On Monday night, the first showdown between presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump took place at Hofstra University in New York. In case you didn’t happen to be one of the record 84 million viewers to tune in, here are some of the highlights.
1) Creating Jobs
Clinton and Trump have very different approaches to how to create more jobs in the American economy. Clinton declared: “We’re going to do it by having the wealthy pay their fair share and close the corporate loopholes.” Trump focused more on outsourcing jobs , stating: “We have to stop our companies from leaving the United States and with it, firing all of their people.”
2) Birtherism
For reasons that are beyond me, President Obama’s birthplace was still being questioned by Trump until a little over a week ago, when he admitted that Obama was born in America. This was brought up during the debate, with Trump responding: “I was the one who got him to produce the birth certificate and I think I did a good job.” I’m not really one to use memes in place of commentary, but all I can think of in response to this is:
3) Tax Return Ultimatum
According to Politifact, every Republican nominee since the 1980 election has released their tax returns — besides Trump. Tax returns give the public insight into a person’s investments and finances. At the debate, Trump claimed: “I will release my tax returns against my lawyer’s wishes when [Hillary Clinton] releases her thirty three thousand e-mails that have been deleted.”
4) Race Relations
Both candidates seemed to agree that measures could be taken to improve relations between communities and law enforcement. Clinton’s most memorable sound bites included: “Everyone should be respected by the law and everyone should respect the law” and “…we have to tackle the plague of gun violence, which is a big contributor to a lot of the problems that we are seeing today.”
Trump’s take on race relations: “We have a situation where we have our inner cities, African-American, Hispanics living in hell because it’s so dangerous. You walk down the street, you get shot.”
Now, I read and reread this part of the transcript multiple times, genuinely trying to quote Trump’s plan to healing racial wounds. This is the closest I could come to his solution: “We have to bring back law in order… And we have to be very strong and we have to be very vigilant.” I’m not sure if this qualifies as a plan, but make what you want of it.
5) Nonverbal Communication
Stepping aside from the topics of debate, the actual entertaining part of the night lied within the candidates’ mannerisms. Clinton spent a good portion of the debate smiling and laughing — usually at Trump. And, in classic Donald Trump style, he stayed true to himself with pursed lips, eyebrow raises, and occasional looks of bafflement at Clinton’s words.
To watch the debate, read the full transcript, or see what the fact-checkers have to say, visit NPR.