Trump lost ‘bigly’ in second presidential debate

The country lost again during the second presidential debate, as both candidates spent more time attacking each other rather than talking about the major issues that concerned voters.

Although Hillary Clinton won the night, Donald Trump may have saved himself with conservatives who were ready to jump ship by not having a complete meltdown as was expected. Trump faltered at the beginning of the debate, but later improved and held his own on a few occasions.

Trump lost even before the debate began. No, it wasn’t because of the video that showed the true nature of a man who is trying to fool the country into electing him this November. It’s because of his decision to hold a press conference pre-debate with four women who accused Bill Clinton of improper advances.

Trump saw a drastic fallout in the wake of the debacle that showed him practically admitting to sexual assault.

Numerous Republicans rescind their endorsements while others chose to condemn his comments and his rhetoric. Either way, whatever fading momentum Trump had after the first debate was lost after the video was released.

That press conference before the second debate was a terrible stunt that backfired on Trump and his campaign. Yes, people were discussing this instead of the video, but only because Trump seemed to be derailing as he races to the bottom.

Trump continued his descent during the first half-hour of the debate, but achieved some semblance of composure as the night progressed.

Clinton didn’t fare well herself. She seemed unsure of her answers and unsuccessfully sidestepped the usual email questions. She also failed miserably at explaining the comment she made during a private donor meeting.

Her biggest error of the night was not pushing Trump on the video. Instead, we saw Trump — again — explained his comments as “locker-room talk” and then quickly moved on to the next topic.

Clinton had a shot, but she didn’t take it. Still, Trump had too many mistakes to go unnoticed.

His biggest shortcoming was his feeble attempt at explaining foreign policy and the chaos in Syria. This explanation also revealed that he disagreed with his running mate, Mike Pence, as well as the fact how both had not talked since the vice presidential debate.

Trump’s performance was terrible and there is absolutely no excuse for it. The segment on foreign policy alone should disqualify Trump from being president. It is scary to imagine a man like Trump representing us and making decisions that may put citizens in danger.

He continued his false rhetoric regarding Muslims and avoided his call for a ban on the religion by designating it as “extreme vetting.” Then, Trump did an amazing flip-flop by, finally, admitting to moderator Anderson Cooper that he took advantage of a tax law that exempted him from federal income tax for the last 20 years.

A second later, however, Trump said he paid millions in taxes including federal income tax. Who knows what the truth really is.

Trump and his camp will probably be more than happy with the results of the debate. To me and many others, the second presidential debate again showed why Trump will never be qualified to be president.

Opinion editor Frank Campos is a media production senior and can be reached at [email protected]