LAS VEGAS, Nevada — In the third and final presidential debate here, GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump is expected to again press his Democratic opponent Hillary Rodham Clinton over the litany of corruption questions plaguing her campaign.
After a rocky performance in the first debate, Trump rebounded in their second showdown in St. Louis last weekend. His running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, also bested Clinton’s sidekick Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) in the vice presidential debate.
Aides tells Breitbart News they think Trump’s success in the second debate came from in-depth preparation on policy issues along with detailed facts about Clinton’s various scandals. Aides to Trump tell Breitbart News to expect a performance similar to the St. Louis debate—albeit perhaps even more aggressive—with even more of a focus on the core questions about Clinton and the entire political establishment backing her that Trump says shows there is a “rigged” system.
The final debate comes amid the rockiest stretch of a debilitating campaign for both parties’ nominees.
Trump has just begun reestablishing himself in the wake of a series of allegations—with questionable timing, little to no evidence and in some cases contradictory witnesses—from a variety of women that he allegedly groped them. The Trump team is fighting back against those allegations, denying them and saying that the media are trying to “poison” the minds of voters with unsubstantiated allegations this close to an election.
Meanwhile, James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas has cut out the beating heart of the Institutional Left with his latest investigation into voter fraud and collusion and coordination among a variety of progressive organization.
O’Keefe’s investigations—two videos are already public and sources say more are on the way—have already forced the resignations of two high-level Democratic activists featured in them. Scott Foval has been removed from Americans United for Change (AUC), a progressive organization on the front lines of organizing leftist causes. And now Robert Creamer has stepped aside from his role at Democracy Partners with regard to coordination between the Clinton campaign, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and leftist organizations. All that comes amid an avalanche of emails from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta published by WikiLeaks, and new revelations that Undersecretary of State Patrick Kennedy sought a “quid pro quo” with the FBI on email classification during the Clinton email scandal investigation.
The debate here on Wednesday evening, moderated by the Fox News Channel’s Chris Wallace, is not expected to move the race back out of the gutter. In fact, to the contrary, sources on both sides say expect the fight to get rougher—especially as Wallace is expected to, more so than any other moderator so far, be tough on both candidates.
On Trump’s side, the stakes are extraordinarily high.
While polls have tightened in the wake of his recent controversies, Trump remains the underdog. It’s a place he likes to be, with his back against the wall fighting for survival before turning the circumstances around entirely while shocking his opponents, but it’s not the best place for a candidate to be this deep into October.
Trump needs another performance like what he had in St. Louis. Trump has delivered a series of speeches nationwide since he won the GOP nomination officially in Cleveland in July, but has yet to truly showcase his “America First” agenda on the national stage.
For Clinton, she’s coasting with a slight lead in most recent polling—but not a comfortable enough lead where her campaign thinks this election is locked up—so sources say to expect Clinton to bob and weave away from confrontation with Trump. She has a fine line to walk in this final debate where she doesn’t want to seem complacent and allow Trump to surge back into contention, but she also doesn’t want to go to overtly aggressive and make mistakes that Trump can capitalize on.