October Surprise

 

Our presidential elections have been famous for the so-called October surprise. Just look at 2016, an election cycle that had several. First, there was the Access Hollywood tape, and on the same day, Wikileaks’ publication of hacked Democratic Party email communications. Finally, James Comey announced the reopening of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s missing emails.

 That’s a lot of surprises for one October. Now I fear we are on the verge of another. Last weekend, for reasons known only to the candidate himself, Donald Trump chose to make comments about the physical endowment of Hall-of-Fame golfer Arnold Palmer. That’s surprising in itself, but I think the real danger lies in how the media follows up on Mr. Trump’s comments.

 It’s only a matter of time before some cynical reporter prods the former president by asking how he compares to Mr. Palmer. The nightmare scenario is that Mr. Trump will reenact the closing scene from the movie Boogie Nights. Remember Mark Wahlberg’s dialog, “I am a star, a big, bright, shining star,” as he displayed the proof?

 I hope the broadcast and cable networks deploy a five-second delay on their live coverage in order to protect the viewing public. I shudder to think of Mr. Trump’s reprise of Mr. Wahlberg’s performance. It is an October surprise we can do without.

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