Clinton won it, hands down.
But since there is no way my readers who are Donald Trump supporters will ever believe that, I decided to toss them a bone in the headline.
Trump had his chances. He was strong on the issue of trade, which stands to benefit him in some of the swing states, but he blew so many opportunities tonight that even if Clinton had not been at the top of her game she would have run away with the debate.
For instance, Trump initially had a good response to the question about his taxes, by saying he would release his taxes when Clinton released her 33,000 e-mails.
Somehow, after that first mention, he let the e-mails slide and never mentioned them again, while Clinton trampled all over him about the possible reasons he has for not releasing his taxes.
Of course, it is quite possible that Trump did not want to turn the debate to the role of the Clinton Foundation in those e-mails since Washington Post reporting has shown in recent weeks that the Trump Foundation has considerably more scandals attached to it.
More likely, it was another case of Trump's woeful lack of preparation.
His lack of preparation became more and more obvious as he fell into nearly every trap Hillary Clinton laid for him. He spent so much time talking over her and defending what a great businessman he is, that he did not hit on the best argument he has going for him in this political season- Things are not going right and it's time to give someone else a chance.
In a year like this, when Trump defeated 16 people who nearly all were more qualified than he to become the most powerful leader in the world, and when a challenger like Bernie Sanders gave Hillary Clinton such a hard time, Trump should have hammered home his status as an outsider. Instead, he bristled at any critical comment Clinton made and felt the need to offer a response at times when he should have been making the case for his own candidacy.
The tax issue also led to another of Trump's glaring mistakes. When Clinton noted that two of his earlier tax returns had shown he paid no income tax, he responded that showed "That makes me smart."
He made a similar argument later when Clinton mentioned the bankruptcies his casinos had taken. Trump once again, as he did in the Republican debates, seemed proud that he took advantage of the system.
His big argument is that we should put him in charge because he knows the system so well because he has used it to his advantage. After all, he had readily admitted that he gave campaign contributions because he expected favors in return, so he knows how it's done. If you follow that same line of logic, we should have hired Whitey Bulger and John Gotti to take care of crime in the cities.
Trump again came off as tone deaf when it comes to racial issues.
During the last part of the debate on foreign issues, he simply came off as incoherent.
Clinton was an easy winner, just by not breaking into laughter as some of Trump's comments late in the debate. She escaped the traps on trade and her e-mails because Trump did not pursue them.
Clinton was ready and except for a tendency to go into a bit too much minute detail in some of her answers, was solid from start to finish.
She also scored big time with attacks on Trump's treatment of women and with her refutation of Trump's attack on her lack of "stamina."
We have two more debates coming. Hopefully, Trump will consider actually preparing for them, but I wouldn't count on it.
You forgot 1 major observation that neither the media on either side is mentioning and that's the fact that Hillary Clinton thought this was a joke for her she spent most of her time smiling and laughing and making fun of beliefs that the American people have. Donald Trump is a candidate of the people so what he was trying to put across are the true feelings of the American public and all she did was laugh about it. I think the most sanctimonious comment that she made was When Donald Trump said that he had been visiting the cities in the United States to talk to the people and Hillary Clinton stay home and she said I was staying home to prepare for the debate and for being president of the United States. In her mind sick as it is she thinks that she has won this election and that she really doesn't care what the American public think. Now I can understand why you didn't catch this because you're probably one of the Hillary Clinton supporters they think that she could do no wrong. But then I would not expect anything different from a failed school teacher brought up under the progressive liberal University education system. Saul Alinsky would be laughing from the grave if he could see how blind those who spent time in Academia really are when it comes to his socialist ideals being put into practice. If anyone's interested in knowing what Hillary Clinton truly believes they need to see the video a wolf in sheep's clothing that was being shown on the Catholic Channel EWTN this weekend. You will see what the progressive liberals really are about and how they have infiltrated every part of American society especially our school systems in the education of our young. It is a scary scary look into the mind of Hillary Clinton even without mentioning her name.
ReplyDeleteSo, the basic premise of your argument is that Clinton (who obviously prepared extensively for the debate) treated it as a 'joke', while Trump (whose abject failure to prepare resulted in his poor performance) should be honored for 'trying'? This is a perfect example of the type of absurd mental gymnastics that it takes to remain loyal to a grossly unqualified candidate.
DeleteClinton destroyed Trump. Any objective analysis of their debate performances will show it. There is no argument about this among intelligent people because no reasoned argument is possible, only ideological spin. He was laughably unprepared. He got owned.
Hush now. Adults are talking.
@6:14 Amen! I couldn't agree more!
ReplyDeleteTrump won the debate, no question. And trust me....I didn't want him to. He attacked hard, especially in the first half. Hillary seemed smug and was not asked ANY tough questions at all. Meanwhile was asked about Obama birth certificate.....again! There is so much to go after with her. She is a a very limited speaker. Obama exposed her eight years ago. She couldn't last with anyone on stage.....except trump.
ReplyDeleteHe did well on taxes. The rest of the debate was a total loss for Trump. Just a bunch of rambling and no depth of knowledge. I agree Hillary looked smug, she must have been coached to smile the whole time.
DeleteI have not been a Clinton fan ever since the Cattle Futures deal and the Rose Law Firm shredding, however, Trump is an ignorant bully who is afraid of his own shadow and who has a major record of cheating people he owes money to, scams and con jobs and abject disregard for the rules of civil society. This is a legend in his own mind who does not care who gets hurt as long as he can stroke his own ego. If he had not been born into money, he would probably be living in a jail cell right now.
ReplyDeleteRemember folks, Trump did not give us Benghazi, He never gave us the collaspe of wall street, he has not been in office. All he's ever done is work and build beautiful buildings and golf courses. He's a worker and works hard. She rigged it... check this out. She's a crook and will never change. God help us if this criminal is ever in the white house again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XSuG5aCFGs
ReplyDeleteWill you get off the Benghazi issue. The only one at fault for the death of our Ambassador was the Ambassador himself who was ordered to stay the hell away from Benghazi. The target of that attack was a CIA mission facility which was active at the time and had been targeted well before the act. I will remind you that the United States did not have an Embassy in Benghazi.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Benghazi has been blown out of proportion but I have never heard of Chris Stevens being ordered to stay away. He was well aware of the dangers due to his history in the country and large network of contacts, but it is not reasonable to blame him for what happened.
DeleteHe was indeed ordered to stay the hell away. It is not surprising that there is a gap in the story simply because the CIA is not going to declassify information on an ongoing operation in Libya to satisfy the ambition of a Tea Bagging Senator from Tennessee who is looking to build his reputation on the back of half truths. The CIA was well aware that the Benghazi Station had been compromised and warned all Embassy Personnel in Tripoli to stay away. When the riots over the video tape took place in Egypt they knew those riots would be used as a cover to attack the station. Again they warned the Embassy personnel to stay out of Benghazi. Nobody can come up with a valid reason why the Ambassador disregarded those warnings and even the State Department was at a loss to explain just what in the hell he was doing there.
ReplyDeleteSource? Link?
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