A televised event that is expected to compete with Super Bowl ratings, the first of the 2016 Presidential debates, took place at Hofstra University on Monday, September 26 between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Donald J. Trump moderated by NBC Nightly News host Lester Holt.
A third candidate representing the Green Party, Jill Stein, tried crashing the debate with her supporters in a peaceful protest against debate rules regarding third party candidates outside of the university, but were escorted off the perimeter. The rule states that debate candidates must be polling above 15% in national polls, which neither she, nor any other third party candidate, is currently doing.
Seconds before the debate the Clinton and Trump were introduced by a political commentator as the “two least liked presidential candidates in all of history,” foreshadowed what would be an interesting match up.
Clinton kicked off the debate by buddying up to Trump by expressing how nice it was to be with him and mentioning her granddaughter’s birthday to make her relatable by demonstrating family values.
Trump, on the other hand, spent his opening two minute remark talking about China, Mexico, and air conditioning without answering.
Clinton shamelessly advertised her website by promoting a fact check feature entitled “Literally Trump,” which was fact checking in real time everything her opponent said during the debate by providing links to the previous statements given by Trump.
Trump chimed in during the promotion encouraging viewers to check his website aswell, but was made impossible due to the crashing of the site.
Punches were thrown by both candidates during the debate with the mentioning of controversial topics that have been surrounding Clinton and Trump throughout the campaign.
Once again brought up by both Holt and Clinton, Trump’s reluctance to release his tax returns became an argument between the candidates. Clinton brought up how for the past 40 years that presidential candidates have released their tax returns to demonstrate to the public how they are financially stable. As a return attack, Trump said he would release his tax returns when Clinton releases the 33 thousand emails that she deleted, making sure the email scandal did not go unmentioned.
Trump went on a minor rampage regarding Clinton to which she responded by a simply smirked “well…,” which some news personnel are calling the best quote of the night.
Another hot topic of the night was directed toward the President and his birthright citizenship. Trump has claimed that President Barack Obama was not a natural citizen of the United States due to the initial absence of a birth certificate, until recently when he spoke out that he now does believe that President Obama is a natural born citizen.
Trump was pressured on the fact that he kept up this conspiracy for five years after President Obama released his birth certificate, which he essentially blamed on the Clinton campaign of 2008.
In typical Trump fashion, he was revered with his own performance and said so to CNN’s Dana Bash in the debate spin room.
“I think it went better than I thought it would go,” Trump debriefed. “I loved it.”
The candidates will face-off again on Sunday, October 9 at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, which will be moderated by CNN’s Anderson Cooper and ABC’s Martha Raddatz.
