I watched the debate tonight starring Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. For the amusement of my friends, I liveposted my reactions on Facebook; while I found Clinton insufferably dull and Trump farcical, I realized another part of me had died when the debate ended. I watched my country erupt in varying shades of hilarity and recoil, choosing to laugh lest we cry in rage and despair that out of all the qualified persons in America, we ended up with the Liar and the Loudmouth.
Trump was his usual belligerent self, bolting out of the gate with the typical loud bullishness we have come to expect from him. His facial expressions while Secretary Clinton spoke were priceless; the quick tilts of his head and the pursing of his lips brought to mind an annoyed sparrow. Less amusing was the way he barreled past the weak protestors of moderator Lester Holt, who seemed pathetically unprepared to handle the nitpicking, yelling, snarkiness, and outright insults thrown by each candidate.
Clinton appeared calm initially, but was soon flustered by a couple of Trump's pointed insults. Dissenting sources will either claim that Secretary Clinton held her cool and baited Trump into revealing himself as the boisterous blowhard we all know him to be; others will state that Trump destroyed her, holding the laughter and even applause of the audience at times. What I saw was a complete breakdown of both candidates; both resorted to insults and shouting, like angered children in the night.
What I have come to roll my eyes at when it comes from Trump are not things I expected from Clinton. Hillary and her husband, whom she mentioned as a parry to the jabs from Trump about her past record, were two major forces behind the mass incarceration of young black males in this country. This was something I knew, and yet anger still rose to choke me when she took the platform to speak about BlackLivesMatter and the epidemic of police brutality against African-Americans.
Instead of placing the onus on the corruption within the police system, instead of providing comprehensive solutions to end police brutality, Secretary Clinton proceeded to talk about good cops and how they are outgunned. She made cursory mention of the the racial divide when it comes to unfair inprisonment; then in the same breath, stated that the black communities must respect the police. She answered honestly on the subject of racial bias among police, stating it was a problem larger than police, but did nothing to admit her part in the current state of affairs.
Trump took the stand and contentiously stated that immigrants were targeting minorities, and the way to end violence against said individuals were more police and gun reform, but only among immigrants. This is so laughable a stance that it hardly deserves a mention. I did appreciate the fact that Clinton brought Trump quickly to heel for his "dire view" of black communities after he claimed that someone would be shot merely walking down the street.
The remainder of the night devolved into unanswered questions, shouting, heckling, and complete disregard of Lester Holt. I do not think that the moderator received a single break this evening, as neither Trump nor Clinton respected the time rules of a debate and constantly went over. She had little guard against Trump's relentless attacks, and he in turn seemed to conjure names and numbers from absolute thin air.
It was more than cringeworthy; I still cannot believe that one of these two will be the next President of the United States. I know we are being eyed with fear and disdain; trust me, it is shared. This country is not great; this country is a laughingstock, and each passing moment that that these two command our public attention, we fall from favour and farther away from salvaging.
