratboy virgins talk, because they think they’re supposed to. That’s how you sound when you need to belittle women because you fear that their very existence belittles you. Trump’s misogyny is not contingent to his rise but utterly intertwined with it. White male inferiority, and the fear of white male decline, cuts right to its heart. The so-called 'alt right', the ultra-libertarian, largely online bedrock of his support, is riddled with it.”
Trump campaigning against himself
Trump's rival Clinton can rest on her laurels, Upsala Nya Tidning comments:
“Four weeks before the election it's clear that Clinton could simply set up a puppet with a recorded tape that just repeats 'He's not fit to be president'. Trump has campaigned against himself better than anyone else could do. Naturally Clinton won't just stand by and watch. She'll try to convince the swing voters and run the risk of becoming even less popular. Hillary Clinton is already the most unpopular presidential candidate in history. That she will win nonetheless, as the polls in the decisive states of Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio indicate, says more about Donald Trump than anything else.”
Clinton couldn't hit back
In the second TV debate Hillary Clinton seemed surprised by Donald Trump's aggressiveness and unable to find any effective answers to his attacks, Pravda remarks:
“Anyone who thought Donald Trump would be penitent after the publication of the video recordings in which he boasted about sexually harassing women was mistaken. Instead he launched one attack after another. Clinton couldn't deal with his aggressiveness and this time failed to come up with adequate answers to Trump's absurd and stupid comments about politics and the economy. … The good news for Clinton is that she doesn't need to win over Trump's voters. Trump, on the other hand, needs to win new supporters for his party or he'll lose the election. On this crucial point, Trump has failed.”
Danger averted
The election campaign is already over for Trump and the US has narrowly avoided disaster, Slate writes:
“There's one thing we cannot and must not forget: just a few days ago it was perfectly conceivable that the United States could elect to the highest office one of the biggest menaces the country has known for decades. ... It's a truism to say that American society is profoundly divided (and sick), but it's also correct. And it goes without saying that Hillary Clinton shares some of the elites' worst vices and that she will lead an ethically questionable and inevitably unpopular administration. The consequences of Trump's candidacy and the persistent nature of the forces he has unleashed are plain for all to see.”
Donald Trump not down by a long shot
After the video was made public Trump seemed to be in freefall but on Sunday evening he was able to turn the tide in his TV debate with Clinton, comments Derk Jan Eppink of the conservative think tank London Policy Center in De Morgen:
“After the video it looked like his days were counted: Game over! Scores of leading Republicans withdrew their support. But did the same happen with his supporters? Trump has not been knocked out. On the contrary, in the spectacular TV debate he went on the offensive. … His body language on stage was spectacular. He walked around Clinton, who often sat down. When she talked he often stood right behind her with a questioning or surprised expression on his face. Clinton delivered a college speech, Trump used short sentences without much political content. … The upshot: after the video it seemed Trump was out of the running but he came back in the debate and even dominated it at times. So it will only be over when it really is over: on November 9.”
Trump's right-wing populism here to stay
The scandal video has ruined Trump's chances of winning but his populism will remain, Der Standard predicts, blaming the Republicans:
“Now they have both a reason to distance themselves from him and a scapegoat for their imminent defeat. Yet Trump, with his intolerant, xenophobic and nonsensical rhetoric is a product of the Republicans' shift to the right. And the mood among the party base and the substantial section of the population that has backed the bragging entrepreneur for so long will survive Trump and Trumpism. The Americans, like the Austrians, Hungarians and the French, have acquired a taste for right-wing populism that will put a heavy burden on US politics.”
Republicans imploding
Trump's behaviour during the TV debate may have delivered another heavy blow to his party, Huffington Post Italia writes:
“The second debate confirmed the impression left by the first debate and the entire 2016 presidential election campaign. The Republican Party has entered an implosion phase that won't be ended by either the defeat or victory of Trump. On the one hand there is the growing rift between the Republican political elite and the party base, on the other the end of the alliance between religious conservatives and the party. … With four weeks to go before the election and after this surreal week the prognosis is: Trump appears to have lost too many sections of the party and the electorate to still be able to win. But no matter whether he wins the race for the White House or not, Trump has robbed the Republican Party of its body and soul.”