The world was witness. Someone said yesterday that Republican Donald Trump would win the first of the presidential debates last night because he was experienced in using television. He obviously forgot everything he ever learned when he walked on that stage last night. He also forgot that it was not all about him.
The contrast between the two candidates was dramatic. Secretary Clinton was almost frighteningly political. Trump was abusive and a bully and talked over her and the moderator. She rattled off a list of policies at the beginning and then watched as Trump tried to take the debate down his personal rabbit hole. She seized the lead position of polished politician and held on to it for the rest of the evening.
Trump wasted the audience’s time. He gave a litany of old tales of the Rust Belt that he must have learned at his daddy’s knee. He made wild and unrealistic promises that no serious person could believe. The only sham he left out was the Mexican wall and we were all waiting for it. Instead he got caught up in the President Obama Birther story and somehow wanted to stay with the story when his audience wanted him to get over it.
It might have been a better evening if there had been a stronger moderator. Mind you, keeping Trump on subject is a tough task.
Trump thought he got one good lick in against his opponent when he said she decided to stay home instead of being out campaigning in recent days. He was saying he did not see the need to prepare for the debate (which became obvious). Her comeback was yes, she prepared for the debate and she was also prepared to be president.
We are not saying here that any votes changed among the viewers of the debate. That would be an unrealistic objective. Trump was Trump and Clinton was Clinton. Though Clinton was at her best. Trump’s claque will have to write the evening off as a weak effort. Clinton’s supporters will be cheered by her performance.
But there is still six more weeks of this presidential water torture. Trump will continue his self-aggrandizement and bluster, his rash promises and his pie in the sky lies, his strutting and posturing.
What the debate showed was that Hillary Clinton is the only choice on November 8. She deserves to win. Trump is somewhere back there with the Neanderthals of North America. They are the breed we do not need.
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Copyright 2016 © Peter Lowry
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