Information that could have and should have devastated both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaigns came to light in the past several days. Currently, a slew of Trump’s misogynistic sound bytes have taken over the headlines and many voters have disavowed the Republican candidate for his disgraceful remarks about women. But what about Hillary Clinton? Many of those same voters sat in anticipation of a promised “October Surprise” from Wikileaks founder Julian Assange who delivered a bevy of damning emails yet again and there has been hardly a peep.

Instead, it seems that the majority of Americans are so distraught about leaked audio where Trump tells Billy Bush into a hot mic that he uses his money and fame to “grab [women] by the p***y” and in another conversation that was not so secret, tells Howard Stern that it’s fine to call his own daughter Ivanka Trump a “piece of a**” that they seem to have forgotten just how deplorable Hillary Clinton’s actual actions have been.

Here’s the kicker, many of Trump’s conversations with Howard Stern that happened in 2004, 2005 and 2006 and were “leaked” recently via a CNN report were not actual leaks. That would mean they were previously unknown and now are coming to light. The reality is that many of the Howard Stern sound bytes were already broadcast on the shock jock’s talk show and were available to the public throughout the 2016 presidential campaign. What makes them so damaging and shocking is that all the commentary has been compiled in one place. So a very important question must be asked. Did the Democrats push to have many of Donald Trump’s most unsavory sound bytes released within hours of the most recent Wikileaks revelation in hopes that voters would be so shocked that they would forget to also be shocked by Hillary Clinton’s Wall Street speeches and the revelation that the Democrats might have been behind Trump’s rise to the top of the Republicans in the first place?

Yes, we all know that Donald Trump is a misogynist and he says some really shocking things. No, it’s totally not okay. Is it a surprise that should currently be ending his campaign and causing Republicans to disavow him and run away like this is a brand new scandal that no one knew was coming? Absolutely not.

As for Hillary Clinton, recent Wikileaks email dumps uncovered more proof that the Democrat candidate for president was fully aware of the plan to elevate Trump as the Republican nominee. Many of her detractors have been saying for months that Donald Trump was placed across from Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race because his history is so vile that it was her only chance to win the election. Much like the claims that she knew nothing of the plans to beat Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primaries by any means necessary, Hillary and company denied having anything to do with the placement of Trump.

New Donald Trump tapes have already surfaced with more crude remarks about women including his daughter https://t.co/kJy39Sxu18 — Mic (@mic) October 9, 2016

In the newest email leaks which have been dubbed the “Podesta emails,” after Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, it was discussed that the Democrat’s strategy to ensure a Clinton win was to elevate Republican candidates such as Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and Ben Carson. These are three of the most unpalatable Republican candidates in the running and the three whom they believed they could force into taking extreme positions that would ensure Democrats don’t vote red come election time.

The Daily Mail has quoted one of these emails. “We don’t want to marginalize the more extreme candidates, but make them more “Pied Piper” candidates who actually represent the mainstream of the Republican Party,” the email read. “We need to be elevating the Pied Piper candidates so that they are leaders of the pack and tell the press to [take] them seriously.”

We have published 1% of the #PodestaEmails so far. Additional publications will proceed throughout the election period. — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) October 8, 2016

May I recommend @wikileaks as some reading material for you all on this #SundayMorning?…???? — Kaydee King (@KaydeeKing) October 9, 2016

Of those candidates, Donald Trump quickly rose to the top and ultimately became the Republican nominee in the 2016 presidential election. This was perfect for Democrats because Trump has been saying plenty of offensive things for decades, making it a cakewalk to smear him and make him completely intolerable even to those who absolutely reject a Hillary Clinton presidency. It seems like a pretty easy “connect-the-dots” to just assume that the Clinton campaign has been sitting on these Trump sound bytes, waiting for information that will devastate Clinton’s chances at winning the presidency so they can release some low-level shockers and completely distract voters from the overwhelming weaknesses that would destroy Hillary Clinton.

Also is it safe to point out, yet again, that Donald Trump has a long history of friendship with the Clintons and has even said that Bill Clinton has said much worse on the golf course? Right, nevermind what Bill may have said. Trump and Clinton golf together. They are not sworn enemies or even adversaries. They are family friends, they attend each others’ weddings and their daughters have even said that their friendship would survive this presidential election.

