The Trump Drug Test Challenge: Would It Work If Donald Trump And Hillary Clinton Agreed To A Drug Test Before The 3rd Presidential Debate?
As if this election year couldn’t get any crazier, welcome to the Donald Trump drug test challenge. Yes, Donald Trump is actually proposing that Hillary Clinton be tested for drugs just prior to the 3rd presidential debate coming up on October 19. If she agrees to do this, he claims he will be willing to submit to drug testing as well.
But is Donald Trump’s pre-debate drug test even feasible, let alone smart? More importantly, will it be televised live? If so, break out the popcorn and soda!
For Donald Trump, throwing down the gauntlet of this drug test challenge is – in part – a last-ditch effort to explain away Hillary Clinton’s decisive win in the first and second presidential debates. According to the Trump campaign, Clinton was supposed to have been at death’s door, so the fact that all recent poll results show she cleaned his clock has to be explained away somehow.
As reported by CNN, Trump’s rather sad and plaintive “She’s getting pumped up” insinuation seems clearly intended to suggest that frail and not long for this world Hillary Clinton shouldn’t have been able to walk onto the debate stage. She certainly couldn’t have defeated him without working up a sweat.
Of course, Trump throwing out this drug test challenge – which Trump certainly doesn’t expect Clinton to accept –could backfire on him if she actually did accept it. After all, Clinton has released detailed medical records describing all of the medications she takes – including a cholesterol drug and a thyroid drug. But Donald Trump has released only very superficial medical records.
HOW ABOUT FULL MEDICAL RECORDS ON BOTH
HOW ABOUT DRUG TESTS FOR BOTH
HOW ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH TESTS FOR BOTH
TRUMP WOULD FAIL ALL.— Free Bird Boomer (@TearsInHeaven09) October 15, 2016
If a drug test were done and all it uncovered were the prescribed medications that Clinton is supposed to be taking, it wouldn’t be good news for Trump. He would have made a wild accusation, something he’s admittedly accustomed to doing, and had it refuted – perhaps on live television – just prior to the debate.
Also, to borrow a phrase from Donald Trump himself, CNN reports that many people have been saying that certain aspects of Trump’s behavior – particularly all that sniffing during the debate – was indicative of drug use. Obviously, there’s no proof of this and it’s probably not true. On the other hand, a drug test might reveal medications that Trump is taking for medical problems he has not revealed to the world.
Typical Trump modus: he had rumors of drug use from sniffing, was clearly fatigued at end of first debate. Trying to turn on its head https://t.co/Eg2S199mvz
— Norman Ornstein (@NormOrnstein) October 15, 2016
Even so, many people are also saying that one of the main reasons the Trump drug test challenge is even being put forward is that Donald Trump wants to refute the idea he was sniffing at both debates because of cocaine use. Again, there’s no proof of this allegation and there are plenty of reasons during allergy and flu season to have a runny nose.
But the mere fact that the allegation of drug use by Donald Trump is out there may have been a motivating factor in him proposing that both he and Hillary Clinton get tested. In his confidence that she would refuse, he gets to refute the suspicion of his own drug use by his willingness to take a drug test.
But it will be interesting to see just what happens to the Trump drug test challenge proposal in the unlikely – but still barely possible – event that Hillary Clinton picks up the gauntlet and accepts Trump’s challenge. At that point, Donald Trump will have painted himself into a corner.
Trump will have a situation where the likeliest outcome – that neither of them take illegal drugs – will only help Hillary Clinton. And should the Donald Trump drug test show something unexpected for him rather than Clinton, the Trump campaign will be dead as the proverbial doornail.
[Featured Image by Kena Betancur/Getty Images]
