By Oladimeji Abitogun and Mobolaji Susan Ajibuwa
It was a home run for former American First Lady, Hillary Clinton Monday night as she squared up against Republican Presidential hopeful, Donald Trump,
against whom she repeatedly pounded on incoherent and out rightly wrong issues in the upcoming November 8, 2016 election. A very high standard was set for Hillary Clinton, which she far exceeded
The two leading candidates in the American Presidential face-off, Mrs. Hillary Clinton and Mr. Donald Trump finally had a major debating encounter, with the former asking for her opponent, businessman, to make full disclosure of his tax filings.
Mrs. Clinton, American First Lady from 1992 to 2000, one time senator and an ex-secretary of state reeled out several theories on why Mr. Trump may be dodging the responsibility of full tax disclosure. Mr. Trump denied the conjectures.
On the race relation in America, Trump suggested that Law and order was the way to go. Hillary Clinton said the matter was not so simple in the face of how African-Americans get killed cheaply.
After a long and cluttered exchange on policing and crime, Hillary Clinton broke through with a clean hit against Donald J. Trump, rebuking him at length for pushing the “racist lie” that President Barack Obama was born in the United States.
Mr. Trump gave a muddled defense of his past attacks on Mr. Obama, and at several points criticized Mrs. Clinton for failing to pressure Mr. Obama to release his long-form birth certificate during the 2008 primary race. He also chided Mrs. Clinton for having treated the president with “terrible disrespect” during that campaign.
But in a debate that has been loud and messy, Mrs. Clinton’s lengthy denunciation of Mr. Trump broke through: She twice used the word “racist” to describe his behavior, and noted that his company had been sued in the past for refusing to rent to black tenants.
And here are the highlights:
■ Mr. Trump insisted again that he had opposed the Iraq war, calling any suggestion otherwise “a mainstream media nonsense.” Mr. Holt said, “The record shows otherwise.” Mr. Trump went on to appraise his own temperament, calling it “my strongest asset, maybe by far,” before attacking Mrs. Clinton’s. She smiled. “Woo! O.K.,” she said, beginning her response.
■ Mrs. Clinton pressed Mr. Trump’s repeated claim, contradicted by public statements he has made in the past, that he had opposed the Iraq war from the beginning. “Donald supported the invasion of Iraq,” she said. “That is absolutely proved over and over again.” “Wrong,” Mr. Trump interjected. “Wrong.”
■ Mrs. Clinton hit Mr. Trump for his record of praise for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, lamenting that Mr. Trump had “publicly invited Putin to hack into” American communications, as Mr. Trump shook his head. Mr. Trump said he did not think “anybody knows” if Russia was behind the recent hacks of Democratic organizations, wondering aloud if it might instead be China or a single hacker who “weighs 400 pounds” and sits at home.
■ Asked about his propagation of the conspiracy theory raising doubts about Mr. Obama’s birth, Mr. Trump tried to blame Mrs. Clinton, suggesting falsely that she, too, had questioned the president’s birthplace. “She failed to get the birth certificate,” he said. “When I got involved, I didn’t fail.” Mrs. Clinton said Mr. Trump had “really started his political activity based on this racist lie that our first black president was not an American citizen,” calling his efforts “very hurtful.”
■ Pressed on his refusal to release his tax returns, Mr. Trump repeated an oft-used line that he is facing “a routine audit” that precluded him from releasing the information. Lester Holt, the moderator, noted that the I.R.S. had said he was free to release anything he wanted. Mr. Trump said he would “release my tax returns, against my lawyers’ wishes,” if Mrs. Clinton agreed to release a cache of her emails.
■ Asked if she believed police officers were “implicitly biased” against African-Americans, Mrs. Clinton suggested that all Americans were susceptible to bias. “I think unfortunately too many of us in this great country jump to conclusions about each other,” she said.
■ Asked about race relations, Mrs. Clinton said that race remained “a significant challenge” in the country, adding that the criminal justice system treated minorities differently. Mr. Trump said Mrs. Clinton “doesn’t want to use a couple of words” — law and order — before defending the contentious stop-and-frisk police strategy. “African-Americans and Hispanics are living in hell,” he said. “You walk down the streets, you get shot.”
■ After Mr. Trump defended his plans to lower taxes on the wealthy, mixing in jabs at Mrs. Clinton, she joked, “I have a feeling that by the end of this evening, I’m going to be blamed for everything that’s ever happened.” Mr. Trump replied, “Why not?” Mr. Holt reminded Mr. Trump that he was speaking during Mrs. Clinton’s allotted time.
■ Mr. Trump boasted about his campaign travels. “You’ve seen me, I’ve been all over the place,” he said. “You decided to stay home and that’s okay.” Mrs. Clinton replied that she did indeed prepare for the debate, adding that she was preparing to be president, too.
■ Hitting Mr. Trump over his tax returns, Mrs. Clinton wondered if there was “something he’s hiding,” before addressing her own use of a private email as secretary of state. “I made a mistake using a private email,” she said. Mr. Trump cut in, “That’s for sure.” Mrs. Clinton added, “I’m not going to make any excuses. It was a mistake.”
