by Zachary Burd ’19, Staff Writer

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are locked in a struggle to the death for the US presidency.  With only a few months until the election, the candidates are preparing for the final stretch of campaigning. Over the summer, each of the major political parties hosted a convention to officially nominate their presidential and vice-presidential candidates, as well as decide upon a uniform party platform. These conventions often become the impetus for a momentum shift in the election, and are heavily analyzed by the media.

The Democratic National Convention was held from July 25 to 28 in Philadelphia. Ms. Clinton, the former Secretary of State, received the nomination over her primary rival, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. She was confirmed as the party’s candidate for the upcoming election along with her running mate, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine

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The Democratic platform generated at the convention has been touted as the “most progressive” in party history, mainly due to the influence of Mr. Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist. His sizable contingent of extremely loyal, far-left voters, who are known as the “Bernie or Bust” group, prompted Ms. Clinton to adapt some of her views in an attempt to attract more voters.

Over the course of several days, supporters of Mr. Sanders staged demonstrations in and around the convention, protesting the nomination of Ms. Clinton.

In the week prior to the convention, over 19,000 emails from the chair of the Democratic National Committee, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, were published on Wikileaks. The emails revealed heavy biases from DNC leadership in favor of Ms. Clinton over Mr. Sanders. Cyber security experts and American intelligence agencies investigating the incident have reported with near certainty that the Russian government is responsible for the hack, and Ms. Wasserman Schultz and other high profile DNC members resigned in the wake of the leak.

Over a hundred people spoke at the four-day convention, including former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg stressed that he was not a Democrat, but he endorsed Ms. Clinton anyway to “defeat a dangerous demagogue”, referencing Mr. Trump.

Mr. Sanders emphasized the similarities between himself and the presumptive nominee, and formally endorsed Ms. Clinton in an important unifying gesture.

Khizr Khan, the father of a Muslim-American Army captain killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom, criticized Mr. Trump’s proposed temporary ban on Muslim immigration to the United States.

First Lady Michelle Obama, in what for many was the highlight of the convention, defended Ms. Clinton from criticism and attacked Mr. Trump, saying, “Don’t let anyone ever tell you that this country is not great. That somehow we need to make it great again. Because this right now is the greatest country on Earth.”

The Republican National Convention was held from July 18 to 21 in Cleveland. Mr. Trump received the nomination unchallenged after all of the opposing candidates dropped out of the race. He was confirmed to be the party’s nominee for the upcoming election along with his running mate, Illinois Governor Mike Pence.

Former presidential candidates Mitt Romney and John McCain, as well as former presidents George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush, announced that they would skip the convention, in an unusual move.

Melania Trump, the nominee’s wife, spoke on the first night of the convention, and was almost immediately accused of plagiarizing the speech Michelle Obama gave at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. The allegation, despite enjoying several days of intensive media coverage, was eventually discredited by plagiarism experts.

On the second night, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie delivered a speech in the form of a mock trial. After declaring Ms. Clinton “guilty”, the crowd chanted, “lock her up”. Supporters of Mr. Sanders caused a similar scene at the Democratic Convention.

On the third night, Texas Senator and former presidential candidate Ted Cruz urged the crowd “to vote your conscience, vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom and to be faithful to the Constitution”; he was booed off stage for not endorsing Mr. Trump for president. Mr. Cruz’s comments reflect how the GOP has fractured over the nomination of Mr. Trump in past months, and he was criticized for putting his own interests before the party’s.

The presumptive Republican nominee was the last to speak, on the fourth and final night of the convention, and his acceptance speech was the longest since 1972. In it, Mr. Trump condemned the policies of Ms. Clinton and President Obama, reached out to disillusioned supporters of Mr. Sanders, and defended his controversial immigration policies, prompting the audience to shout, “build the wall”.

Mr. Trump surged in the polls following the Republican National Convention, but his popularity plummeted when the Democrats nominated Ms. Clinton at the end of July. Overall, she enjoyed a much larger increase in polling numbers than Mr. Trump during the time of the conventions.

Although the election has returned to a near tossup in recent days, Ms. Clinton is still favored to be the one sitting in the Oval Office next year. The presidential race has only a few months to go, and many Newark Academy students and faculty have started to think about the implications of the election for themselves and for the school.

Science teacher and faculty advisor to Young Republicans Mr. Bitler has noticed that the liberal-leaning and conservative-minded students tend to form clusters of people of similar political views, discouraging intellectual debate between the two groups. He thinks that one effect of the election will be “an increase in the number of fruitful conversations and debates among those of different political views at NA”, something he considers essential for the school.

Newark Academy will just have to wait and see the result of an unavoidable collision course in November.