ICYMI: The first Primary Presidential debate was on Monday night, and the nation went berserk with over 85 million people watching, and thousands of those millions live tweeting the event. The morning after followed up with fact-check articles, critical analysis, and the ultimate question followed: who won?
Throughout the debate, several current and controversial issues were covered, some of which include foreign policy, national security, the economy, and the environment. While very few specifics were offered as to what each candidate plans to do about these issues, should they get elected, both Clinton and Trump had plenty to say about the other and their past mishaps; which made the debate more like a real-life Twitter fight rather than a Presidential debate.
National security has been a pressing issue since numerous hackings into confidential U.S. databases have occurred, including a hack into emails of Colin Powell, and most of the head coordinators of the Democratic National Convention. These hacks have been suspected to be organised by the Russians, which raises more controversy as Donald Trump has been known to compliment the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, on his leadership. Needless to say, this praise has not been taken well by the rest of the United States, including most of the Republican Party. When discussing the most recent hacks, involving Colin Powell, Trump hinted that it could be either China or Russia, and Hillary made a case that it was Russia.
Another focus of the debate was Donald Trump's newly revealed tax plan, in which he intends to raise the standard deduction for joint filers, and repeal the death tax (You can see a more detailed plan here: Donald Trump's Tax Plan). Hillary Clinton attacked this plan by targeting how Trump's plan would affect the national debt - raising it by "over $5 trillion." However, both the Conservative Tax Foundation and the Citizens for Tax Justice estimate that the plan would increase the debt anywhere between $4.4-4.8 trillion. The Trump campaign claims it would only raise the national debt by $2.6 trillion and lower taxes for lower income and middle-income families. However, a recent analysis done by the Social Science Research Network finds that approximately 7.8 million households would end up paying more for taxes under this plan.
While these are just a few, brief summaries of what went on during the debate on Monday night; you can be sure to follow up with similar articles following the next two debates! Much like my previous article, Vote in 2016, I implore you to make use of the internet and social capabilities we have in today's world and make an educated choice on who to vote for; this election could not be more important.
