Trump manages to win over some voters during ugly presidential debate | McClatchy Washington Bureau

Welcome to McClatchy’s Voter Survival Guide, an interactive presentation of daily events from one of the strangest presidential campaigns in modern history.

Donald Trump was backed into a corner, and his aggressive debate tactics appeared to work during Sunday night’s second presidential debate, at least for some undecided voters.

But it wasn’t his expected line of attack that worked, as many were turned off by his arguments on Bill Clinton’s record with women.

When Trump talked about emails, Clinton’s trustworthiness and the Supreme Court, voters bought the message.

Tim Davis, 34, a construction worker from Gladstone, Mo., fears what Clinton will do to the Supreme Court.

“To me, that says more about this country’s future than the presidency does,” Davis said.

It was clear Sunday night’s debate was not going to be a pleasant affair, as Trump tried to dig himself out of a hole created by the release of a 2005 videotape where he discussed women in lewd terms.

The first question centered on Trump’s lewd comments about women from 2005. After Trump tried to answer the question about his vulgar comments with facts and figures about the American economy, moderator Anderson Cooper pressed him for a response.

“I'm not proud of it,” Trump said. “I apologize to my family. I apologize to the American people. Certainly I'm not proud of it. But this is locker room talk.”

The debate was supposed to be a townhall where ordinary voters would stand up and ask the candidates questions about policy issues or the direction of the country. It descended into an ugly back-and-forth on issues like marital infidelity from the 1990s.

“What we all saw and heard on Friday was Donald talking about women, what he thinks about women, what he does to women,”Clinton said. And he has said that the video doesn't represent who he is. But I think it's clear to anyone who heard it that it represents exactly who he is.”

Sunday’s debate capped a whirlwind weekend where Trump held a last-second press conference with women who claimed to be sexually assaulted by Bill Clinton, a wave of GOP politicians rescinded their endorsements and the transcripts of Clinton’s lucrative speeches were released.

The polls open nationally in 28 days. Let’s get started.

A debate for the ages

Trump had a clear plan on Sunday evening, downplay his own statements and attack Clinton in every way possible. Within the first fifteen minutes of the debate he said Clinton should be in jail and if elected he would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the Democratic nominee.

“But if I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation, because there has never been so many lies, so much deception,” Trump said. “There has never been anything like it, and we're going to have a special prosecutor.”

Clinton didn’t take the bait. She chose to stick to her script and didn’t aggressively go after Trump, referring voters to her website multiple times to fact-check the Republican nominee.

“I told people that it would be impossible to be fact-checking Donald all the time,” Clinton said. “I'd never get to talk about anything I want to do and how we're going to really make lives better for people. So, once again, go to HillaryClinton.com.”

Foreign policy and fiscal issues were discussed heavily in the debate, as social issues like abortion and LGBT rights did not come up.

In the immediate aftermath, most pundits and voters said Trump performed better than in the first debate, but he still lost narrowly.

Trump also referred to Clinton as the devil, capping off an ugly affair at Washington University in St. Louis.

Trump goes for intimidation, voters don’t respond

About 90 minutes before the first debate, Trump summoned a small group of reporters for a press conference, but he had no intention of taking questions.

Instead, the Republican nominee came out with four women who all accused Bill Clinton of various sexual misdeeds, including rape, dating back to the 1970s. All four women sat at tonight’s debate and Trump directly referenced them.

“Mr. Trump may have said some bad words, but Bill Clinton raped me and Hillary Clinton threatened me,” Juanita Broaddrick said at an event before the debate. “I don’t think there’s any comparison.”

Reporters attempted to ask questions about Friday’s leaked video, but the four women and Trump made short statements before leaving the room.

But voters, even Trump supporters, weren’t enthused about the line of attack.

“I don’t think it’s an effective attack,” said Alex Boyer, 26, “Attacking Hillary Clinton or Bill Clinton is the very definition of hypocrisy.”

Elements of the GOP abandon Trump

A few Republicans, notably Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney and John Kasich, never endorsed Trump. Now many of their fellow Republicans are joining them.

Over the weekend, over 50 Republican members of Congress took away their endorsements or announced they would not support Trump. Some said he should step aside in favor of Mike Pence or someone else less than a month before the election.

Here’s what would happen if Trump were get kicked off the ballot. (It’s unlikely)

Clinton’s speeches released

Buried by the debate and Trump’s theatrics, transcripts of Clinton’s speeches to Goldman Sachs were released by WikiLeaks.

“Obviously, I’m kind of far removed because the life I’ve lived and the economic, you know, fortunes that my husband and I now enjoy, but I haven’t forgotten it,” Clinton told Goldman Sachs in 2014.

Clinton, who made millions off the speeches after leaving public office, was constantly challenged to release the transcripts by Bernie Sanders during the Democratic primary.

“There’s a lot that could have been avoided in terms of both misunderstanding and really politicizing what happened,” Clinton said in a 2013 speech to Goldman Sachs. “You guys help us figure it out and let’s make sure we do it right this time.”

Memes of the debate

Social media was abuzz with the tale of Kenneth Bone, a sweater-clad voter who asked a rather dry question about energy policy at the end of last night’s debate.

A fly also pestered Hillary Clinton during the early stages.

#MuslimsReportStuff goes viral on Twitter after Donald Trump suggested that Muslims need to take extra care to report potential security threats in their communities.

Links of note

Trump recorded having lewd conversation with women in 2005 (Washington Post)

Trump declares war on GOP ‘hypocrites’ (McClatchy)

Obama says Trump is “insecure” (McClatchy)

Ugliest debate ever (Politico)

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