Presidential Debate #2

I didn’t watch Presidential Debate #2.  With all the “locker room talk” by Trump leaked this week, it was inevitable that this debate would just devolve into mud-slinging (and, by all accounts, it was as ugly as I imagined).  I’m not interested in that – I want to hear intelligent, substantive details on how the two candidates will differ in how they address various issues facing America and the world.  I think Hillary can do that, but I haven’t heard anything like that from Trump – he just sticks to the soundbites: “Build a wall”, “Bomb them to hell”, “Lock her up”.  I don’t think he has a clue.  It is just preposterous that this is even a close race – and after some of the things he’s been caught saying in the last week, it’s stunning that he is still running.  Can any woman seriously vote for this creep after some of the things he said?  I get it, a vote against Hillary is a vote against government and the establishment – a sentiment I can understand (though I would also argue that it is the Republican party who are the obstructionists in American politics).  But voting for Trump would be a catastrophic mistake.  I was watching a NASCAR race on TV yesterday, which was peppered with Trump TV ads – the first time I’d seen any pro-Trump ads (Washington state is NEVER going to vote Republican, so there is no point advertising here) and the predominantly redneck, southern NASCAR audience is exactly Trump’s target demographic.  And the ads were about as insulting and appealing to a certain American’s base fears as you might imagine – Hillary might take away your right to bear guns, Hillary thinks you are in the “basket of deplorables”, etc.  Mind you, some of Hillary’s ads are hardly any less offensive – this race has by far the most negative campaigning I’ve ever seen before, and that is really sad.  What is surprising to me is that with the candidates we have, and with the divided politics we have, that a major third party hasn’t risen like a phoenix from the ashes.  If there was a time for this, it would be now – but it hasn’t happened.  Yet.  We can hope.  American politics is broken and it needs fixing.