Hillary “Wins” — Now What?
We are so politically polarized in these United States that I’m not at all sure whether Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump gained any new supporters during their first presidential debate Monday night.
But there’s no doubt — among observers who are not in the tank for either candidate — that Clinton won the debate and won it decisively.
Clinton was composed — at times eloquent — and obviously “prepared” with detailed plans. Trump was — well, Trump. He managed to maintain his composure for the first 15 minutes or so, but then the “out-of-control” Trump rose to the surface.
He began interrupting Clinton. He began making faces during some of her comments. And worst of all for him, he reverted to some of the worst tendencies he first exhibited during the Republican primary debates. For starters, he was not ready for questions he should have known were coming — questions about his years-long effort to “prove” President Obama was not born in this country — questions about why he won’t release his tax returns — questions about his position on the Iraq war.
At one particularly painful point, Trump seemed to come unhinged — saying, several times, that somebody should call Sean Hannity to confirm where he stood on the war. That’s right — we should rely on a right-wing radio talk-show fanatic to testify about Trump’s trustworthiness. He also kept asserting that his judgment and temperament are much better than Clinton’s. “I have a winning temperament,” he memorably said.
Of course, Trump just had to bring up Clinton’s “stamina,” saying she doesn’t have enough of it to be president.
Clinton was, by far, the better-prepared candidate on Monday night. She excoriated Trump for his lack of transparency on his tax returns and for his ridiculous pursuit of President Obama’s birth details. She never lost control or “took the bait” when Trump made outrageous statements. She looked, yes, presidential. And she looked like she had plenty of stamina.
For most of the evening, Trump looked like what he is — a man without a whole lot of knowledge about the details of governing — a man who seemingly can never stop himself from interrupting others — a man who can never cease making outrageous statements.
I know, I know. Trump’s supporters will give him a pass to say or do anything because they just hate Clinton. His lack of preparedness on Monday night? No problem. His lack of knowledge about foreign affairs? No problem.
So Trump supporters will never agree with my assessment that Clinton “won” the debate. That’s okay. But that’s really what happened — she won.