Clinton vs. Trump: First Presidental Debate

The first presidential debate saw both candidates spar over issues regarding jobs, race, security, and personal scandals. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, and Donald Trump’s first debate was the most watched presidential debate in history, with over 100 million viewers.

The start of the debate saw Trump question Secretary Clinton for her support of free trade agreements, including NAFTA and TPP. Trump called out Clinton for changing views on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Clinton explained in her response how the TPP agreement was the “gold standard in trade agreements” and would “build strong protections for workers and the environment.”

Clinton addressed Trump’s stance on climate change during the debate. Mrs. Clinton exclaimed that Mr. Trump believes climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese, in which Trump responded, “I did not. I do not say that.” A running fact-checker supplied by NPR during the debate found a tweet from Donald Trump in 2012 which stated, “global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive,” negating his defense.

Trump was on the defensive when the moderator, Lester Holt, questioned him for not releasing his tax returns. Trump claimed that he is under a routine audit and will release his returns after the audit is over. However, the IRS commissioner has said that an audit does not prevent anyone from releasing his or her taxes. President Richard Nixon released his tax returns while being audited back in 1973. Trump changed the subject to Clinton’s 33,000 emails. To which Clinton responded by taking full responsibility.

Moderator Lester Holt continued to press Trump about his accusations regarding President Obama’s birth certificate. For five years, Trump tried to get President Obama to release his birth certificate because the Republican candidate did not believe Obama was born in the U.S. Trump failed to address the issue, and instead stated that Patti Solis Doyle, a former campaign manager, started the birther movement. Doyle responded to these accusations on CNN and called them a “lie.” Clinton called the birther movement a “racist lie” and stated that Mr. Trump had a “long record of engaging in racist behavior.”

In response to the recent protests about innocent killings by police, Mr. Trump stated that the answer to this was “law and order.” Trump’s solution would include increasing the number of police on the streets and introducing the stop and frisk procedure to cities like Chicago. Mrs. Clinton’s rebuttal included the fact that the stop and frisk procedure was declared unconstitutional because it infringed upon people’s rights. Tempers were high during the debate.

According to Pew Research, Trump interrupted Clinton 51 times and made 26 assertions about Clinton that were untruthful. From the same source, Clinton interrupted Mr. Trump 17 times and made ten untruthful statements about the Republican candidate.

Both candidates look forward to the next debate on October 9th. It is no secret that they are both hoping that this next debate will sway the undecided electorate in his or her favor.