This week various news channels broadcasted the live viewing of the first presidential debate. As I watched from FOX 5 News I greatly anticipated what would be said, who would say it, and how the moderator, Lester Holt, would step in to fix it. Hosted at Hofstra University, the first presidential debate covered few, but very important, topics of our future; achieving prosperity in terms of jobs and taxes, America’s direction in terms of race, and securing America in terms of cyber and nuclear warfare. What I find to be particularly interesting about last night’s debate is how each speaker treated one another as they spoke, and how they treated Lester Holt as he was addressing the issues.

On the topic of “Achieving Prosperity,” Hillary Clinton was the first to speak, thanking the university, the moderator, and the people for helping her get this far. She addressed certain points on her plan which included building an economy that works for all people, closing the wage gap, ensuring paid family leave, raising the minimum wage, and creating more jobs in the renewable energy field. Conversely, Donald Trump came back saying that our American jobs are fleeing the country to Mexico and China and that to ensure that more jobs are present in the US, we need to take them back from the foreign countries.

Both parties agreed that a fair trade deal would also help progress the country’s wealth and rid us of growing debt. Regarding taxes, Clinton shamed Trump for not releasing his 104 page tax return and noted that hers was live for the entire country to see, while shedding light on how Trump has gone without paying his fair share of taxes for years on end. Not-so-shockingly enough, Trump replied to Hillary’s statement about not paying taxes with, “well that makes me smart,” while also adding in that the way our taxes are working makes us seem like a “third world country” and that his business background is good for the country.

As Lester Holt introduced “America’s Direction- Race”, as a topic, I couldn’t help but to acknowledge that both people standing on stage representing our country were wealthy white people. However, Clinton got the ball rolling in terms of how we as American people can address the racial profiling in terms of police and systemic racism in the criminal justice department. She notes that in order to ensure safety in the black community, we must restore trust and faith between the police and those of the black community while offering new training for police officers, and making sure that weapons remain solely in the hands of those who are physically capable. Clinton also draws in on how the abolishment of private prisons is a positive direction for the United States, and iconically states, “one murder is too many,” while on the topic of police brutality. With little regard to what Clinton addressed, Trump insensitively brags that he is endorsed by various United States police departments and the NRA while also stating that the “Stop and Frisk” epidemic was effective in New York City from it’s introduction with Rudy Giuliani to its ceasing. Amidst this, he also acknowledges that there is much inner city violence that he has personally seen and intends to work on by various methods of policing- stop-and-frisk being one of them.

In terms of “Securing America” , both Trump and Clinton feel that nuclear weapons are the greatest threat to our country in terms of warfare and security. Clinton begins her argument with solid points including how cyber attacks continued to arise from other countries, which she blames primarily on Russia, how the United States has a great capacity to fight ISIS by being cognizant of the fact that foreign weapons exist, and how we should work more closely with our allies. The former Secretary of State also takes a peaceful and diplomatic standpoint by saying that we will continue to honor our mutual defense treaties and lead the world through strength and values. Trump interestingly notes that he does not fully blame Russia for having our security broken into, blames ISIS on both Clinton and Obama, and simply has a “much better temperament than her [Clinton]”. Despite his past beliefs, Trump acknowledges that doing a first-strike on other countries would not benefit the United States and that he wants to help all of our allies.

The final topic seemingly brought up by Lester Holt in a provoking manner and used to close the debate was how Trump stated in a previous interview that Clinton does not have “the look” to be President. Trump comes back at Lester Holt stating that he feels Clinton does not have the stamina for becoming President, not acknowledge his past statement and also stating that while Clinton may have political experience, it is a bad political experience. In a brief defense, Clinton with a worldly twist says that she would not have stood in front of a committee for 11 hours fighting for an issue and visited 112 countries regarding matters of peace if she did not have “the look”. As Lester Holt finally asks what each candidate will do if the other wins- both take different turns of subtly saying they will support one another. While Trump says that if Clinton wins she will do a “terrible job”, he will support her, Clinton closes with saying, “I support this democracy, and this election is really up to you,” and that she will wholeheartedly support him if he wins the election.

Until October 9th, the bones of contention debated last night are what we have to base off of how far Trump and Clinton have come in the election, and how their views have been shaped. The matters discussed at Hofstra University are only very few of the issues that must be addressed and that plague our nation. As each candidate gave their own take on these issues at hand, the viewers were able to see how the candidates personally felt and planned to attack these affairs if they were elected. According to various news outlets, Clinton is winning the debate and Trump is winning the debate. If you can look past the news bias and go by Clinton’s statement from last night, “this election is really up to you,” I can ask- who do you think won this first presidential debate.