There’s less than a week to go before a presidential election that’s had enough October surprises to earn the description of a soap opera.
Hillary Clinton remains the favorite to earn a third straight term for Democrats, although the race appears to be tightening. The release of her campaign manager’s hacked emails continues to produce embarrassing information. Her campaign also got stung last Friday when FBI Director James Comey announced that agents are reviewing new evidence that might be relevant in the previously closed probe of the private computer server she used while secretary of state.
If Clinton does win on Nov. 8, she will take office with a heavy load of political baggage.
Her opponent, Donald Trump, seemed out of the race just a short time ago. It’s possible that Comey’s announcement last week, along with the ongoing release of hacked emails, has brought some undecided voters over to his side. The question is whether enough of them will vote for Trump in the eight or 10 states that will decide the election.
There’s only one certainty about the election: No matter who wins, neither one of the candidates will lose financially.
If Trump wins, Clinton and her husband, the former president, get to return to their lucrative lifestyle of raising money — a cash-generating machine accurately described as “Clinton Inc.” in one of the hacked emails. Hillary Clinton, even in defeat, would remain in demand as a paid speaker, given that she’s the first female presidential nominee from either of the major parties.
As for Trump, his 2005 “Access Hollywood” recording in which he bragged of molesting women may cost his companies some business in the short term. But history shows that he responds to adversity pretty well: He figured out how to turn a $900 million tax writeoff into a billion-dollar business. That takes some doing.
The Oct. 31 edition of Bloomberg Businessweek, with a story titled, “The Trump Machine Is Built to Last,” makes it clear that Trump’s advisers know he’s trailing Clinton and may well lose. But they also know their man will do quite nicely even if she is the next president.
Trump’s campaign gave the magazine access to its “command center,” where Trump is surrounded by people who believe his quiet, unmeasured supporters can still propel him to victory. But the story focused on Trump’s skillful digital marketing to raise millions of dollars for longer-term strategies.
Bloomberg reports that the operation has collected 12 million or more email addresses and other personal information, and believes Trump has enough public support to start either a TV network of his own or a political movement designed to split the Republican Party.
Whether Trump becomes president, a television mogul or the leader of a populist political movement, he’ll be a winner in some form after Nov. 8. The amount of free publicity he has received in the past year and a half is itself worth a fortune to his far-flung real estate enterprises.
It’s interesting, though, that many of these post-election ambitions revolve around money — the exact thing for which he criticizes the Clintons.
