Finally, after months of bickering back-and-forth via social media, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton went head-to-head in the first presidential debate on September 26, 2016. The debate broke the records as the most watched debate in U.S History with over 80 million people watching. But before the debate there was a lot of uncertainty over how the two presidential candidates would act. “Is Hillary willing to talk about her email scandal” and “will Donald Trump act presidential"? As the debate came to an end, it was clear that though Trump may have been the ratings magnet, Clinton had prevailed in the debate. That’s not to say both of them did not have their own moments in the debates. Here are some of the stand-out moments of the debate.
1. “The single worst trade deal ever approved in this country” and “one of the worst things that ever happened to the manufacturing industry”- Donald Trump
Of course, in the beginning of the debate, Donald Trump was perceived as doing fairly well, specifically when discussing NAFTA. Repeatedly Mr. Trump condemned the North American Free Trade Agreement, negotiated under President George H. W. Bush and championed through Congress by Mr. Clinton, calling it “the single worst trade deal ever approved in this country” and “one of the worst things that ever happened to the manufacturing industry”. Hillary Clinton did not go into the depths of the specifics concerning NAFTA, which has been widely noted as a main achievement for her husband. But she did respond saying that the deal increased the number of manufacturing jobs and personal incomes in America. However, while many have blamed NAFTA for economic ills in manufacturing states, independent studies have found that on balance it had little economic impact--proving neither the boom that supporters predicted nor the disaster that opponents feared. Therefore, though Trump may have won the debate over trade, both candidates did not score points with accuracy regarding this issue.
2. “They should have been doing this for years”– Donald Trump
Though Donald Trump doesn’t answer the real question Lestor Holt asked, Mr. Trump does raise an interesting point. Hillary Clinton has been a Secretary for a long time, she really hasn’t contributed in making significant changes to any trade-agreements. She has just started to come up with ideas to better the economy, she should’ve tried to enact these ideas as a Secretary of State. In the debate, Mr. Trump said, “Secretary Clinton and others, politicians, should have been doing this for years, not right now, because of the fact that we've created a movement. They should have been doing this for years. What's happened to our jobs and our country and our economy generally is -- look, we owe $20 trillion. We cannot do it any longer”
3. “That makes me smart”- Donald Trump
Donald Trump justified paying little or nothing in taxes in some years, saying it was a savvy business move and that the government would waste the money anyway. In a discussion at Monday’s debate, in which Hillary Clinton criticized Mr. Trump on his refusal to release his personal tax returns. Mr. Trump defended the decision on several grounds and boasted about his business success and tax strategy. When Clinton stated that Mr. Trump has not paid taxes in years, Trump bragged, “That makes me smart”. Public records have proven that at some points in the past, Mr. Trump hasn’t paid income taxes. Specifically a previous document said Mr.Trump reported negative income of more than $400,000 in 1978 and $3.4 million in 1979 and paid no federal income taxes those years. So essentially, this raises the question “does this make Donald Trump smart?” He suffered a huge loss of over $3.4 million, so suddenly it becomes inevitable that he doesn’t pay taxes. Overall, it isn’t that he chooses not to pay taxes, it is essentially that he has lost so much money he is exempt from paying taxes.
4. “That means zero for troops, zero for vets, zero for school and health”- Hillary Clinton
In this specific point of the debate, Trump had just interrupted Clinton with his comment “That makes me smart”. But Clinton added on to say that Trump does not want to show America what he has paid in taxes because frankly he hasn’t paid taxes. Which is when Clinton says, “That means zero for troops, zero for vets, zero for school and health”. We all saw Clinton do this a lot throughout the debate. While Donald Trump of course talked about the issues in America, every time Clinton addressed an issue she made it very personal by emphasizing on issues occurring across all classes, and by using words such as “you”, “us”, “we”, etc. instead of “me” or “I”. Clinton also put a lot of emphasis on specifically how Donald Trump’s mistakes can negatively impact everyone.
5. “Trump called women pigs, slobs and dogs”- Hillary Clinton
Towards the end of the debate, Clinton brought up the issue of Donald Trump degrading women, which has been a huge issue throughout his campaign. Particularly, Clinton talked about the controversy surrounding Miss Universe, saying that Donald Trump called her “Miss Piggy” and “Miss Housekeeping”. Mr. Trump denies ever making these statements, but reports have shown that there have been multiple tweets from Donald Trump himself degrading Miss Universe. In the debate, however, Mr. Trump admitted that he has only made harsh remarks against Rosie O’Donnell and said “nobody feels sorry for her”. But Donald Trump never addresses the real issue; the issue that Mr. Trump continuously makes stereotypical comments about women based on their looks and/or race. In the debate, after talking about Rosie O’Donnell, Trump says that he was about to make an “extremely ruff” comment about Hillary Clinton. But he says “I just couldn’t do it. It’s inappropriate and not nice”. This is where Donald Trump made another mistake. At this point many are already wondering if they want a president who demeans women, but now many wonder “Do we want a president who has to restrain himself from making disgraceful and degrading comments?” Instead of focusing on how he can address and solve the issue, Mr. Trump mainly focused on insulting the other opponent.
6. “I think my stronger asset, maybe by far, is my temperament. I have a winning temperament. I know how to win”- Donald Trump
When asked about how his judgement was different from Hillary Clinton, Trump said “I think my stronger asset, maybe by far, is my temperament. I have a winning temperament. I know how to win”. Again, Mr. Trump criticizes Clinton by saying “I also have a much better temperament than she has”. It’s funny because no one thought the person who would address Trump’s temperament would be Trump himself, as his temperament has been his main issue throughout his campaign. For example, earlier this month Trump said he would blow Iranian ships out of the water if they made any improper moves toward American vessels. Such a temperament would be very risky as the president of The United States of America. Clinton also addressed the issue and said, “So a man who can be provoked by a tweet should not have his fingers anywhere near the nuclear codes, as far as I think anyone with any sense about this should be concerned”
Overall, I think the debate was very entertaining to watch. But towards the end, Donald Trump brought it upon himself, as the debate became very one-sided. And he proved that his ill-preparation was a drawback for him. However, along with his supporters he felt that he had won this debate. But, according to the media, Hillary Clinton won this debate. It truly will be interesting to see the next move from both of these candidates at their next debate.
