Lucas: There is not enough time to choose another candidate

Last week, Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate in the U.S. presidential election, during her campaign in Cleveland, after being interrupted by a cough, said that whenever her opponent Donald Trump's name comes up, she starts coughing and is sensitive to him. However, this was not the end of the Democratic candidate's coughing. On Sunday, during the 15th anniversary ceremony of the September 11 attacks, Mrs. Clinton left the event due to illness and with difficulty. Initially, it was reported that the reason for her departure was heat exhaustion, but hours later, Mrs. Clinton's doctor announced that she had pneumonia. The next day, Donald Trump stated that he wishes his opponent good health, but speculation about how the U.S. election campaign would continue given Mrs. Clinton's health condition intensified from that Sunday. In this regard, Radio Farda spoke with Scott Lucas, a professor of American studies at the University of Birmingham. Mr. Lucas, what is your assessment of this situation? In my opinion, until Hillary Clinton's health status is clarified, everyone should be concerned. It has been said that this is a milder form of pneumonia. This could mean that this illness will only weaken her and resolve in a short time, but it may also persist. However, the main criterion is that the Democrats want Clinton to be in the best health for the first debate, which will take place in about two weeks. If it appears that she has health issues at that time, it will create a serious problem for her campaign. Is there a precedent for a candidate in a U.S. presidential election to withdraw from the race shortly before the election due to health issues? No, there is no precedent for a candidate to decide to withdraw at this point close to the election, but there have been issues regarding candidates' health in the past. For example, in the 1960s, John F. Kennedy's campaign staff decided to hide the fact that he was using a lot of painkillers due to a back injury from World War II. It is also well-known that in 1984, Ronald Reagan was questioned about his health and age, and he stated in the first debate that he would ensure age would not be an issue in the campaign but did not want to exploit his opponent's inexperience and youth for political purposes. You mentioned that you are concerned about the upcoming weeks. Do you think Donald Trump and the Republican Party will take advantage of the health issue that has arisen for Hillary Clinton? Yesterday, it was rumored that Donald Trump's staff held his hands so he could not express happiness about this issue using his computer keyboard. Whether this is true or not, the Trump campaign does not seem to want to use this situation to create a sense of victory and will approach it very cautiously. This is partly because it does not look good in the public eye to appear happy about Clinton's misfortune, and secondly, because they do not want public attention drawn to Donald Trump's own health status and the fact that he has not yet made his medical records public. Ultimately, I think in this unprecedented situation, in two weeks either Hillary Clinton will return to the campaign and continue, and this will just be one of a series of unprecedented events in this campaign, but if she remains ill, and I do not mean very ill, but to the extent that it seems difficult for her to continue, the Democrats will face the option of turning to her running mate, Tim Kaine from Virginia. Kaine seems reliable and solid, but many in America do not know him, and he is not a suitable option to stand against a flashy and aggressive person like Trump. Is a return to Bernie Sanders, who competed with Mrs. Clinton, possible? There is not enough time to choose another candidate. Perhaps a special Democratic Party convention should be formed for that, and the leaders of this party should hold an emergency meeting. Sanders is a popular candidate among his supporters, but many Democratic leaders do not like him.