For the Record's week in review: Trump walks into Clinton's trap
We kicked this week off with an epic battle between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton on the debate stage.
Clinton’s days off the trail paid off — she was widely pronounced the winner by real humans and scientific polls, but non-scientific online polls gave the honor to Trump which he unsurprisingly touted for days after the showdown.
Residue from the debate stuck to the news cycle all week long as Trump wouldn’t let go of the Clinton campaign bringing up a former Miss Universe who he had called “Miss Piggy” and “Miss Housekeeping.”
Trump walks right into Clinton’s trap
Clinton had spent a significant amount of time practicing getting under Trump’s skin — and it worked. During the debate Clinton repeatedly attacked Trump’s business record and brought up his past comments on women. Which brings us to this week’s star: former Miss Universe Alicia Machado.
Prep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide
Machado, who is from Venezuela, was crowned Miss Universe in 1996. Machado says that Trump called her “Miss Piggy” after she gained weight following winning the crown and “Miss Housekeeping” which is an apparent reference to her Latino heritage. Clinton brought those comments up during the debate which set Trump off … and off and off.
In fact, Trump was still going off about it Friday at 2 in the morning.
In the tweetstorm he referenced a "sex tape" of Machado's, a charge which has been debunked. After “many people” pointed to the early hour the tweets were fired off, Trump attempted some damage control.
Clinton and her team said “thank you very much you walked right into our trap on that one.” They brought up his comments about Machado, but also other women too. Clinton also coined a new term "Machado meltdown." You can bet she'll be dropping that alliteration on the trail.
Scientific polls show Clinton won the debate
Another thing Trump did repeatedly this week, was cite unscientific polls that said he won the debate. Why are they unscientific? Because there is no regulation on who votes, how many times, etc. but that doesn’t mean Trump wasn’t all over them.
But post-debate polls came out Friday that talked to real-live humans and their results were slightly different. Those polls all found that whether or not people supported Clinton, the majority of voters felt she had clearly won the debate. They also found that Clinton received a bump following Monday’s slugfest in some battleground states.
Winner of the White House will also sway SCOTUS
The death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February left a vacancy on the nation’s highest bench and suddenly the Supreme Court became a really big deal. President Obama has nominated Judge Merrick Garland but Republican lawmakers have refused to schedule a vote — or even a hearing — to confirm him. So the spot is in limbo. Trump has released a list that he would use to nominate a justice and Clinton has not said whether or not she’ll keep the president’s nomination. But USA TODAY’s Richard Wolf writes that whoever wins the White House will have a lot more power than just that one seat.
There are three other justices between the age of 78 and 83 which means that the whole ideological makeup of the court could be influenced by whoever wins — big league.
News from the trail
- Reports: N.Y. AG thinks Trump Foundation is an undocumented charity (USA TODAY)
- Gary Johnson cannot name one world leader (USA TODAY)
- Donald Trump pays off Corey Lewandowski (USA TODAY)
- Ariz. paper faces threats, loses subscribers after Clinton endorsement (USA TODAY)
- USA TODAY's Editorial Board: Trump is “unfit for the presidency” (USA TODAY)
There are few people the president must wait on, but a former president is one of them
Bill Clinton may not be president anymore but that doesn’t mean he’s not milking his former title for all he’s got — even if it’s annoying the current president. Obama offered to give Clinton a ride home from former Israeli president Shimon Peres’ funeral Friday but Clinton was too busy schmoozing and it made Obama impatient.