The first presidential debate was hosted at Hofstra University in New York and moderated by Lester Holt. Overall the debate went well, Clinton didn't have a mysterious coughing fit and Trump didn't look like an orange. I don't think we can declare a winner as both candidates showed strengths but also had been weak in some places. Here are five things that stood out to me.
Clinton starts by saying the United States is a Democracy.
First and foremost, this is one of the biggest concerns I have. It is important for a presidential nominee to know what type of government their country has. The U.S. is a federal presidential republic with strong democratic ties, however, this is outlined in things like our pledge “and to the republic for which it stands.”. While Clinton isn’t completely wrong our government is first and foremost a republic.
Small Business
Clinton’s first statement was investing in you, infrastructure, and small business. The trouble with this statement is that big government puts too many regulations on businesses and this hits small businesses much harder. Trump responds later in the debate saying this type of support can’t happen because of over regulation leading then to be regulated out of business. So the only way Clinton could truly invest in use would be looser regulations and freer markets. Freer the market, the freer the people.
Clinton’s fact checker.
During the debate, Clinton claims that her website, hillaryclinton.com, was set up to be a fact checker. However, we have to consider this website and other media outlets as plainly biased. Similarly, if Trump had set up a fact checker we couldn’t credit it either just because both of these candidates would make it subject to what they want it to say. Besides, both of the candidate's opinions being thrown into these so called facts, the mainstream media will also tend to favor one political view and/or candidate. The best way to get the facts is to do your own research from reputable sources.
Clinton hits Trump about his tax returns.
When Trump was asked about releasing his tax return, like every other presidential candidate has done, he responded with saying he would do so after his audit was over and do it despite what his lawyers advised. Clinton furthered by listing reasons he is avoiding it such as he’s not a rich as he says, not as charitable, paid little to no taxes, he’s hiding something, or owes lots of money. While these things could be true as of right now we can only speculate.
Trump also came back at Hillary asking when she will release her 30,000 emails (which have been deleted). Clinton then admitted she made a mistake with the handling of her emails. However, at this time an admission is not nearly enough. The fact she was under FBI investigation, how she handled classified information, (confusing the C being an alphabetical organization not meaning classified), and the FBI was looking into "violation of the Federal statute that makes it a felony to mishandle classified information either intentionally or in a grossly negligent way; or a second statute making it a misdemeanor to knowingly remove classified information from appropriate systems or storage facilities". We can see that her judgment when it came to the email handling, is not all satisfactory. Bottomline is Trump should release his returns as soon as possible and Hillary Clinton did mishandle her emails.
Race Issues
When race issues were brought up, Clinton said, “The law should respect everyone, and everyone should respect the law.”. After protests like Ferguson and the current ongoing protest in Charlotte, the protest become out of hand and turn into riots. Looking back in time, Martin Luther King Jr. advocated for peaceful protest whereas people like Malcolm X were radical and unpeaceful. Just to clarify the protest are okay, as it is guaranteed by the first amendment, but when these protests get out of control, turning into riots where things are broken and stolen, that is when problems occur. The law can only go so far to respect these people, it’s only fair that these people respect the law as well.
In addition to the race issue of respecting laws, Trump’s plan for increasing stop and frisk policies were brought up. In theory his plan would make cities safer, however, the policy is racially biased and unconstitutional. There are statistics that prove stop and frisk policies are racially biased towards African Americans and Hispanics. The second part of this is that stop and frisk is unconstitutional. The fourth amendment says “[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.". So police are required to have probable cause and a warrant for a search unless there are exigent circumstances. However, with Trump's proposal, it is even unlikely they will have reasonable suspicion.
