As with anything in life, both Clinton and Trump had their highs and lows throughout the debate. Unfortunately for Trump, he had quite a few lows, while Clinton had quite a few highs.
At the very beginning, Trump came on a little stronger in his first two-minute statement than Clinton, mostly because Clinton had just a little too much to say. She mentioned at least a dozen policy implementations in just two minutes, while Trump kept his opening statements a little more basic. But it’s always better to be overdressed than underdressed, and the same principle applies to preparing for a presidential debate.
And in terms of clarity, the roles quickly reversed, with Clinton making slow, calm, succinct statements that were packed with information—every word was deliberate. Trump, on the other hand, reverted to his tired technique of shouting into the microphone, and providing stream-of-consciousness answers to several questions that can only be described as word vomit.
Presidential knowledge? A point for Clinton.
He didn’t do himself any favors with his demeanor—while Clinton appeared perfectly composed throughout the entirety of the debate, often just smiling pleasantly through Trump’s ravings, Trump himself often made unattractive faces and tried to shout into the microphone over Clinton.
Presidential demeanor? Another point for Clinton.
And since there have been so many concerns about Clinton’s health and stamina lately, I think it’s only fair we raise the same concerns about Trump, since he seemed to have a nasty case of the sniffles throughout the debate. Can we support a presidential candidate that may occasionally come down with a cold?
It’s impossible to say with certainty what the result will be once the dust from this first debate settles, but it seems unlikely that Trump will pull in any undecided voters—and it also seems unlikely that he’ll lose any, since his performance was on par with how he’s behaved for the past year. Once a Trumpster, always a Trumpster. But Clinton, who had more than a few shining moments in the debate, may have swayed more than a few people with her very presidential performance.
But in a world that’s increasingly about sound bites, I’ll leave you with a few of my favorites:
“I also have a much better temperament than she has,” shouted Donald Trump during the debate, clearly proving his point as Clinton politely smiled.
“Words matter when you run for president, and they really matter when you are president,” said Clinton, underlining the theme of this entire election cycle.
But one of Hillary’s greatest hits of the night was a riff off of her speech at the Democratic National Convention: “A man who can be provoked by a Tweet should not have his fingers anywhere near the nuclear codes.” You heard her, Trump. It looks like you’re just going to have take your tiny hands elsewhere.
