Hillary Clinton had Donald Trump for dinner in their first debate, revealing the difference between a deeply experienced candidate who had done her homework and a candidate clearly not ready for prime time.
A CNN instant poll showed Clinton the winner by 62 per cent to 38 per cent.
Vote in IrishCentral's poll to let us know who you think the victor was.
Trump performed poorly, especially on foreign affairs, where Trump got caught somewhere in the Caspian Sea with an unintelligible response on the recent deal with Iran and his confused explanation on why NATO should be penalized and ignored. He also stated China should probably attack North Korea.
On Iraq, Clinton deflected his attacks about funding ISIS by noting that it was under President G. W Bush that it was decided to withdraw American troops and that Obama could not get the Iraqi government to agree to keep US troops on.
Perhaps the most bizarre moment was Trump trying to prove he was an early opponent of the war in Iraq, denying the clear evidence from the Howard Stern show. It seems Trump has said it so many times he actually believes it.
Here is the audio of Donald telling Howard Stern he was for the Invasion of Iraq.https://t.co/qiEhIEH3sp#factcheck #debates #Debates2016
— (((Evan Shapiro))) (@eshap) September 27, 2016
Former reality TV show godfather Jerry Springer caught it best with a post-debate tweet when he said, “Hillary Clinton belongs in the White House. Donald Trump belongs on my show.”
Clinton also got Trump on his five bankruptcies, with Clinton listing a long group of people, mostly small contractors, who were stiffed by Trump.
She assailed him on his refusal to reveal his taxes, leaving herself the opening for saying that he probably had paid no federal tax like ordinary Americans do.
But Trump’s Waterloo was the birther issue and President Obama’s birth certificate, which Trump maintained did not exist until a few weeks ago.
Clinton called out Trump on the “racist lie” that Obama wasn't an American citizen. Trump, utterly confused, embarked on a bizarre monologue about how a trail existed from the Clinton camp to Kenya.
Here’s what he said: “I'll tell you just simple to say, Sidney Blumenthal works for the campaign and close -- very close friend of Secretary Clinton. And her campaign manager, Patti Doyle went to -- during the campaign, her campaign against President Obama fought very hard, and you can go look it up and you can check it out,” he said.
“If you look at CNN this past week, Patti Doyle was on Wolf Blitzer saying that this happened, Blumenthal sent McClatchy to Kenya to find out about it, they were pressing very hard. They failed to get the birth certificate.”
“I was the one that got him to produce the birth certificate, and I think I did a good job,” he continued, adding of Clinton, “just like she can't bring back jobs she can't produce.”
When the camera switched back to Clinton her look of sheer surprise at Trump’s rambling was telling.
She was no doubt thinking “whaaaaaat?”
.@HillaryClinton's shoulder shimmy #debatenight pic.twitter.com/7X2uGMY8iu
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) September 27, 2016
Trump was also skewered on his anti women stance over the years. Clinton stated: “This is a man who has called women pigs, slobs and dogs, and someone who has said pregnancy is an inconvenience to employers.”
Time and again Trump took the bait and found himself in difficulties and no doubt has stopped his recent momentum
It was all summed up by this exchange.
Trump repeatedly slammed Clinton for the Obama administration's fiscal policies. She stated:
"I have a feeling by the end of this evening I'm going to be blamed for everything that's ever happened," she said.
"Why not?" he mused.
"Yeah. Why not.
Indeed. Trump clearly never saw the haymaker punches.
Comments