Candidates prepare to debate Sunday in unprecedented circumstances

The stage is set for the second presidential debate

(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will face off in their second debate Sunday evening, a crucial moment for Trump after 48 hours of intense criticism over a 2005 hot mic recording in which he is heard making graphic sexual remarks.

Trump finds himself in unprecedented circumstances, and many question whether any debate performance could save his candidacy. The recording "is a devastating blow to the Trump campaign and to the party, and there is not much either can do to salvage it," said former Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele, adding, "It almost doesn't matter what Trump does in the next debate."

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.