The gloves came off rather quickly in the first debate between presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
.@HillaryClinton opens talking about "shifting the economy" to create jobs, rather than directly giving jobs she would create. #debatenight
— Rachel Iacovone (@racheliacovone) September 27, 2016
.@realDonaldTrump opens saying national employment issues are the fault of American jobs going elsewhere, namely Mexico. #debatenight
— Rachel Iacovone (@racheliacovone) September 27, 2016
The hour and a half-long debate aired on all three major broadcast networks as well as on PBS, CNN and Fox News and on Facebook and Twitter via live-stream.
Trump’s “small loan of $1 million” came up early on into the economic discussion, with Clinton claiming the amount was closer to $14 million. According to the Washington Post, it has been confirmed at $9 million so far.
Clinton followed her speech about her middle class upbringings in comparison by proposing the U.S. become the global sustainable energy superpower in the next decade.
On the topic, she saw an opportunity and took it, jabbing at Trump’s beliefs about global warming, highlighted in his now-infamous 2012 tweet:
The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2012
Moderator Lestor Holt, by this point, had long since lost control of the candidates, who yelled over each other about trade deals until Trump had to take a breath and Clinton took the opportunity to plug her book before he asked her three times if the Trans-Pacific Partnership was President Barack Obama’s fault.
“We’re talking about the burden that Americans have to pay, yet you have not released your tax returns,” Holt said to Trump.
Trump said one can learn more about him from the “104-page essentially financial statement of sorts” he filed with federal elections. He also said he will release his tax returns as soon as Clinton releases her lost emails.
Though things had already gotten personal between the two by the time the topic was addressed, the issue of race in light of yet another shooting is also personal to many Americans. They remained cordial as both addressed crime rate statistics and plans of action to tackle the issue.
“We’ve got to address the systemic racism in our criminal justice system,” Clinton said.
Something both candidates agreed on was that using the No Fly List as a means of gun control, by not allowing those on the list to purchase firearms, would be a step in the right direction without infringing upon citizens’ Second Amendment rights.
Clinton took another jab by bringing up Trump once being a “birther,” someone who believes Obama was not born in the U.S. Trump later responded by directly attacking Clinton and the DNC for the leaked emails which mocked Sen. Bernie Sanders, who had been in the race against her for the title of Democratic nominee at the time.
Though neither clearly stated a plan for defeating ISIS, both accused the other of not having a plan.
Trump took a dig at Clinton’s stamina despite her 956,733 miles traveled to 112 countries as Secretary of State, according to the State Department.
“When Donald Trump spends 11 hours testifying in front of a congressional committee, he can talk to me about stamina,” Clinton said in response, referencing her Benghazi hearing last fall.
After this momentous debate, the following, between vice presidential candidates Tim Kaine and Mike Pence, Oct. 4 is even more anticipated. Trump and Clinton will face each other for the second of their three debates at 9 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 9.
As of 12:30 a.m. Tuesday, Sep. 27, Clinton takes a 12 percent lead in the Eagle News poll.
Who do you think won #debatenight?
— Eagle News (@fgcueaglenews) September 27, 2016
