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It was 90 minutes of robust exchanges when United States Democratic Party presidential candidate, Mrs. Hilary Clinton, and her Republican Party rival, Donald Trump, squared up in the much-anticipated live television debate last week, ahead of the November 8, 2016 election. It was the first of three debates considered as a litmus test for the two candidates.
Hosted by Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, and moderated by the anchor of “NBS Nightly News,” Lester Holt, the debate brought out the good and bad sides of the candidates, who knew it was one of the strongest platforms to articulate their manifestoes and win the hearts of American voters. “History shows that a single bad debate performance can alter the trajectory of a U.S. presidential race,” a report had earlier warned.
Watched by about 100 million people, the debate broke U.S. TV record. The previous record of 80.6 million was set in 1980 during the Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter debate. Perhaps, the personality of the two candidates, the theatrics that have trailed the campaigns, coupled with the high expectations of the people, induced the unprecedented interest in the debate.
Indeed, the two candidates are titans in their own rights. Clinton is a former First Lady, former senator and former Secretary of State (Minister of Foreign Affairs). Trump is a business mogul and public affairs commentator, who first indicated interest in the presidency in 1988 on the Republican platform and later in 2000 under the Reform Party. In both instances, he did not run but has kept the dream alive till now.
Topics for debate
The candidates were asked to address three topics: Achieving prosperity, America’s direction and securing America. Major issues that featured within the three topics were job creation, taxation, race, cyber attacks, housing crisis and President Barack Obama’s birth certificate.
The rating Trump never accepted
According to CNN/ORC poll of voters who watched the debate, Clinton was the undisputed winner, garnering 62 per cent against Trump’s 27 per cent. But even in failure, Trump would remain controversial. This was exactly the picture when he rejected the result and declared himself winner but with a contradictory statement. He said he would perform better in the next debate. “I may hit her harder in certain ways,” Trump said in a telephone interview with “Fox & Friends” after the debate.
Trump added that when Clinton criticised him for his treatment of women, he resisted. “I was going to hit her with her husband’s women. And I decided I shouldn’t do it because her daughter was in the room,” Trump said.
This was not the only excuse for his poor performance. His campaign team accused Holt of bias for Clinton, saying he put too much pressure on Trump. Also, Trump accused the debate moderator of asking him “very unfair questions” and that he was given a “very bad” microphone. But Clinton, speaking to reporters on her campaign plane, said: “Anyone who complains about the microphone is not having a good night.”
The next debate comes up on October 9 in St. Louis, while the third will hold on October 19 in Las Vegas.
How Clinton floored Trump
It is one thing for a politician to mount the rostrum in a campaign field and it is another to address the specifics in a live TV debate. The two platforms have different ambients. It is easier to scrutinise a candidate in a live TV debate than in a rowdy political campaign field. And this was the scenario at Hofstra last week when the two candidates were asked to articulate their respective “policies, positions, visions and values.”
Clinton and Trump knew this too well. It was, indeed, an impressive start for both. But in a race like this and especially given the antecedence of the candidates, the trait of the individual becomes a major factor in the determination of how the pendulum would swing. And this was the situation. Clinton was composed and truly demonstrated “sense of accuracy, sensitivity and analytical skill” throughout the debate, which was not the case with Trump, who rigmaroled on virtually every issue raised. He, indeed, trivialised the essence of the exercise by unnecessarily repeating himself while putting emphasis on inconsequential issues. He sometimes appeared either confused or lacked solutions to the problems he would solve, if elected.
When asked: “Why are you a better choice than your opponent…?” Clinton was straight in her answer. She tactfully said she could “shoulder the immense responsibilities of the presidency” and “put into action the plans that will make your life better.” Trump derailed in his answer by ‘crying’ over how China, Mexico and others are using US “as a piggy bank” to build their countries and how he intends to renegotiate trade deals. The audience must have been amused when Trump went on a wild chase of China, Mexico and the other countries he accused of stealing jobs from his country. He forgot that the 90 minutes debate was divided into six segments, each 15 minutes long and two minutes to respond to opponent.
