Jill Abramson: Trump was rude; Clinton too pleased with herself
It was not an uplifting debate, which seemed fitting for an election in which so many likely voters find both candidates repellent.
Trump became unhinged a third of the way through last night’s matchup at Hofstra University and rudely interrupted the moderator. Clinton came off as too pleased with herself and failed, once again, to deliver a digestible vision of how she would change the country.
Still, anyone would have to say the night was Hillary Clinton’s, largely because Donald Trump could not help but show himself to be unfit for office. Driven, as usual, by ego, he unwisely made the debate about himself.
Trump’s claim that he had a better temperament than hers was absurd. Even more so was his lie that he had never supported the Iraq war. Worse was the nutty suggestion that the press call Fox News’s rabidly rightwing host, Sean Hannity, a Trump supporter, for confirmation. His embrace of stop and frisk – and abrupt refusal to accept Lester Holt’s word that the policy was ruled unconstitutional – was astonishing. His call for the restoration of “law and order” was a dated Nixon mantra, perhaps encouraged by Roger Ailes, who crafted the disgraced president’s comeback nearly 50 years ago. He had no substantive rebuttals about his treatment of women or his clinging to the birther conspiracy that so insulted Barack Obama and the intelligence of American voters.
As usual, Clinton showed command of policy, offered lots of sensible specifics but failed to provide an overarching theme for her candidacy.
But if her intention was to let Trump asphyxiate himself, mission accomplished.
I’ve covered presidential debates since Gerald Ford disastrously said there was no communist domination of eastern Europe. I saw Ronald Reagan sink Jimmy Carter with a single utterance: “There you go again.” These moments decided elections. It will take more debates to decide this one.
Steven Thrasher: No ‘morning in America’ optimism from Trump
The debate began with Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump color trolling each other – him in a Democratic blue tie, her in a Republican red pantsuit. She was as confident and cheerful as he was blustering and dour – no “morning in America” Reagan optimism from Trump.
I wondered if Trump was making missteps when he described his father giving him “a very small loan” (which was really for a million dollars), or when he responded to Clinton accusing him of betting against the housing market by coldly saying: “That’s called business, by the way.” Did he stumble when Clinton accused him of stiffing an architect by responding, “Maybe he didn’t do a good job and I was unsatisfied with his work”?
Maybe, maybe not. American voters, especially those struggling economically, don’t like to see themselves as poor. They imagine themselves as future rich people who don’t want the poor leeching off their imagined wealth – and maybe Trump’s bullying persona speaks to that fantasy.
The race section was cringeworthy, especially when Trump came at Clinton from the left, saying her “super-predator” comment “was a terrible thing to say” – quite rich, given he’s called for the execution of the (innocent) Central Park Five, his company got sued for housing discrimination, and he relished making Obama produce his birth certificate.
Trump talked over Clinton as blithely as he ignored moderator Lester Holt. But the electorate would skewer Clinton as a “bitch” if she’d interrupted Trump as he interrupted her. Instead, she held her head high and smiled, and spoke proudly of becoming “prepared to be president. And I think that’s a good thing.”
America, however, may want an angry white male bully more than it can stomach a confident woman – and that’s part (not all) of why this troglodyte is nipping her in polls.
Christopher Barron: The smartest kid in class doesn’t win popularity contests
In the lead-up to tonight’s debate, while some talking heads told us that Hillary Clinton was going to show us a “kinder, gentler” side, others argued that she was going to focus on her plans to effect change. We certainly didn’t get the “kinder, gentler” Clinton and the Democratic nominee spent almost no time talking about how her policies would be different from those of the current president.
When it comes to trying to reinvent her, it appears the Clinton campaign has thrown in the towel. Forget all the talk about letting Trump be Trump, this debate made it clear her advisers have decided to let Hillary be Hillary.
The question is whether the real Hillary will play with the American electorate.
She clearly has a handle on policy – after decades in government and politics, that’s not surprising. If running for president were an appearance on Jeopardy, Clinton would beat Trump every time.
But her performance tonight was adversarial, prosecutorial and at times sanctimonious. She came across as the smartest kid in class. The problem is that the smartest kid in class doesn’t win many popularity contests.
Jamie Weinstein: Trump failed to land his attacks cleanly or as often as Clinton
Clinton was able to land clean and effective blows on all of her anti-Trump themes.
She painted Trump as a greedy businessman who stiffed contractors, like the one she brought to the debate. She hammered Trump over his refusal to release his tax returns, suggesting he was hiding something from the public.
She spent time explaining why she believes Trump to be a racist, pointing to his leadership of the birther campaign and allegations that the Trump Organization discriminated against African Americans. She portrayed The Donald as a misogynist who attacked women in the most viciously superficial ways.
The truth is, some of these attacks would be leveled against any Republican presidential contender. Indeed, some of them were unfairly used against Mitt Romney. Trump is certainly a cleaner target. But whether the attacks are fair when it comes to Trump or not, Clinton was able to stick them without a strong rebuttal from her opponent.
Trump conversely failed to land his anti-Clinton attacks as cleanly or as often. He failed to paint Clinton as a dishonest and corrupt politician who was more fit for prison than the White House, as he often does at rallies and on Twitter.
Moreover, if voters went into the debate worried about Clinton’s health, her fluid 90-minute performance put that concern to rest.
If voters went into the debate worried about Trump’s temperament – as polls show many do – those concerns probably remain. Time and again, Trump would fall for Clinton’s bait, angrily and incoherently lashing out in an attempt to defend himself.
Debates are more often decided by performance than by facts or policy. By that standard, Clinton won the night.
Lucia Graves: Clinton just came one step closer to being president
Midway through tonight’s debate, Hillary Clinton’s made a comment that summed up not just the evening but the entire presidential campaign. “Words matter,” she said. Donald Trump is accountable not just for what he gets wrong factually, but also what lurks beneath the surface of the thinly veiled sexist or xenophobic statements he traffics in.
And tonight – in a moment that may end up a turning point not just in this debate, but also, perhaps, the election – Clinton not only managed to make the point but prove it.
It occurred towards the end – a little less time and it never would have happened – when Trump was asked to explain what he meant by one of the more transparently sexist things he’s said about Clinton: namely, that she doesn’t look presidential. It was a delicate question, seemingly designed expressly to let Trump walk into a trap of his own making, but since Trump couldn’t dodge it on substance, he obfuscated. “I said she doesn’t have the stamina,” he said, before diverting the conversation down a rabbithole, calling into question the nature of Clinton’s experience.
It’s true that Trump has also said she doesn’t have the stamina, but it doesn’t negate his more obviously sexist comment that she doesn’t look presidential. And for once, Clinton didn’t let the truth float away on a cloud of empty rhetoric.
“He tried to switch from looks to stamina but this is a man who has called women pigs, slobs and dogs, and someone who has said pregnancy is an inconvenience to employers,” she said. Clinton also reminded the audience that Trump had impugned the legitimacy of the fight for equal pay – and even called upon the experiences of a specific woman, former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, whom Trump body shamed when she gained weight after winning the crown, to illustrate how he’d insulted both women and the Latino community.
Clinton had successfully weaponized Trump’s words against him; she knew them all by heart, and no amount of changing the subject could get him out of it. As she herself quipped earlier, that she’d prepared for the debate was obvious, and it wasn’t anything to be ashamed of – rather, it was a sign she’s prepared to be president. Tonight she just came one step closer.
