Trump had some serious missed opportunities to score some points against Hillary. The time when she talked about how he wasn't releasing his tax returns and "what is he hiding" didn't get the trumping response I was expecting. Same thing when she was talking about cyber security and he didn't bring up her email server.
She did better on not looking sick than I had expected. However, her nurse was in the front row and immediately after the debate Hillary went right over to her and did the whole finger pulling thing. There is something wrong with her health, although she handled herself well last night.
Trump's biggest job was to show that Hillary's main attack themes against him - that he's unstable and racist - were wrong. I think he succeeded. He didn't come off as unstable, just rambly and, well, a little boring. Probably that was the intent. I actually think that this is more important than a lot of people think.
Trump seems to learn as he goes. I expect he will give a better debate performance next time. It's hard to see how Hillary could improve, and there are a lot of scenarios where she could do worse. If the goal is to peak right before the election, Trump seems to be in a better position.
In the next debate, when the subject of his Tax returns come up he needs to say....
ReplyDeleteMy tax return is 5,000 pages long and takes a team of twenty lawyers and 35 accountants 2 months to prepare. It costs me $3 million . Even when I release it, you won't really understand how all the various partnerships and trusts fit together. All of this complexity is the result of the hopelessly complex tax laws written by the politicians to get the wealthy to pay more taxes. She says that she wants to tax the rich. But what winds up happening is that the middle class gets taxed more because you can't afford a team of lawyers and accountants to do your taxes.
Ted - +1, especially on the "how it all fits together" stuff.
ReplyDeleteI wonder whether Trump was allowing Hillary to "get in the first punch" so he wouldn't be accused of "hitting a woman". My hope is that he'll use the second debate to both level the field and drive her into the dirt.
She got in her licks. Now, let's see him counterpunch.
Kinda interesting I got a e-mail today from the Trump campaign asking me to fill out a questionnaire on what he needs to focus on in the next debate. Many of the points brought up about the debate and where Trump missed an opportunity were asked.
ReplyDeleteAfter submitting It directed me to a page to make a contribution... not totally unexpected but still funny.