■ Mrs. Clinton condemned Mr. Trump for refusing to pay contractors on several projects, saying she was grateful her father had never done business with him. She said the debate crowd included an architect whom Mr. Trump had not paid. “Maybe he didn’t do a good job,” Mr. Trump said.
■ Mrs. Clinton, seeking to portray Mr. Trump as an enemy of working people, said he had “rooted for the housing crisis” because of the financial opportunities it might afford him. “That’s called business, by the way,” he interjected.
■ Mr. Trump — criticizing trade deals approved by Bill Clinton, among others — suggested Mrs. Clinton had failed to improve people’s lives during her decades in public life. As Mrs. Clinton defended her record, he interrupted frequently. “You haven’t done it. You haven’t done it,” he said. “Excuse me.” Mrs. Clinton shot back, “Donald, I know you live in your own reality,” before continuing her answer.
■ Mrs. Clinton, looking toward Mr. Trump, said it was “good to be with” him on the same stage at last. “You have to judge us,” she said, in a response to a question about job creation. “Who can shoulder the immense, awesome responsibilities of the presidency?” Mr. Trump replied that “our jobs are fleeing the country.”
■ Mrs. Clinton criticized Mr. Trump’s fiscal plans as “trumped-up trickle-down economics,” before saying he had received millions of dollars of support from his father. “My father gave me a very small loan,” he replied, before appearing to hesitate while addressing Mrs. Clinton. “Secretary Clinton? Is that O.K.?” he said of her title. “Good.”
As Trump slammed Clinton for staying off the campaign trail recently as he traveled the country, Clinton responded with her best zinger of the night.
“I think Donald just criticized me for preparing for this debate,” she said. “And yes, I did. And you know what else I prepared for? I prepared to be President. And that is a good thing.”
The line drew a round of applause from an audience that had been instructed to remain quiet.
Trump’s tendency to make false claims was on full display during the debate as he made inaccurate statements on everything from laws regarding policing, his support for the Iraq War and his contention that Clinton was behind the so-called birther conspiracy.
Clinton, the Democratic nominee, repeatedly sought to correct Trump’s statements — going so far as referring viewers to fact checks on her website — as she aimed to portray him as out of touch with the complexities of the American economy.
“I know you live in your own reality,” she told Trump.
Powerful moment
One of the most powerful moments of the debate came when the conversation focused on the birther debate following Trump’s recent acknowledgment that President Barack Obama was born in the US — a fact that has been evident for years. With Trump standing just a few feet from her, Clinton blasted Trump for perpetuating a “racist lie.”
“He has a long record of engaging in racist behavior,” Clinton said as Trump shook his head.
Donald Trump’s 6 debate tactics
Trump hit back noting Clinton’s tough critiques of Obama during their bitter 2008 primary battle.
“You treated him with terrible disrespect and I watch the way you talk now about how lovely everything is, … it doesn’t work that way,” he said. “When you try to act holier than thou, it really doesn’t work.”
Clinton and Trump opened the debate on a positive note by shaking hands before stationing themselves behind their podiums at Hofstra University on New York’s Long Island. The debate is attracting worldwide interest with a television audience expected to approach 100 million, lured by the extraordinary drama of the 2016 campaign.
And that drama quickly unfolded.
An increasingly angry Trump slammed Clinton for putting her plans to fight ISIS on her website — and thereby tipping off America’s enemy.
“Well, at least I have a plan to fight ISIS,” Clinton responded, referring to his previous statements that he has a “secret” plan to destroy the terrorist group.
Battling over taxes
Clinton hammered Trump over his refusal to release his tax returns.
“Why won’t he release his tax returns?” Clinton asked.
“Maybe he is not as rich as he says he is,” she went on. “Maybe he is not as charitable as he claims to be,” “Maybe he doesn’t want the American people to know that he has paid nothing in federal taxes.”
Clinton pressed Trump on the issue, saying “There is something he is hiding.”
Trump replied that he would release his taxes when Clinton made public 33,000 emails that were deleted from her private email server. When Clinton said that Trump had paid no federal income tax in some years, Trump replied “That makes me smart.”
Clinton also set about Trump’s business record, pointing out that he had called himself “The King of Debt” and accusing him of “stiffing” thousand of contractors who did work for his business.
When the debate turned to racial issues and crime, Clinton said that it was important for police to work together with local communities to restore trust.
Trump accused Clinton of refusing to say the phrase “law and order” and bemoaned the state of inner cities. He said that African-Americans and Hispanics were “living in hell.”
“You walk down the street, you get shot,” Trump said.
Clinton rebuked Trump for painting “such a dire picture” of black communities.
Campaign at a critical point
Trump and Clinton are facing off with the campaign at a critical point, as the race is a dead heat just 43 days before Election Day.
Under the relentless spotlight of the presidential debate stage, Trump faces his toughest examination yet of whether he has the knowledge and temperament to be president. Any gaffes or emotional eruptions by Trump could play into Clinton’s claim he would be a dangerous risk in the Oval Office.
Clinton, meanwhile, faces the vexing assignment of fact-checking Trump’s often outrageous statements while making an emotional connection with voters and building enthusiasm for her candidacy, especially among millennials and Clinton successfully reigned him in on those big lies at the end of the day.
Additional reports from New York Times, CNN