| Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, the Secret Service and a guy with some suction caps | So much for the Rio Olympics - this was the race that stopped the nation.
A 19-year-old Donald Trump supporter climbing Trump Tower with suction cups. I know.
As Trump and Hillary Clinton continue to face off in this ever more befuddling election campaign, America came to a virtual standstill as cable television turned its attention away from politics and switched to strangely compelling rolling coverage of one young man's painfully slow climb up Trump's gleaming HQ in NYC.
Like I said, I know.
It transfixed social media.
The man from Virginia was eventually (after some hours) pulled safely in a window by police and was taken away for assessment. He's since been charged.
We'll avoid naming him for the sake of feeding it further but he apparently wanted to attract attention (mission accomplished) and to meet Trump.
He thought this approach was the best way to get a meeting with the candidate (I think we'll call that a fail).
We're putting the stunt on the growing pile of "what the" moments of 2016, a year in which campaign rhetoric with no boundaries is feeding concern that the lines for those who might want to be noticed are also getting fuzzy (as above).
NOW, THE SECRET SERVICE IS INVOLVED
Trump delivered the latest case in point with this comment about Hillary's intentions in relation to the second amendment (translation: gun rights) and the power she would have if she was elected and could fill the all powerful Supreme Court vacancy with a Democrat.
"Hillary wants to abolish - essentially abolish the Second Amendment. By the way, if she gets to pick, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks."
"Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know.""
This breathtaking aside was widely interpreted as encouraging violence against Clinton. That's something Trump has vehemently denied saying that he was encouraging second amendment supporters to use their votes.
However, in a country rife with gun-related violence this is language that, if interpreted that way by the wrong person, could go horribly wrong.
It's worth noting this from the US Secret Service:
And the agents around the Democratic candidate have looked particularly alert since, especially after a protestor rushed the stage at one of her rallies.
Just for the record, it was an animal rights activist. Don't ask!
HE SAID
Trump's Second Amendment comments dominated America's week.
It was at a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina where Trump suggested second amendment people, that is, advocates of bearing arms, might be able to stop Clinton from appointing judges.
The comment was denounced by the mainstream media and Democrats, oh, and one guy, whose reaction in the crowd was priceless.
While we're here, here's our tweet of the week
The honour this week goes to Senator Elizabeth Warren, who never shies away from an opportunity to whack Trump. She was quick to jump onboard the avalanche of criticism.
SHE SAID
Clinton: "No, Barack Obama is not the founder of ISIS."
Following a rally in Florida where Trump made the suggestion, Clinton also tweeted: "It can be difficult to muster outrage as frequently as Donald Trump should cause it, but his smear against President Obama requires it."
There's been another twist to that whole story.
VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Credit to the Trump campaign for finding a new way to attack Clinton on the email scandal.
This week it dropped a new, '80s-arcade-inspired video with Clinton featured as Pac-Man eating emails and running from FBI ghosts.
At the bottom the number of emails deleted is counted.
"Crooked Hillary is a lot like Ms Pac-Man," Trump's account writes, "She'll keep going and going and going until she's cornered and caught!"
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Courtesy of TIME, this gem, among others, referring to The Donald of course:
"On other campaigns, we would have to scrounge for crumbs," says a senior Clinton adviser.
"Here, it's a fire hose. He can set himself on fire at breakfast; kill a nun at lunch and water board a puppy in the afternoon. And that doesn't even get us to prime time."
FACES IN THOSE RALLY CROWDS
Every day, thousands of people turn out to hear the two major candidates speak at rallies around the country.
However, this week in Florida, both Clinton and Trump were caught out by people who showed up in the crowd.
On Tuesday, Seddique Mateen, the father of Omar Mateen, the man responsible for the death of 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando in June, was spotted behind Clinton's left shoulder.
"Hillary Clinton is good for the United States versus Donald Trump, who has no solutions" Mr Mateen told local media.
The next night, Trump slammed Clinton for Mr Mateen's appearance at her rally.
There was just one problem: Trump had a controversial face of his own in the crowd.
It was Mark Foley. He's a former congressman from Florida who resigned in 2006 following a sex scandal on Capitol Hill. Face palm.
LIFE ON THE ROAD
Covering the campaign can be tough. Spare a thought for the US network reporters who have been road warriors for more than a year.
Katy Tur from NBC has been on the trail covering the tumultuous Trump. She has given a fascinating insight into life on the road.
BY THE NUMBERS
19 per cent - that's the number of registered Republicans who want Trump to drop out of the race, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll (with a small sample size of 396 registered Republicans).
LITERAL TRUMP CARDS
Clinton played the woman card and now Trump is playing the, well, Trump card.
In a new promotion to raise campaign funds, Trump's team is selling out "Gold Executive Membership Cards" for $35.
TRUMP AT THE OLYMPICS?
No. But, we have been gripped by the summer Olympics in Rio (in between Trump/Pence/Hillary/Kaine speeches) so in keeping with that here's a clip of Trump trying his hand at beach volleyball 15 years ago.
Spoiler alert: he wins the point because, you know, he's a winner. You're welcome.
Well that's another week on the trail folks, oh and as Aussies in the USA in this Olympic fortnight we just have to say — go Boomers!
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