Presidential rivals square off in heated first head-to-head debate
● Trump and Clinton both score points in first of three events
Hillary Clinton accused Donald Trump of racism as the US presidential candidates clashed in their first head-tohead debate in the race to the White House.
The Democrat and Republican rivals squared off in a 90-minute debate at Hofstra University in New York, which was screened to tens of millions of television viewers in America and live-streamed across the world.
During a number of fiery exchanges, Mr Trump claimed he had a “better temperament” than Mrs Clinton and accused her of not having the “stamina” to be president.
Mrs Clinton said Mr Trump had started his political career with a “racist lie” after he falsely suggested president Barack Obama was born outside of America.
She said: “He has a long record of engaging in racist behaviour.”
Mrs Clinton also criticised the billionaire tycoon’s comments about women, saying: “This is a man who has called women pigs, slobs and dogs.”
Discussing the fight against Islamic State, also known as Isis, Mr Trump attacked Mrs Clinton for revealing her plan to tackle the extremist group on her website.
He said: “You’re telling the enemy everything you want to do. No wonder you’ve been fighting Isis your entire life.”
The candidates also addressed Mr Trump’s refusal to release his tax returns, with the Republican insisting he would publish them, against his lawyers’ advice, if Mrs Clinton releases the 33,000 deleted emails from her private server.
His comments prompted cheers from sections of the audience, with moderator Lester Holt having to remind those watching to stay quiet.
Mrs Clinton said her use of a private email server was a “mistake” and claimed Mr
0 Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton during the debate Trump could be refusing to release his tax returns because he was not as rich or as charitable as he claimed.
She said: “I think probably he’s not that enthusiastic having the rest of our country see what the real reasons are because it must be something really important, even terrible, he’s trying to hide.”
Mr Trump repeatedly insisted that he opposed the Iraq War before the 2003 invasion – despite telling radio host Howard Stern in September 2002 that he supported it.
Mrs Clinton also said the Republican was too easily provoked to serve as commanderin-chief and could be quickly drawn into a war involving nuclear weapons.
“A man who can be provoked by a tweet should not have his fingers anywhere near the nuclear codes,” she said.
Discussing nuclear weapons, Mr Trump said he “would not do first strike” but he “can’t take anything off the table”.
Other notable exchanges included Mrs Clinton telling Mr Trump “you live in your own reality”, before adding: “By the end of this evening I think I’ll be blamed for everything that has ever happened.”
Mr Trump prompted laughter from the audience when he replied: “Why not?”
Former president Bill Clinton and Melania Trump were among those in the audience at the event, which was expected to the most watched debate in TV history. The debate also gathered significant attention online. Top tweeted moments were Mr Trump’s comments that he has a “good temperament” and the two candidates’ plans for defeating IS.
About 2,000 protesters gathered outside the debate hall, including socialists and activists calling for a living wage, police said. Twenty-four people were arrested, mostly on disorderly conduct charges.
Mr Trump and Mrs Clinton will take part in two more debates before the 8 November election. Their vice-presidential running mates, Tim Kaine and Mike Pence, will debate next week.
It is thought to be the most watched debate in history, with almost 100 million people tuning in to see US presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump go head to head in the first of three TV debates. The figures show a remarkable level of interest. But did the debate live up to expectations?
To a great extent it was a trip around the usual and well-rehearsed positions where both sought to exploit areas in which they think they have an advantage. But the debate should tell the Democrats and Hillary Clinton something fundamantal.
So Trump was challenged about a statement he made saying that Clinton did not have the “look” necessary for a president, and trying to avoid the obvious sexism trap he turned it to the issue of Clinton’s health and somehow “look” became stamina. It didn’t make any difference because Clinton went down the sexism route anyway.
And predictably Clinton also went down the racism route using Trump’s – apparently now-reversed – belief that Barack Obama was not born in the US, but she has plenty of other evidence to call on for this charge.
And she played on the fears of a volatile Trump as Commander-in-chief, getting his hands on the nuclear codes and his praise for Vladimir Putin and his rash tongue-in-cheek remark inviting the Russian leader to hack US computer networks.
And the final box to be ticked was the repetition of the criticism that Trump has something to hide and that’s why he has not released his tax details. So how will Clinton and the Democrats be feeling about the debate? Probably pretty smug, and that is where the greatest danger lies.
The US mainstream media, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Fox News, the LA Times, all came out saying that Clinton had won the debate.
A CNN/ORC poll after the debate found that 62 per cent of voters who had watched thought that Mrs Clinton came out on top, with just 27 per cent giving it to Mr Trump. A post-debate survey by Public Policy Polling of 1,002 found that 51 per cent of national voters thought Clinton had won, with 40 per cent choosing Trump and 9 per cent undecided.
So Clinton and the Democrats probably think they are doing enough. But Trump has been continually underestimated – he has already achieved what everybody said was impossible.
And now Clinton and the Democrats are simply doing more of the same in their attempts to neutralise Trump. The truth is they still do not actually realise why Trump remains a viable threat – it is not by and large his policies, although immigration is a fear, and it is not his winning charm. It is because, above all else, Trump offers change, he holds out the promise of a new America, even if it is an America that makes mistakes.
Clinton, and the media, are the establishment in a country seen as failing by many of its citizens and the clamour is at the gates. They need to offer radical change if they are to be sure to keep Trump out.