An October Surprise for the Books
With the release of the 2005 video in which Donald Trump boasts about his sexually predatory behavior towards women, it seems as if an insurmountable obstacle has now planted itself right in the path of the GOP candidate’s journey to the presidency. In the wake of the media frenzy this deadly October surprise has created, it seems only fitting that Trump would send his army of female surrogates to speak on his behalf – which, depending on what side of the political spectrum you are on, may have actually made the issue worse.
Damage Control or Damage Done?
One of Trump’s more well-known surrogates, Scottie Nell Hughes, made the media rounds in the attempt to salvage her candidate’s reputation with women. What resulted from that, however, was a series of viral news clips in which Hughes ended up on the chopping block by fellow Republicans that not only labelled Hughes a “reality-denier,” but also added to the long list of reasons why Trump is not the candidate for women.
(Hughes, bottom left.)
A New Set of Problems
In addition to the most obvious maelstrom his surrogates have been left to clean up after, another issue has arisen as a directly-paralleled result of Trump’s comments – one that even his spokeswomen have no hope of combating at this point: the surfacing of women who claim to have been sexually assaulted by Trump. Not only is Trump dealing with the aftermath of his words – a task which has, apparently, fallen into the laps of his more well-spoken surrogates (as it probably should) -, but he must now also face the consequences of an accumulation of years-worth of predatory and inexcusable behaviors toward women. The fact that his surrogates – Hughes, in particular – are trying to pass his words and behaviors off as “locker room talk” or “nothing we haven’t seen before” has simply added to the inflammatory rhetoric now slamming Trump’s campaign.
It will certainly be interesting to see how Trump’s latest – and, perhaps, most fatal – blunder will factor into his performance in tonight’s presidential debate on CNN. Only one thing is for certain now, though: Trump’s surrogates will have their work cut out for them every minute of every day leading up to the election – and, perhaps, for many years to come.
