As pundits predicted, the Republican Party candidate for the November 8 presidential election of the United States (U.S.), Mr. Donald J. Trump, last night, bungled the chance to refine his conduct and uncouth rhetoric at the first debate with his main challenger – Senator Hillary Clinton – held at Hofstra University in New York.
For the whole of the 90 minutes, Clinton put the Grand Old Party (GOP) candidate on the defense, making Trump to speak less on his porgramme, but more on uncharitable comments he had previously made against African-American, Hispanics, Muslims, President Barack Obama’s citizenship and his approval of Russian hackers’ breaking into American computer network.
Trump started the debate with the calm disposition. Some 30 minutes later, the Republican candidate became temperamental, interrupting his rival and Lester Holt, the debate’s anchor. Clad in a black suit, white shirt and blue tie, Trump drank periodically from a glass cup of water placed in his front, while his tie abnormally rested on the lapel as he charged his Clinton.
Trump’s disagreement with Clinton at the debate, watched by over 100 million Americans, stemmed from jobs, taxes, nuclear threat, gun control, and racial expletives. For him, it was the time to debunk spiteful comments he made in the past and set the record straight. But, Clinton had ample opportunity to further woo undecided voters as she explained how she would lead the country if elected.
Trump said America has become a third-world country because of the economy mismanagement. He took an open swipe at Clinton’s husband, saying former President Bill Clinton signed North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which he described as “one of the worst things that ever happened in the manufacturing industry”.
Clinton did not betray any emotion when Trump criticised her husband. “That is your opinion,” she calmly replied Trump.
Trump’s unpaid tax became prominent as the debate progressed. Clinton insinuated that the GOP candidate may not have paid any federal tax since he started as his business, nothing that Trump only turned in tax to state authorities when he wanted to get the license for his casino business.
“That makes me smart,” Trump said, adding: “I will release my tax returns against my lawyer’s wishes when she (Clinton) releases her 33,000 e-mails that have been deleted. As soon as she releases them, I will release my tax returns.”
Clinton admitted fault in her e-mail scandal. “If I had to do it over again, I would obviously do it differently. But I’m not going to make any excuses. It was a mistake and I take responsibility for that,” she said.
But, Trump dismissed Clinton’s admission of the mistake as disgraceful, saying: “That was more than a mistake. That was done purposely….I think it’s disgraceful. And believe me, this country thinks it is this…really thinks it is disgraceful also.”
On bringing back manufacturers and job creation, Clinton said: “Let’s remember where we were eight years ago; we had the worst financial crisis – the great recession, the worst since the 1930s. That was, in large part, because of tax policies that slash taxes on the wealthy, failed to invest in the middle class, took their eyes off of Wall Street and created a perfect storm…
“Nine million people lost their jobs. Five million people lost their homes. And 1$3 Trillion in family wealth was wiped out. Now, we have come back from that abyss. And it has not been easy. So we are now on the precipice of having a potentially much better economy. But the last thing we need to do is to go back to the policies that failed us in the first place. Independent experts have looked at what I have proposed and looked at what Donald (Trump) has proposed.
“They have looked at my plans, and they have said okay if we can do this, and I intend to get it done, we will have 10 million more new jobs. It is because we will be making investments where we can grow the economy.”
Trump disagreed, saying: “The first thing is…don’t let the jobs leave. The companies are leaving. I could name thousands of them; they are leaving and they are leaving in bigger numbers than ever…”
In his usual rhetoric, Trump said: “Excuse me, I will bring back jobs. You (Clinton) can’t bring back jobs.”
The GOP candidate insinuated that President Obama and Clinton created ISIS because of the manner America pulled out of Iraq. Trump said Obama should have left about 10,000 soldiers and taken over the Iraqi oil, noting that access to the oil field by Islamist militants led to the creation of ISIS.
Clinton responded: “Our military is assisting in Iraq, and we are hoping that within the year, we will be able to push ISIS out of Iraq. And then, you know, really squeeze them in Syria. But we have to be cognizant of the fact that they’ve had foreign fighters coming to volunteer for them, foreign money, foreign weapons. So we have to make this the top priority, and I would also do everything possible to take out their leadership.”
The Democratic candidate reiterated that she would employ diplomacy to deal with nuclear proliferation, describing Trump as a war-monger who would not have the patience to engage in diplomacy.
Clinton said: “He (Trump) has said repeatedly that he didn’t care if other nations got nuclear weapons – Japan, South Korea, even Saudi Arabia. It has been the policy of the United States, Democrats and Republicans, to do everything we could to reduce the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
“So, a man who can be provoked by a tweet shouldn’t have his fingers anywhere near the nuclear codes as far as I think anyone with any sense about this should be concerned.”
The outcome of the debate may have given a large number of undecided voters the freedom to choose between the two candidates. Post-debate CNN polls showed that 55 per cent of undecided voter believe Trump does not have temperament and capacity to handle the Presidency. This is against 43 per cent who believe Clinton cannot.
Also, 62 per cent of undecided voters believed Clinton won the debate, while 27 per cent thought Trump won. Although opinions are divided over the performance of the two leading candidates at the debate, but voters in Colorado believe Trump did not say much about his plan to lead the country.
While concise post-debate traditional polling results on “who is likely to win the race” are still being awaited, Trump may have slid further in losing the support of millennial voters, because of his “woeful performance” at the debate.
“Trump did not do any better,” says Alexander Price, a millennial voter, who watched the debate at the American Press Club building in Downtown Denver. He said the conduct of the Republican candidate did not change in the debate, saying: “This is a woeful performance for Mr. Trump.”
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