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Political Update: Back at it with the wall, emails

The last few weeks have been relatively quite for both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, but of course, it didn’t last very long. Both candidates hurled themselves back into the spotlight and continued to show the country that this election is a choice of the lesser of two evils.

Trump has been determined to erase any whisper of a softening campaign, while Hillary continues to dodge any questions regarding her email scandal, which has been brought back to haunt her.

This election cycle may be on repeat, but Election Day is fast approaching. In the next two months, we must decide.

GOP

Southern visit

After a generous photo op and a heated, wall-related conversation with Mexican President Peña Nieto, Donald Trump gave a speech in Phoenix, Arizona regarding immigration.

In one of his most political speeches to date, Trump retracted his softening stance on the matter, laying out a plan that leaves little room for most undocumented immigrants to remain in the country.

“Our message to the world will be this: You cannot obtain legal status or become a citizen of the United States by illegally entering our country. Can’t do it. This declaration alone will stop the crisis of illegal crossing. You can’t just smuggle in, hunker down and wait to be legalized. Those days are over.”

— Donald Trump

His speech again fed on the fears and ignorance of those who where listening and showed a clear plan to deport as many as possible regardless of circumstance.

Trump spewed out the same rhetoric that supercharged his primary campaign and nestled himself back in with conservatives and supporters who have come out in record numbers so far this election.

This return to form may have appealed to the white, conservative voters who carried him to victory during the GOP primary, but it scorned, alienated and shunned some of his most diverse supporters away.

Take me to church

Trump is still, desperately, trying to get support from minorities. In an effort to fulfill his promise of getting more than 90 percent of the African-American vote by 2020, Trump decided to appeal to black voters in person.

With Ben Carson in tow, Trump attended church and talked to the residents in Carson’s old neighborhood while simultaneously trying not to melt in the sun.

The whole endeavor turned out to be a poor PR effort for the polarizing candidate: He departed from one of the poorest cities in the country on his private plane.

Democrats

Haunting letters

Hillary Clinton repeatedly told investigators she could not recall important details regarding her email use and seemed to rely on her ignorance to get her out of any wrongdoing.

The investigation documents reiterated that Clinton and her team acted “extremely careless” when handling emails that may have been classified.

Clinton just can’t seem to shake this email scandal. Despite a lag in political coverage in the last few weeks, this issue continues to come up. Her downfall may come from an email server rather than Trump.

Debate scene becomes clearer

The biggest question remains: Will Trump figure out a way to get out of debating Clinton in front of the nation?

Some of the most prominent networks and their stars are ready to preside over the debate at the end of September.

This election cycle has definitely felt like the longest one of all time, but the fun is just about to begin. The debates in previous years have been some of the best television of previous elections. From Barack Obama killing it in 2008 to his meltdown in the face of Mitt Romney in 2012, the debate stage can make or break a candidate.

Trump may seem rattled and inexperienced, but it’s his unpredictability and Clinton’s inability to think on her feet that will make the general election debates interesting.

Let’s just hope we actually get there without a “yuge” legal battle.

Opinion editor Frank Campos is a media production senior and can be reached at [email protected]

4 Comments

  • Lesser of two evils? Was our columnist from the college newspaper not aware there are more than two political parties in this country and more than two people running for president? News articles should serve the purpose of informing the public, not perpetuating the lies the rest of the media would have you believe.

  • Frankie Boy … it’s Clinton that is afraid of debating with her record. Hence we got a lot of Saturday night debates during the Progressive Primary.

    She’s boring as watching paint dry, and you’ve yet to say one positive word about her. She gets a few hundred at her rallies, if you can call them that.

    Trump’s Black outreach should scare Progressives … the GOP leaders like Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell could never pull that off. And Trump has a good argument … what has the Democrat Party done for them? Black unemployment at record highs, abortions, no encouragement for self improvement.

    We know you hate Trump Frankie Boy … but I challenge you … write something in support … of Clinton.

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