The political environment was more balanced at the time of the first debate. Both Trump and Clinton were tied in the polls. The question was who would be able to sway more of the undecided. The context for this debate has changed dramatically. The exposure of Trump’s crude and cringeworthy attitude towards women exposed by leaked videos has sent Trump’s campaign into a tailspin. The question before this debate was, “Can he do well enough to save his campaign from further collapsing?”

In my judgment he has failed to assure the nation that his ideas and his policies are so good for our country that we can overlook his character flaws. He has said nothing in the second debate nor has Clinton said anything to turn any of Clinton’s supporters away. Trump’s lack of empathy for women and minorities continues to shine. The lack of specifics in most of his policy answers (except on taxes) are hard to miss, and he has yet to provide an original and thoughtful take on any of the key issues that we face, whether it is domestic or international.

Hillary Clinton comes across as that A student who does all her homework on time, writes good papers and is always in the class, but does not say or do anything that is brilliant or memorable that her professor would recall years later. She knows her stuff, if she was running against Barack Obama she would come across as second best again, but in comparison to Trump she shines like a star.

Both have problems with their character. Clinton did not say anything that would make those who do not trust her, trust her. The leaked emails would have hurt her if Trumps past had not surfaced so dramatically. But everything negative about Clinton is what we can unfortunately expect in all politicians to some degree – hypocrisy, collusion with the wealthy and untruthfulness.

But the problems that Donald Trump’s character brings to the table have no place in civilized society. The second debate confirms the conclusion that most reasonable people will reach – in this election we have no choice but to vote Hillary.