IT WAS CLINTON'S DAY
hempstead (New York) — Democrat Hillary Clinton accused Republican Donald Trump of racism, sexism and tax avoidance on Monday, putting him on the defensive during a 2016 US presidential debate rife with blistering insults and short on policy.
Trump, a real estate tycoon making his first run for public office, said Clinton’s long years of service represented “bad experience” with few results and said she lacked the stamina to serve as commander in chief.
Clinton was under pressure to perform well after a recent bout with pneumonia and a drop in opinion polls, but her long days of preparation appeared to pay off in her highly anticipated first 90-minute showdown with Trump.
Trump, a former reality TV star who eschewed a lot of debate practice, was assertive and focused early on, interrupting Clinton repeatedly. As the night wore on, he became testy and less disciplined in front of the crowd at host Hofstra University and a televised audience that could have reached upwards of a record 100 million people.
A CNN/ORC snap poll said 62 per cent of respondents felt Clinton won and 27 per cent believed Trump was the winner.
On Tuesday morning, Trump called it “the debate of debates” and promised to be tougher on Clinton at their next meeting on October 9. “I may hit her harder in certain ways,” Trump said in a telephone interview with “Fox & Friends.” He made clear he pulled punches by not bringing up former President Bill Clinton’s sexual scandals out of deference to the couple’s daughter, Chelsea Clinton, who was in the audience. Trump also said contentious issues involving Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state were not addressed on Monday night, including her use of a private computer server for government emails, the deadly attack in Benghazi, Libya, or the Clinton Foundation charity. In signs that investors awarded the debate to Clinton, Asian shares recovered after an early bout of nerves while the Mexican peso jumped on Tuesday. Her chances in the Nov. 8 election also improved in online betting markets. “You feel good tonight?” Clinton asked supporters afterward. “I sure do. We had a great debate.” Trump, 70, declared himself the winner to reporters at the debate site. The 68-year-old Clinton relentlessly sought to raise questions about her opponent’s temperament, business acumen and knowledge.
Trump used much of his time to argue the former first lady and U.S. senator had achieved little in public life and wanted to pursue policies begun by President Barack Obama that have failed to repair a shattered middle class, with jobs lost to outsourcing and overregulation.
Trump suggested her disavowal of a trade deal with Asian countries was insincere. Her handling of a nuclear deal with Iran and Daesh militancy were disasters.
In one of their more heated exchanges, Clinton accused Trump of promulgating a “racist lie” by suggesting Obama, the first African-American president, was not born in the United States.
The president, who was born in Hawaii, released a long-form birth certificate in 2011 to put the issue to rest. Only this month did Trump say publicly that he believed Obama was US-born. “He has really started his political activity based on this racist lie that our first black president was not an American citizen. There was absolutely no evidence for it. But he persisted, ” Clinton said. —