Clinton put him on the defensive throughout the debate, thus making a mockery of him. Clinton accused him of being “one of the people who rooted for the housing crisis” in the country and drew his attention to what he said in 2006. Her words: “He (Trump) said, back in 2006, ‘Gee, I hope it does collapse, because then I can go in and buy some and make some money.’ And the scheme did collapse.” Trump quickly interrupted quipping: “That’s called business, by the way.”
A smart guy for President?
More shocking was the answer a presidential candidate proudly gave before an audience of 100 million people when accused of evading tax. The host, Holt, had reminded Trump that he had not released his tax returns even as they talked “about the burden that Americans have to pay.” He became comical in an attempt to provide an answer. First, he said: “I don’t mind releasing… I’m under a routine audit… And it’ll be released. And . . . as soon as the audit’s finished, it will be released.”
But Holt wouldn’t let him go on such a sensitive issue. So, he fired back at him: “… of your taxes . . ; you’re perfectly free to release your taxes during an audit. And so the question does the public have right to know . . .” An uncomfortable Trump opted to create a diversion by saying he would release his tax returns when Clinton releases her “33,000 e-mails that have been deleted.” He said: “As soon as she releases them, I will release.”
Trump immediately fell into the waiting ‘sword’ of Clinton. When asked to respond, Clinton took advantage of the ‘mess,’ and accused Trump of “another example of bait-and-switch here.” Here is the cross-talk that would finish Trump; Clinton: “So you’ve got to ask yourself, why won’t he release his tax returns? And I think there may be a couple of reasons. First, maybe he’s not as rich as he says he is. Second, maybe he’s not as charitable as he claims to be. Third, we don’t know all of his business dealings, but we have been told through investigative reporting that he owes about $650 million to Wall Street and foreign banks. Or maybe he doesn’t want the American people, all of you watching tonight, to know that he’s paid nothing in federal taxes, because the only years that anybody’s ever seen were a couple of years when he had to turn them over to state authorities when he was trying to get a casino licence, and they showed he didn’t pay any federal income tax.”
And Trumps ‘shocking’ answer: “That makes me smart.”
Trump has often boasted that he was a successful businessman and would bring his experience to bear on the running of the country’s economy. But Clinton thinks otherwise. Clinton strongly believes Trump’s presidency will be more of a “voodoo presidency.” She points to the number of times Trump had gone bankrupt. “And when we talk about your business, you’ve taken business bankruptcy six times. There are a lot of business people that have never taken bankruptcy once. You call yourself the King of Debt. You talk about leverage…” And all Trump could say was: “Wrong, wrong.” Clinton would later give him a hard punch: “…Sometimes there’s not a direct transfer of skills from business to government, but sometimes what happened in business would be really bad for government.”
Throughout the debate, Trump changed positions. He recanted on some of his earlier positions on vital issues, such as racism, Obama’s birth certificate and the violence in the country. Indeed, he was not in command of issues. Clinton said it all. Her words: “I think Donald Trump just criticised me for preparing for this debate. And, yes, I did. And you know what else I prepared for? I prepared to be President. And I think that’s a good thing.”
U.S. media verdict, New York Times
The editorial board was unimpressed with the debate, saying “when just one candidate is serious and the other is a vacuous bully, the term loses all meaning.” Opinion writer Nick Kristof said Trump had “hurt himself.” Others said Mrs. Clinton had “crushed” her opponent.
Washington Post
Writers unanimously called it for Mrs. Clinton, saying Trump had “bombed on the ultimate reality show” and “did not appear ready to be President.”
Fox News
Pundits said Trump had “struggled”, “never took control” and “failed to exploit” the issue around Clinton’s emails. “It helps to be prepared,” one writer told the Republican candidate.
LA Times
Its panel of three commentators had Clinton winning every round. “Politics is harder than it seems, and Trump found that out tonight,” said one. “Clinton was unflappable… and probably likeable enough,” said another.
Breitbart
Writers at the hard-right news website said Trump had “bludgeoned” Clinton on trade and accused debate moderator Lester Holt of “shilling” for Clinton. Some 75 per cent of readers said Trump had won.
The Hill
Pundits consulted by the Washington politics website said Clinton had won, but in a poll its readers called it for Trump.
New York Daily News
The tabloid’s verdict: “A grumpy loser! Trump pesters, interrupts Hillary throughout debate, but Clinton gets the last laugh.”
