With Halloween just around the corner, everyone is looking for a little scare to get in the holiday spirit. And what better way to do so than to sit down with a bag of popcorn and turn on the political debate?
The purpose of any debate is to analyze each participants' justification that they are qualified for their position of interest. Or so it may seem. Every political debate thus far seems to be a compilation of name calling, eye rolling, and rather immature comebacks. While given a question, each candidate, namely Trump, slightly touches upon the surface of the issue and disregards it entirely, without actually addressing the issue at hand.
I tend to stray away from politics as much as possible. Given that I am a science major, politics is not really my forte. But with all the memes going around, I decided to watch more than the first few minutes, and was thoroughly entertained.
First off, Trump interrupts the opposition every chance he gets. When she merely raised her head to speak or shook her head in disapproval, he shut her down. Moreover, he denies the occurrence of several incidents that, if the American public were aware of, would not give as much support as they do.
In the first instance of many, Trump denied having a relationship with Vladmir Pulin. "I never met Pulin. This is not my best friend." However, in an interview conducted by an MSNBC reporter, Trump states that when he was in Moscow, he received, and I quote "a beautiful present, with a beautiful note." Interesting. In another interview, Trump claimed to have direct and indirect contact with Putin, "who could not have been nicer." If Trump claims he is friendly with someone simply for the votes, then denies this in the face of a national audience, why aren't we doing anything about it? Who else does he associate with and deny having ever known?
On a more serious note, Clinton continued the discussion of nuclear weapons. She claimed that he causally throws the word around, when Trump rebutted with his most infamous words of that debate: Wrong. He shook his head at Clinton, who stated, "He's advocated many countries getting them, Japan, Korea, even Saudi Arabia." In an interview lead by Fox News, Trump asserted that "North Korea has nukes. Japan has a problem with that... maybe they would in fact be better off if they defend themselves from North Korea. Maybe we would be better off with nukes". The interviewer cut him off, inquiring if South Korea would be better off with nuclear weapons as well, and, not so surprisingly, Trump enthusiastically nodded in agreement.
"He was for the invasion of Iraq", Clinton continued. Trump, once again, declared "Wrong." Is she, though? In an audio recording, he answers the question with an indifferent response, "Yeah, I guess so." This is the response I'd give my cashier if he asked if I wanted a receipt in my bag.
"He applauds people who are pushing and pulling and punching at his rallies," continued Clinton. But, surprise! Trump didn't assert that she was wrong. Instead, with squinted eyes and a smirk, Trump shook his head.
In a public speech delivered during his rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Trump said: "So if you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of 'em, would ya? Seriously... I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees." In several other video clips, protesters, namely those who identify with African American nationality, are seen being pushed and taunted and screamed at by Trump's supporters. As if we don't already have enough violence.
Clinton also pointed out the Republican candidate mocked a disabled reporter on national television. Trump's response? If you said "wrong," you are most definitely right. This did, indeed, occur, and he cannot deny it because it was recorded on national television -- got ya there, Donald.
Clinton then shifted the focus of her argument to attacks on females, recalling her opponent calling Alicia Machado, former Miss Universe, "an eating machine." "Give me a break," says Trump. Again, he smirks, and rolls his eyes. There is video evidence of him stating she went up from 118 to 180 pounds, "so this is somebody that likes to eat." But seriously, if enjoying food were a crime, we'd all be guilty.
In other video recordings, Trump bashes women in every way possible. "If Hilary Clinton were a man, I don't think she'd get five percent of the vote." So lack of male genitals means surplus of support? Tell that to the millions of women who couldn't even vote less than 100 years ago, or even the ones today who make an average wage of 20 percent less than their male counterpart.
In yet another public rally, when faced with the claim that he sexually assaulted nine different women, Trump denied it with "Look at her... I don't think so." He says he didn't even apologize to his wife. In an interview, the lovely and somewhat oblivious Melania states, "He apologized, and I accepted his apology. We are moving on." Clinton: 1. Trump: zilch.
Trump tried to defend himself with the claim that "Nobody respects women more than I do. Nobody." I'll let you be the judge of that one. In fact, I urge you to be the judge of the entire debate.
Not to say that Hilary is completely innocent. But I don't recall her saying "wrong" half as many times as Trump. So, whether you're going Trick or Treating or have any other spooky plans, you can always count on this creepy candidate to give you the chills.
