Donald Trump is already a monster in the popular imagination - especially in this country. He has become the villain of children's games and an obvious choice for wig-wearing trick-or-treaters as halloween approaches.
In the US, a deep distrust of Hillary Clinton and the political establishment has allowed him more respect and given him a broad licence to tap into a jaded and disaffected electorate. But the last few days have revealed glimpses of monstrosity that even hardcore conservatives can't stomach. His crude language and overt sexual aggression alienated Americans who were previously able to look through extreme comments on race and immigration.
Trump should be done. But don't count on it. Just like a Hollywood movie monster he is unlikely to die quickly. Just when you think he is buried, he lurches again, taking politics to new and increasingly grotesque depths.
He certainly did that yesterday.
By any orthodox measure he didn't win the debate. But this is not an orthodox election and it was not an orthodox debate. The shock tactics he employed sowed doubt, highlighted hypocrisy and played perfectly to the fears and biases of his core support base. A pre-debate press conference in which Trump sat beside the women who accuse Bill Clinton of sexual assault was audacious. But it was cleverly calculated to offer wavering supporters some tenuous moral logic for sticking with him. So too his attacks during the debate which exploded to historic levels of vitriol as he accused Clinton of laughing at a rape victim and said she would be in jail if he was president.
