“Pondering the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.
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Paul Krugman: Predators in Arms
As many people are pointing out, Republicans now trying to distance themselves from Donald Trump need to explain why The Tape was a breaking point, when so many previous incidents weren’t. On Saturday, explaining why he was withdrawing his endorsement, Senator John McCain cited “comments on prisoners of war, the Khan Gold Star family, Judge Curiel and earlier inappropriate comments about women” — and that leaves out Mexicans as rapists, calls for a Muslim ban, and much more. So, Senator McCain, what took you so long?
One excuse we’re now hearing is that the new revelations are qualitatively different — that disrespect for women is one thing, but boasting about sexual assault brings it to another level. It’s a weak defense, since Mr. Trump has in effect been promising violence against minorities all along. His insistence last week that the Central Park Five, who were exonerated by DNA evidence, were guilty and should have been executed was even worse than The Tape, but drew hardly any denunciations from his party.
Heather Digby Parton: Donald Trump’s bizarre parade of Hillary Clinton hate: That debate summed up everything wrong with his campaign
I don’t think there’s ever been a more highly anticipated presidential debate than the one that happened Sunday night in St. Louis. The Trump campaign had been drastically losing altitude since the first debate and the week after when he proved that he was unprepared, unknowledgeable and unfit for the job. Everyone wondered if he could pull out of it. And then Friday happened. That tape showing Trump coarsely bragging that he could kiss women against their will and “grab ’em by the pussy” sent the campaign into a full tailspin.
By Sunday, GOP leaders were defecting en masse, with many demanding Trump withdraw from the race. Nobody knew if he would broach the tape or fulfill his threat to go after the Clinton scandals of the ’90s in the debate, now that these new and disturbing revelations about his own behavior had been seen by millions.
Well, he did. Just before the event he held a “press conference” in what appeared to be an airport hotel conference room with four women who say Hillary Clinton viciously attacked them for accusing her husband of sexual harassment and assault. (I’m not going to litigate those cases here, but suffice to say that they were part of Ken Starr’s through investigation and the details are easily accessible online.) In what looked disturbingly like a North Korean hostage video, the women spoke about their complaints against Clinton while the man who had just been revealed on tape saying that he liked to grab women “by the pussy” sat in the middle.
Lucia Graves: ‘Spontaneity at the expense of truth’: why it’s time for a new debate format
If Donald Trump’s candidacy has taught us anything, it’s that the debate format is easily gamed, and – the man’s many shortcomings as a potential commander-in-chief notwithstanding – he is a master of it. [..]
Why should our democracy’s debate system put an emphasis on spontaneity and authenticity at the expense of truth and knowledge? There has to be something better than this at this late date, whether it’s a real-time fact check displayed on screen, a sidebar of data-informed commentary, prepared videos that are vetted for accuracy and submitted in advance.
I doubt that authenticity-loving American will go for it, but perhaps the public should reconsider. It’s a format that could benefit Trump as much as it would benefit Clinton — he would have the advantage of not having a meltdown on stage, as he’s currently constantly in danger of having. Meanwhile Clinton and the rest of us, would hear a whole lot fewer lies.
Richard Wolffe: This is the point of no return for Donald Trump
It’s going to get worse for Donald Trump and his Republican party. Much worse.
Normal candidates might have realized they were bumping along the bottom of their election – if not, their life – when video emerged of them bragging, as a newlywed, about forcing themselves on women, genitals and all.
But not the man who promises to make America great again. No, Donald Trump’s so-called apology video was even more incompetent and incoherent than the rest of his campaign to date. And that’s quite an achievement for a man who has attacked a grieving, Gold Star family. [..]
If you think talk of sex is a distraction, you probably shouldn’t make it clear you’re going to continue the conversation at the next TV debate.
And you probably shouldn’t attack a wife for her husband’s affairs if you want to win back a couple of women voters. Even if that wife is your opponent.
Then again, this is a Republican nominee who urged the world via Twitter to check out the non-existent sex tape of a former Miss Universe who criticized him for demeaning her. This is a presidential candidate who has made an appearance in part of a soft porn video. This is a supposed leader who takes political advice from Roger Ailes, who was forced out of Fox News after numerous allegations of sexual harassment.
This is Donald Trump: a man no longer fit for polite company. His name will be torn off walls just as Ailes’ was. Republican candidates up and down the land will be chased to election day with their previous endorsements and quotes praising the groper-in-chief.
Amanda Marcotte: Hillary Clinton can’t win the debate: She showed grace and intelligence, but he won because he didn’t grab anyone’s junk
Hillary Clinton held it together, speaking intelligently and passionately about policy, despite having to endure Donald Trump and his team trying to deflect his actual, on-tape admission of sexual assault by throwing two decades of right-wing conspiracy theories about her husband at her for two days.
Trump, on the other hand, made it through a 90-minute debate without grabbing anyone’s pussy, though he stood menacingly close enough to Clinton that there were some concerns. Sadly, this, plus his ability to get a little closer to Sarah Palin levels of coherence — though still falling short of the mark — was enough to get Trump rave reviews from some corners, and even some claims that he won the debate.
But make no mistake: By any reasonable measure, Trump lost that debate. In many ways, his performance was worse than the first time around. Trump repeatedly exposed that he knows less about good governance than a five-year-old who has watched some “Schoolhouse Rock” videos.
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