'October surprise’ fears bring out the worst in U.S. politicians

Every U.S. politician — and especially a presidential candidate — fears an “October surprise.”

This is a revelation just days or weeks before the November ballot that would transform the race to his or her disadvantage. Efforts to prevent such surprises have led to stomach-churning behaviors that, if not illegal, are immoral and unethical.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump’s indictment last week was one case of a politician trying to get in front of a possible election-changing story and prevent a surprise. Other candidates or their teams have done so as well; one incident involving Ronald Reagan was seemingly confirmed only a few weeks ago. The Trump affair is merely another chapter in a sad history of U.S. politics.

While the indictment has not yet been revealed, the outlines of the case against Trump have been much discussed in the media. He is accused of paying Stephanie Clifford, a porn actress known as Stormy Daniels, hush money in October 2016 to prevent her from going public about a 2006 dalliance — to call it an affair is too generous a description of their encounter — with Trump. He allegedly paid her $130,000 through his then-attorney Michael Cohen because he worried that the revelations would cripple his electoral prospects.october we wear pink shirt