The Canadian Press
Alexander Panetta
WASHINGTON—Donald Trump made a gracious entrance for the first one-on-one presidential debate of his life, exchanging pleasantries with his opponent last night and cordially referring to her as, “Secretary Clinton.”
Then she began needling him.
Hillary Clinton sprinkled her presentation on middle-class economic policies with an occasional nugget of mockery: about Trump owing his economic success to $14 million he got from his dad and his habit of stiffing bills to his workers, his refusal to release his tax returns, and evidence he paid no taxes some years.
She drew out his inner grouch.
Trump started interrupting, he referred to an old feud with the actress Rosie O’Donnell, and he downplayed old comments to shock-jock Howard Stern favouring the Iraq invasion in a performance that produced a one-sided early reaction.
Viewers told a CNN poll that Clinton won by a margin of 62 percent to 27 percent.
Trump responded to being chided over his taxes with a brag about not paying them: “That makes me smart,” he quipped.
He lied when confronted with his words about global warming being a Chinese hoax: “I do not say that,” he said.
His own Twitter page proves otherwise.
The debate featured a series of policy differences, which inevitably will be lost in the glare of the high-wattage personality clash.
Trump, for instance, favours a tough-on-crime approach. He pointed out a recent spike in homicides after an era of decline.
Clinton, meanwhile, wants to end the U.S.’s era of mass incarceration, and salutes a new federal move away from for-profit prisons.
Trump wants large tax cuts, primarily for business and the wealthy. It would include an elimination of the estate tax and a larger cut for the rich than the middle class.
He says this would stimulate the economy.
Clinton said that model previously had failed, and called it “trumped-up trickle-down.”
But make no mistake: the most memorable moments of this debate involved character—spurred by the on-stage presence of one of history’s most colourful political characters.
Interest in Trump’s first general-election debate was expected to produce a potentially record television audience.
Trump’s team had tried downplaying expectations yesterday.
While she had crammed for weeks, including multiple debate-preparation sessions in the last couple of days, Trump’s team told reporters he hadn’t practised much because he preferred to be authentic.
Clinton referred to that.
“Yes I did [prepare],” she said. “You know what else I prepared for? I prepared to be president.
“And I think that’s a good thing.”
But the polls remain close. A majority show Clinton leading nationally, albeit by mostly minuscule margins.
