I can sleep well tonight knowing that Hillary Rodham Clinton blasted dt out of the water in tonight's spectacle. (It does not deserve to be called a debate.)
"This was a shut-out tonight," said Chris Matthews of MSNBC. "It was a disaster. He looked out of it. He couldn't control himself." http://www.msnbc.com/hardball/watch/matthews-first-debate-embarrassing-for-trump-773680707560
To be brief, I will list the top seven mistakes by Trump tonight--ones that I noticed, that drew hundreds of Tweets, and that commentators are marveling over. Then I will list the top points made by Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Most of my observations are from his many interruptions of her two-minute segments because I muted the television during his debate time.
1) When Hillary pointed out that "He rooted for the [2008] housing crisis to happen" because he would make money, Trump interrupted her by yelling: "That's called business, by the way!" He's proud of wanting the economy to fail so he could rake in the dough?
2) Trump claim: "You've been fighting ISIS your entire adult life." Huh?
3) Hillary: "I have a feeling I'm going to be blamed for everything that's ever happened--"
Trump interrupting her time: "Why not?"
Hillary, laughing, incredulous: "Yeah, why not?!"
4) Trump claim: "I have a winning temperament. I have a much better temperament than she does." (laughter from the audience, which had been sworn to silence).
5) Trump claim: "She doesn't have a presidential look. She doesn't have the stamina."
Hillary: "When he has visited 112 countries and made a peace deal and negotiated a ceasefire and negotiated the release of prisoners and spent 11 hours testifying before a senate committee, he can talk to me about stamina!" (big audience laughter).
6) When Hillary accused him of not releasing his tax returns because he may have avoided paying any taxes, he interrupted her to say "That makes me smart!"
7) Somehow he brought up his own name-calling against Rosie O'Donnell and said "Everyone agrees that she deserves it." Lawrence O'Donnell said no human being deserves the kind of language he used against her.
David Axelrod on the evening: "She drove the conversation for much of this debate. He was on the defensive. She would say something--like dangling a piece of meat in front of him--and he would go for it every single time."
"I was just astounded at how unprepared he was... at how thin-skinned he was," said Michael Beschloss, NBC News presidential historian.
Touche comments by Hillary Rodham Clinton:
1) "I know you live in your own reality, but..."
2) Re his refusal to reveal tax returns: "Is it that he's not as rich as he claims? Or not as charitable? Or that he owes $650 million to Wall Street and foreign banks? Or maybe he has paid zero taxes for troops, vets, schools, health care... There must be something really important or terrible that he's trying to hide."
3) Re his charge that she spent all her time preparing for this debate: "I did prepare, and I prepared to be president, and I think that's a good thing." (applause by audience)
4) RE Trump's history of racism: "He started his whole public career on this birther thing. He persisted year after year. In 1973 he was sued for racial discrimination in his housing projects by the Justice Department. He was sued twice by the Justice Department... His bitter lie about President Obama's birth place was a very hurtful one. But President Obama is a man of great dignity. As Michelle Obama said, 'When they go low, we go high.'"
5) "Words matter when you run for president, and they really matter when you are president."
6) "He hasn't told us how he would fight ISIS because he says it's a secret plan, but the only secret is that he has no plan."
Then there was the inevitable comparison on the drinking of water. Commentators had to mention that she didn't take a drink of water the whole evening, but he kept sniffling and drinking water and grunting... As I said, this was not a true debate but a competition for image and impression.
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