Although I’m not a huge fan of politics, I try to stay up to date. On Monday, September 26, I tuned into the first debate between the two candidates of the two major parties on CNN and found myself psychoanalyzing the official presidential candidate for the Republican party and applying some of the methods that we discussed in my social psychology class to his overall perceived personality. I thought about general social thinking and cognition during the live debates. At one point, Donald Trump talked for three minutes straight without really saying anything. This raises the real question; why was he talking to begin with?

During the night of the debate, it was made abundantly clear that Trump has absolutely no difficulty speaking, and besides getting to the point, or even just establishing basic pathos, logos, and ethos, he goes above and beyond, using this time to advertise himself. I felt as if Trump was using the national debate as a platform to mass market himself and almost overcompensate his lack of actual political experience. This was definitely a very evident self-presentation strategy. What the presentation strategy lacked however, was his ability to form any sincere intimate relations with the audience. Through his exemplary utilization of self-promotion, he very much lacked any form of modesty, exemplification, and ingratiation.

The debate really made him out to be much more instinctual and an automatic social thinker rather than the opposed reflexive social thinker. He talked for those three minutes with ease and told people what they wanted to hear rather than actually thinking through his response. Through some observations, I found Hillary to contrast Trump, not talking for the sake of talking but rather taking more time to formulate a well-developed and coherent answer before just beginning to speak. Although this may have to do with the overall general preparedness than anything else, I found it to be very interesting considering the complete and total binary between the two major candidates. In addition, the gender schema, for the first time in any major political presidential debate in the United States, was much more prevalent during this debate considering the represented genders of the candidates. For the Trump supporters, they tend to be much more traditional in terms of social and fiscal policies. In doing so, a lot of those same supporters degrade Hillary based on her gender and, as a result, sexism is very much involved in the political process. Although it was much more suppressed at the debate on Monday night, in the entirety of the election process, it has definitely played an immense role in detouring Hillary supporters. I have come across multiple inappropriate and sexist tweets aimed at Hillary on social media platforms (most prominently Facebook and Twitter to name a few) regardless of the fact that one’s gender has absolutely nothing to do with the role and job description of the president.

Donald J. Trump, before starting to actively pursue a career in politics, was most known for his multiple business ventures, and for his reality television show, "The Apprentice." As a result of the success of many of his endeavors, and his media personality, many people view him as a successful businessman, and he markets himself on that same foundation. He tries to uphold these preconceived notions of being a self-thriving billionaire entrepreneur, and in a sort of way, attempts to live up to those expectations putting him in a strange, cyclical self-fulfilling prophecy. By already being an established media presence, he tries to maintain the same character in person, and always has to live up to that. It’s almost humorous in a way; when the lawsuit of his school, Trump University, came into fruition and became a news headliner he immediately appealed his case and accused everyone that sued him of being in the wrong (except in a much harsher fashion) by attacking their character. Unsurprisingly, however, Donald Trump has been sued over 3500 times in the past three decades but doesn’t permit those suits to impede his business-esque temperament. All the publicity that has arisen during this election cycle has only given Trump the opportunity to publicize his successful ventures.

At the end of the day, we're not looking for a president that will make the best meme. This year's election will ultimately come down to a final decision that will greatly impact the country for the next four years. This particular article is written without the intent to sway or persuade anyone to change their political beliefs, but rather to just observe the two potential presidential candidates, do some more research, and get involved in the upcoming election.