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.

Terror struck again Tuesday as three suicide bombers fired assault rifles in public areas of the Istanbul, Turkey Ataturk Airport and then blew themselves up leaving -at last count- 44 dead and 239 wounded. No official claim of responsibility has been received, but it has all the markings of ISIS, Turkish officials said Wednesday.

The attack is the fourth this year in Turkey and it falls on the heels of other radical Islamic terrorist attacks in Belgium, France and Orlando, Florida. Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, of course, gave statements denouncing the bombings.

Following a brief investigation, authorities cleared the airport of bodies, blood and debris allowing it to reopen Wednesday morning illustrating Turkey’s resolve to return to normal as quickly as possible.

All of this worldwide turmoil is having profound effects upon the presidential race in the USA. In three weeks, the Republican National Convention will begin, and then a week later the Democrats will get their chance to strut their stuff before the nation. Then the attention will turn to three debates between former Democrat Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Republican New York billionaire Donald Trump in September and October before the national election on Nov. 8.

At this point, Clinton has the edge over Trump in national poll averaging, but in the important swing state of Ohio, Clinton leads only by 2.7 percentage points. Conducted this week, eight state polls showed Clinton ahead in five of them and Trump ahead in three. Nonetheless, the forever shifting winds of politics may be blowing toward Trump.

A Quinnipiac University nationwide poll indicated that Clinton and Trump are running neck and neck, with Clinton at 42 percent to Trump’s 40 percent, a 2-point increase for Trump from a month ago according to Real Clear Politics. This poll had a margin of error of two points.

Another poll by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal conducted last week shows 55 percent of American voters have negative views of Clinton. The poll also showed that only 25 percent of the voters thought Clinton was honest, while 41 percent thought Trump was honest.

The shear amount of negative information coming out now about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is staggering – the Inspector General’s report, the Benghazi report led by South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy, the proven lies Clinton told about the reasons for the Benghazi slaughter of four Americans, the tell-all book by a Secret Service agent, the unknown results of the on-going FBI email investigation, on and on and on. For the next five months, the Clinton campaign will come under fire from all sides like nothing ever seen before in presidential races.

Each new development brings instant response from the Clinton campaign, and they keep saying the same thing -that these reports, books, movies, and investigations are purely political and right-wing partisanship. They are oblivious to the obvious and in long-term denial about Clinton’s considerable political baggage. Ultimately, this will be up to the voters to decide.

Clinton did acknowledge on Monday in Chicago that she had more work to do to convince voters of her honesty and sincerity, according to a story published on Real Clear Politics.

“I personally know that I have work to do on this front. A lot of people tell pollsters they don’t trust me,” Clinton said. She said that “25 years’ worth of wild accusations” eroded her reputation, and she pledged to alleviate voters’ suspicions by earning their confidence.

“It’s certainly true. I’ve made mistakes. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t. So I understand people have some questions,” Clinton said during a Rainbow/PUSH Coalition luncheon. “You can’t just talk someone into trusting you. You’ve got to earn it.”

Clinton is mounting her nationwide anti-Trump campaign and she has brought on board an attack dog in the name of Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who constantly reminds Clinton’s supporters that Republican New York billionaire Donald Trump and his businesses have been sued more than 3,000 times and he’s only in the presidential race for himself and not for the American people as he claims.

On Monday, Warren joined Clinton in Ohio on the campaign trail, and she may be Clinton’s choice as a vice-presidential running mate. During the rally, both Clinton and Warren bashed Trump non-stop.

Warren is a former professor at Harvard Law School specializing in bankruptcy law. She is also liked by supporters of candidate Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who seems to be disappearing from the arena of presidential politics.

The Trump campaign has been relatively quiet since England voted to exit the European Union last Thursday and Trump showed up in Scotland on Friday to praise the United Kingdom in their decision. But you know that inside the Trump campaign there are efforts to completely blow Clinton out of the water by the Nov. 8 general election. Same thing goes for team Clinton.

This week Trump hired a former communications director for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who dropped out of the presidential race earlier this year. Jason Miller is Trump’s new director of communications and he will concentrate on interactions with the national news media.

Both Clinton and Trump are organizing their national campaigns against each other and it won’t be pretty to watch the attack ads that will not cease. Both campaigns are filling water balloons as fast as they can as ISIS plans another deadly attack.

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.