By Britt Nelson

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff

The whole world is watching as presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump take aim at each other, and for the next five months both of them will throw everything they have at each other to persuade voters that they are the best choice for America’s future.

Predictions are that the remainder of this campaign season will be nastier than anything seen in the past.

Clinton’s supporters are ecstatic over her clinching the Democratic nomination for President, a historical first for a woman to be named a presidential candidate by a major political party. By contrast, women have been elected President in Costa Rica and across Latin America for decades.

The same voters that elected America’s first black president are attempting to elect the first woman as president just because she’s a woman. But her supporters are in complete denial about Clinton’s past that is full of scandals, controversies, lies and investigations.

Trump’s supporters are mad as hell and angry about anything associated with establishment politics and they want to see real change come to Washington DC, not the ‘change and hope’ promised by President Obama that was not delivered over the past seven years.

The Republican Party needs to redefine itself in light of Trump winning outright their nomination for president. Behind the scenes it’s fair to assume that Trump’s detractors are doing everything they can to derail his candidacy. Many find his winning the nomination as unacceptable, but there’s little or nothing they can do, short of assassination, to stop Trump.

The Democrats are facing far more negatives about their candidate than the Republicans are facing with Trump. There are vast amounts of accurate information about Clinton’s past and she will be an easy target for Trump to zero in on and keep hammering away.

Trump’s past is not associated with any previous public office. It’s all business related and he did very well amassing billions of dollars in real estate holdings throughout the world. In Trump’s universe, part of everyday life are lawsuits, bankruptcies and failures. Big-time business is full of risk and Trump has taken countless risks and has come out on top time and time again. Sure, he has negatives mostly related to his boisterous personality, but not like the negative Clinton has.

For us American expats living in Costa Rica, it’s common to hear the sentiment that they are really glad to be living in Costa Rica and no longer in the United States. Here’s one view point from an expat living in Jaco Beach:

“Now you will see Hillary Clinton so smiley and sweet. Yet most of us realize what a hateful person she truly is. This woman must not be in the Oval Office,” said Hugo Hackery. “I am an Independent voter and neither one of these two candidates were my personal choices. But for the future of America, we do not need four more years of the most dishonest and least transparent administration with the highest taxation and regulations in the history of this country. Anyone but Hillary. Take a look at what the Secret Service views her as. When flying on Air Force One alone they used the call sign ‘BROOMSTICK 1’!! Folks these men and women know her the best as to what a witch she truly is.”

It’s an uphill battle for both Clinton and Trump to win the general election coming up Nov. 8. Neither one has this election in the bag. In the meantime, next month both national conventions for Republicans and Democrats will be held. Between now and mid-July, both candidates will be forming their campaign’s tactics and strategies to beat the other one down.

The Republican Convention, with Trump leading the way, should be quite a show and perhaps nothing like what has been seen during past conventions. TV ratings for this year’s Republican Convention may be off the charts.

The Democratic Convention is certain to be scripted with no surprises and really boring. If Clinton has any political savvy she will name Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders as her vice-presidential running mate and bring his vast numbers of supporters along with him, and put him out there on the campaign trail. But Sanders is an honest man, and with him being that close to the happenings and future shenanigans in the Oval Office, she will probably pick someone more like her and lose a lot of votes that she cannot afford to lose.

Meanwhile, Trump is welcoming Sanders’ ‘Political Revolution’ supporters to climb aboard the ‘Trump Train’ and many will if Sanders is left out in the cold by Clinton and the Democratic Party.

A political action committee (PAC) is forming now and it’s named “Republicans for Hillary,” and Clinton is welcoming any and all Trump haters to her side.

Seven national polls show Clinton and Trump tied in the mid-40 percent range. They are neck-and-neck. Five polls show Clinton ahead by a few points while the other two show Trump ahead by a few points, according to Real Clear Politics.

This race is shaping up to be a classic match-up between the blonde tortoise and the not-so-white bunny.

About the author

Britt Nelson relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he served as news editor for the Palatka Daily News, a newspaper owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group (NYT-RNG) for 20 years.

Nelson served the NYT-RNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, staff writer, senior staff writer training new reporters, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member