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Hillary Clinton Advised to Skip Final Debate Against Donald Trump, 10/19

Trump suggest she take a drug test and says the election is "rigged;" enough for her to say she won't participate in madness

Sources within the Clinton Campaign are now openly saying that Hillary Clinton should withdraw from her third scheduled debate with Donald Trump, set for October 19th in Las Vegas. Democratic strategist David Axelrod on Saturday suggested that Hillary Clinton skip it, because of his suggestion they should take a drug test. http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/301196-axelrod-maybe-clinton-should-reconsider-final-debate

Brett Baier confirmed this story Sunday night on "Fox Report." He said that senior aides to Mrs. Clinton were telling her little is to be gained by appearing with such a volatile, unpredictable "madman" as Trump.

The reasons are as follows:

1. Clinton enjoys an historic lead in the polls. Some polls have her up by 9% nationally. The Real Clear Politics average of polls currently puts her ahead by 5.5% in a 4 way race (Clinton 44.6%, Trump 39.1%). No presidential candidate this far behind less than 30 days before the election, has ever managed to make up a 5.5% deficit in the national polls.

2. There is no compelling reason to debate Mr. Trump. There are few true undecided voters left, with such controversial and unpopular major party candidates.

3. Any time two candidates debate, the unpredictable can happen. Trump could pull a proverbial rabbit out of his hat, in the form of an e mail from Wikileaks, or a surprise from Russian intelligence. Clinton is the better debater, having spent a career in public life. But the bar for Mr. Trump is set extremely low. There is no reason to chance a Trump win.

4. Among the unpredictable things that could happen is Mrs. Clinton could faint, as she did on September 11th, 2016. She has a few chronic conditions, and Bill Clinton said on September 14th that she has always been subject to fainting spells. She may not be any sicker than the average 68 year old woman, but she clearly has health problems. Even a coughing fit could serve as grist for the conspiracy theorists.

5. Despite criticism, Trump dropped out of the final Republican primary debate on January 28, 2016. He is hardly in a position to criticize her for failing to show up for one.

6. Clinton can plausibly refuse to legitimize a man she sees as racist, sexist, misogynist, isolationist, and the leader of a "basket of deplorables." Withdrawing from the debate will play well with her base, who will see it as heroic rather than cowardly.

7. She has already appeared to debate Trump not once but twice. Her supporters (any of the commentators on MSNBC, for example), saw both debates as Clinton victories. Nothing is to be gained in their eyes by showing up and beating an increasingly desperate Trump, a third time.

8. By avoiding being in a room again with Mr. Trump, she has the dignity of being "above the fray." It has been the most contentious presidential election in 100 years. She can ignore Trump and issue mature calls for unity, allowing her to play the theme of "We're Stronger Together" into the Election in January

Winning the presidency is one thing. Actually leading a fractured nation, as Clinton is likely to be doing next year, may prove more challenging than merely beating Trump. Turning on to that task now would be seen as, well, presidential.

Update: Jennifer Rubin at the Washington Post has reached the same conclusion we have: Hillary should blow off (skip) the third debate.

See Also http://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2016/10/hillary_clinton_should_skip_th.html

 
 

Reader Comments(10)

1234 writes:

Hillary should show up and take him up on his drug test challenge. He's an obvious coke head! To the delusional conspiracy theorists: have your head checked, you're f*ing mental and I'm wondering are any of you volunteering to pay Trump's taxes? How about the 15% cut he wants to give corporations that are barely paying 15% right now!? Let's talk policy and not lizard people please.

ColPixley writes:

Of course she attends the first two debates where the moderators were in the tank for her. Debating is easy when you are fed all the questions in advance and you coordinated signals with the moderator. But why take the chance of participating in a debate moderated by a neutral party.

plumbfree writes:

The next shoe to drop is the thirty year old claim by that claudia girl that mrs. clinton raped her as a young girl in 1978 in a luciferian ritual at bohemian grove. This woman has claimed this for 30 years,unlike all these unfounded claims agianst Trump conviently realeased twenty eight days before the election. And right at the same time all the wikileaks come out. She needs to drop out. And no I don't believe for a second she will win. Have you seen her crowds? If she steals it, its,war with russia, Get educated about her. Don't vote for that horrible globalist shill.

Hillarysucks writes:

It would be great if she skipped it. It gives trump full 120 minutes to answer questions and no rebuttal from her old sickly @$$. I hope she does skip it! Stupid murderous woman

Ilma writes:

Clinton should be very wary of the 'we're stronger together' tag line, it lost the UK government (Remain'ers) the Brexit referendum.

Chuck writes:

She will prove one thing and one thing only. She as a presidential candidate can't and won't stand up to her counterpart. Because she's scared or because she's a woman or perhaps both?

PDBHDK writes:

I think it's cute that Trump supporaters think Trump is winning. Very cute.

Tim writes:

What a crock! Have you ever read anything more biased and ridiculous? She's not winning! The only reason she'd bail is based on all the Wikileaks scandles she'd have to explain. Clinton The Con! TRUMP 2016!

GhostMakerOne writes:

Anyone that seriously believes that Hillary is leading in the polls is absolutely delusional and needs mental help or get off of the PCP!

doneTakingIT writes:

The corrupt media has never asked about her dishonesty and corruption. The corrupt media is 100% behind electing a corrupt dishonest politician, Hilary Clinton.