American Notes by Eyobong Ita

Folks, the Donald Trump campaign reminds me of Wheel of Fortune, the popular American game show where contestants win money and other prizes by guessing hidden letters and phrases to try and solve the puzzle. At a certain point in the game, a contestant who thinks he/she knows enough of the hidden phrase will tell the host that he or she is ready to solve the puzzle. Folks, with 24 days to the U.S. Presidential Elections, playing the role of a contestant on Wheel of Fortune, I think I’m ready to solve this puzzle: “This Race is Over.”

For months the handwriting has been threatening to be written on the wall, but the charismatic Trumpster has always found a way to dribble out of collapse. Like a rock star seen as a messiah by his core supporters, Trump got away with so much that he began to believe he was untouchable. Problem is, he hasn’t made much gains outside his core supporters, and he can’t win with only his supporters. Right now, Trump’s self-inflicted wounds are so huge that he is politically in a coma, on life support. Barring any unexpected earth-shattering revelation against Hillary Clinton, Trump will not come out of this coma as the plug will finally be pulled on November 8.

Mind you, Hillary is a far cry from a perfect candidate. She’s not Bill Clinton and by no means Barack Obama. She has so much political baggage that any of the Republican candidates Trump defeated at the primaries would have given her a run for her money with a good chance of defeating her. But Trump is a perfect gift for Hillary and Democrats. From one potential political suicidal act to another – demeaning women, insulting blacks and Latinos, mocking a disabled journalist, saying outrageous things and then denying them even when caught on tape, refusing to release his taxes and admitting that he has not been paying federal income tax for years only when the New York Times exposed three pages of his 1995 tax documents. The real surprise is that a man with as much moral decay as Trump (with highly publicized extra-marital affairs and equally publicized divorce soap operas) could have the nerve to play holier than thou against Bill Clinton.

That’s like Dangote berating people for being rich or Nnamdi Kanu writing a book titled “Why Nigeria Must Never Break Up.” Now, where were we? Oh yes, I was trying to tell you that from all indications, it’s over for Trump. Remember, with the bombshell audio-video of Trump bragging about getting away with anything he does to women because he is a star (including acts that rise to the level of sexual assault) the unraveling of the Trump campaign is now on speed dial. Also, with early voting in progress in so many states, it is fair to expect that many undecided voters will now favor Hillary over Trump. Anyone still betting on Trump?

Hillary’s Unending email Saga
I can’t emphasize enough that if the GOP had a different opponent other than Trump, Hillary would have been in a very bad shape in this election. First, she still has not been able to effectively explain why she chose to use a private email server for official work of a highly sensitive office as Secretary of State. Then her hacked emails revealed some embarrassing issues, including the latest release this week by Wikileaks, and then she called half of Trump’s supporters deplorables and irredeemable.

To Hillary’s great fortune, there is so much embarrassing and negative issues with the Trump campaign that, to a large extent, they’ve overshadowed her email crisis. And with Wikileaks releasing mostly embarrassing stuff about Hillary, many American voters are beginning to believe that the Russians are behind the email hacking in order to influence the U.S. presidential election in favor of Trump. From all indications, the emails are not having the kind of bombshell effect the hackers were expecting. It would then be safe to pronounce the D word for Hillary – Destiny!

The Real October Surprise
Just when we thought we’ve seen the October surprise with the New York Times’ release of three pages of Trump’s 1995 tax return, The Washington Post dropped an exclusive audio-video that has turned Trump’s campaign upside down. That audio-video revealed how Trump bragged about his exploits of women, including a potential sexual assault, and how being a star enables him to do anything. The public release of that tape last week was so devastating that for the first time in his political career, Trump was forced to apologize. The big mistake, though, was that he quickly added that Bill Clinton did far worse things against women. Of course, then President Clinton was terrible with women and he paid dearly for some of his escapades, especially lying about Monica Lewinsky. But what has that got to do with Trump? Despite all the humiliation Bill Clinton suffered, American voters loved him so much that they voted him for a second term in a near landslide defeat of Sen. Bob Dole.

As if the Washington Post’s “earthquake” was not enough, two women have surfaced with claims against Trump. Trump has rejected their claims and has threatened to sue the paper. And the fact that Trump has publicly declared war with GOP leaders speaking out against him or retracting a previous endorsement for him, he has succeeded in splitting his party just weeks before the U.S. presidential election. These latest developments will arguably make more undecided GOP and female voters cast their votes against Trump.

The Electoral College Picture – Clinton Rolls
Folks, right now Trump needs divine intervention if the polls are accurate. Real Clear Politics has Clinton leading with a national average of 8.6 percentage points. Clinton is leading in seven of eight major national polls. And for the first time in a very long time, she has caught up with Trump in the LA Times polls, now tied at 44. The other polls include Clinton leading Trump in the Atlantic/PRRI by 11, NBC News/Wall Street Journal by 10, Reuters/Ipsos by 7, Quinnipiac by 6, Rasmussen Reports by 5 and Fox News by 4. In the battleground states, where this election would be decided, polls of the four candidates show Clinton leading in Michigan by 11, Wisconsin by 7, Pennsylvania by 4, Ohio by 4, Florida by 3 and North Carolina by 2.

With close to three weeks before the election, recent polls give Clinton 272 electoral college votes and 196 for Trump. The remaining 70 votes are too close to call.