The second Presidential Debate, held Sunday October 9th, was something the American people have never seen before.
It started out with them notably not shaking hands, and getting right into a question regarding the maturity of these debates and if they realize that the content of the debates are not appropriate to show children at home or in the classroom for educational purposes.
Clinton kicked it off by saying she understood that the vulgarity of the content, especially with the recent unraveling in the Trump campaign, can clearly be too mature for younger audiences. She then goes into her point by point breakdown of what she stands for: respect for others, celebrating diversity, protecting our future and making sure we are "stronger together".
The question turns to Trump, as America awaits for his response to the tapes that were released on Friday, October 7th. He evaded the original question completely, repeating that he wants to make America great again. When Cooper provoked him, asking the specifics of whether he has ever assaulted women before, he chalked it up to “locker room talk”, and then changed the subject to ISIS.
This back and forth about the tapes went on for a while, until Trump ended it with bringing up Bill Clinton, repeating that he is the most abusive man to women in the history of American politics.
The rest of the night unfolded quite sporadically after the elephant in the room was addressed-and dismissed for the rest of the night- and went on to even more insulting and controversial conversation.
The whole 90 minutes cannot be summed up that neatly, due to the spasmodic nature of the debate, but here are the highlights:
Trump essentially said that if he was elected the first thing he will do is find someone to prosecute Clinton. Because that is the top priority for us Americans, Trump.
Trump continued to berate Clinton about the email scandal, once again, and for what is now the millionth time, Clinton has apologized and taken responsibility for.
The next hot topic was the Muslim ban that Trump had originally said he was for, and said it had evolved to a plan of “extreme vetting”. Trump also said that Captain Khan would still be alive if it wasn’t for “her”, and that he was against the war from the get-go.
Which is on record from an interview with Howard Stern in 2002, that he in fact, was for the war in Iraq.
Clinton retorted that it is not Islam we are at war with, and that the language and rhetoric that Trump uses, is language that starts wars, not ends them.
Throughout the rest of the debate, it was more argumentative than informative.
Trump interrupted Clinton an unfathomable amount of times, while Clinton interrupted Trump… once.
The last two questions of the night were the most inspiring questions of the whole debate.
The first was whether or not they can be a president for ALL people.
Trump took this one first, and actually answers the actual question. He says, yes, he can be a president for all, but instead of focusing on why or how that can be, he turns to Clinton and lists all the things she is not. The most aggressive part of his answer is when he says that Clinton has, “a lot of hate in her heart”.
Clinton then takes the question, saying yes, she can be a president for all, especially families and children. Her goal is to make a brighter future for children and to make sure that there is peace for everyone.
The last question of the night, was what do each of them like about the other.
Clinton responds first (I was surprised she could come up with anything), and says his children are the best parts about him and his legacy.
Trump, having an actual human moment, actually accepts her answer and responds to the question with a quality of Clinton’s character.
The only thing I personally will ever agree with him on.
The whole debate was a shit show of course, mainly because of Trump’s incessant remarks and comments, interrupting Clinton every chance he got.
Clinton was more subdued at this debate, and unfortunately missed key opportunities to provoke him, like she was able to do at the first debate.
That being said, she stayed poised in the face of Trump’s personal and aggressive attacks, even when invading her personal space on the floor, and was the clear winner of the debate.
But she was the winner before it even began.
Because while even Trump could conjure up a quality of Clinton’s character, finding something acceptable about the person Trump is, is almost impossible to do.
The thing about Trump’s character is that he has none at all.
Well friends, until the third and final debate,
or until the next scandal hits the Trump campaign that they fail to cover up.
