Personal attacks take center stage in bitter second debate

ST. LOUIS – Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton clashed in deeply personal terms in the second presidential debate on Sunday night, accusing each other of mistreating women, and signaling that the final month of the race would be an extraordinarily ugly political brawl.

Before the debate, Trump’s campaign appeared to be spiraling out of control after the release of a 2005 recording in which he boasted in explicit terms about how his celebrity allowed him to sexually assault women without consequence.

Asked about the tape, which set off an avalanche of denunciations by dozens of Republicans saying they could no longer support him, Trump offered a tepid apology but dismissed his language in the recording as minor compared with the national security threats facing the country.

http://www.startribune.com/personal-attacks-take-center-stage-in-bitter-debate/396481571/