I sat down with a sense of dread; and a bowl of popcorn to medicate the pain. Conventional wisdom said Clinton had to tread a lot of fine lines, some mutually incompatible. Whereas all Trump had to do was not appear deranged.
Half an hour in, I was gaping in horror. He seemed to be having his way with her.
Of course I knew everything he said was ridiculous, but tried to see it from the eyes of a voter still (amazingly) undecided – uninformed, unengaged, impressionable. And I recalled bin Laden’s aphorism that when people see a strong horse and a weak horse, they like the strong one.
But I also remembered a commentator’s suggestion to watch the debate with the sound off – TV being, after all, primarily a visual medium. I had told Clinton to smile, but I thought she overdid it, with an often sappy-looking clown-grin.
Still, I was surprised by the consensus verdict of polls* and pundits that Clinton won big (or “bigly” in Trumpanese). I’d feared more people would fall for his alpha-male shtick and snake oil. If not, that’s reassuring.
He did seem to kill her on trade. Clinton basically had no come-back because she’d compromised herself by pandering to her party’s anti-trade left. Too bad Gary Johnson (the Libertarian nominee) wasn’t there to point out that importing goods made cheaper overseas than we can make them here benefits consumers through lower prices; enabling them to spend more on other things; which creates jobs, making up for those lost. And Trump’s condemnation of trade deals like NAFTA is utter rubbish. There’s scant evidence it cost us jobs – but it sure helped Mexico – and richer Mexicans can buy more from us, again adding to U.S. jobs. How tragic that free trade is undergoing a brainless political lynching.
But happily Clinton nailed Trump on his despicable business practices, though she could have been more forceful. The thousands of lawsuits deserved mention. She did note his multiple bankruptcies but failed to explain that a bankruptcy has victims – all those whose bills go unpaid, and whose investments are wiped out. His whole fortune comes from stiffing, ripping off , screwing people.
Then there’s his refusal to reveal his tax returns. It’s a lie that being audited prevents this; the IRS itself refutes it. Today’s paper says Trump has never actually shown evidence that he is in fact being audited! And what of his boast that not paying income taxes was “smart?” Who ever imagined a candidate saying such a thing? If that’s not a gaffe, I don’t know what a gaffe is.
But Trump is a clever manipulator of factoids and verbiage – a true BS artist. This was displayed in his twisty answer on birtherism. Hillary’s response could have been stronger. I wanted to hear, “Donald, that’s just complete nonsense, that insults our intelligence. Everyone knows you were the leading promoter of birtherism. It was always a lie, you knew it, yet you kept at it, and now you’re still twisting the facts.”
I always felt that at the end of the day, while many voters seem up for a crazy roll of the dice with Trump, more would opt for the less exciting, uninspiring, more conventional, definitely compromised, yet steadier, saner, safer choice. Response to the debate suggests this outcome.
Bigly.
* Forget the online polls, they mean nothing.