Kaine says he doesn’t know if WikiLeaks docs are real https://t.co/0bOPATC4K7 via @PoliticoKevin | Getty pic.twitter.com/tJplt1mlMF — POLITICO (@politico) October 9, 2016

New York Magazine recently published a piece outlining just how bad the “October Surprise” email leak that happened in the last two days would have been for Hillary Clinton’s campaign if American’s weren’t so busy being shocked and disgusted by Donald Trump’s decade-old comments about women.

In addition to the news that Hillary’s campaign manager was part of the scheme to make sure the Republican candidate was totally unelectable from the beginning, let’s not forget those long lost Wall Street speeches whose transcripts seemed to have been lost in the wind.

Well, all was not lost and now excerpts from those controversial speeches have come to light. Also, a part of the Podesta emails were transcripts from some of the most unpalatable of Clinton’s orations prove that she is not for the people as she would like voters to believe. She’s actually not relatable to the middle class at all and in the leaked speeches, she admits just that. Can we actually trust Hillary to keep any of her campaign promises or should voters just assume that once elected, she’ll do what she wants?

Since we have few decent journalists in America anymore, than goodness we have @wikileaks

Source: https://t.co/VRpVve8Q5O pic.twitter.com/hJtdVljijj — Bad Brown Sanders (@bad_bad_bernie) October 9, 2016

If nothing else (and there is plenty more,) Hillary Clinton’s leaked Wall Street speeches prove that she panders to the highest bidder. In the past, it was Wall Street, who paid her handsomely to speak. Now, Clinton wants to fulfill her dream of becoming the first female President of the United States and it seems that she’ll do whatever it takes to get there.

For the record, Clinton’s camp refuses to either confirm or deny the authenticity of the Podesta emails or the content in the leaked Wall Street speeches. Instead, they have tried to detract from the issue at hand and cast doubt amongst voters by pointing a finger at Russia for possibly being behind the leak according to a recent Bloomberg report. Don’t we have an even bigger issue if Russia is able to hack into both Hillary Clinton and John Podesta’s emails and hand the contents over to anybody? Who is in charge of national security here?

“We are not going to confirm the authenticity of stolen documents released by Julian Assange, who has made no secret of his desire to damage Hillary Clinton,” spokesman Glen Caplin said in a prepared statement. Previously, the Guccifer 2.0 hacks were determined to contain fake data and because of that, there have been claims that all of these hacks and leaks cannot be trusted. Let’s just make it clear that Hillary Clinton and those in charge of her campaign are still refusing to confirm or deny the authenticity of the most recent Wikileaks reveal. If the Podesta emails outlining the Democrats’ plan to elevate an unelectable Republican candidate and the contents of her Wall Street speeches weren’t real, wouldn’t they have said so immediately?

So let’s just get back to the topic at hand. That is the understanding that if everyone wasn’t currently reeling from some “leaked” Donald Trump sound bytes where he proves yet again what a sexist pig that he is, Hillary Clinton’s campaign and her chances of becoming the next POTUS would be in real danger. American’s dislike and distrust of Clinton have already been proven in the polls because let’s be real here for a second, anyone should be able to beat Donald Trump hands down in the 2016 presidential election and Clinton’s poll numbers have been struggling for months.

Right now, many Americans are feeling forced to make a very upsetting decision of which candidate to give their vote. They have been forced to pick between a misogynist, racist and politically inexperienced Republican or an out-of-touch, untrustworthy and pandering Democrat. Neither of these candidates represents what most voters feel the country needs or wants but both have been foisted upon us in what has become a very uncomfortable presidential race, to say the least.

Do we, the American voters, really have to pick from the best of the worst in the 2016 presidential race? Many times it has been said that now is not the time to vote third party. Many voters are horrified by the idea of a Trump presidency while many others are horrified by the idea of a Clinton presidency. Both candidates have proven repeatedly to have way too many skeletons in their collective closets in terms of reasons why both should not be elected. If now is not the time to abandon the Democrats and the Republicans and vote third party, how bad does it have to get before it is the right time?

[Featured Image by Justin Sullivan/Ralph Freso/Getty Images]