Last night, the two presidential nominees (Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump) vying for the top leadership spot in our country did something during the second debate that I for one am flabbergasted by – wasted the American people’s time.
When it comes to the most recent round of back and forth between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, if you watched the first one two weeks ago, you’ve already seen this one. Both candidates brought up the same old topics with Trump, naturally, repeating himself about everything from Clinton’s emails to ISIS. There was really nothing new said and that is truly a shame. They are wasting opportunities, and I blame The Donald’s childish immaturity and absence of experience.
At this point, because Clinton knows Trump will make a fool of himself with his lack of self-control and utter disregard for tact, she doesn’t have to work that hard to come off competent. I mean the mere fact that he opens his mouth to say anything paints her in the better light. Literally, the only thing different about this debate is the presence of the moderators who did a hell of a lot better than the last one. Anderson Cooper and Martha Raddatz did not hold back. Speaking of these two, here are the highlights and lowlights of the second presidential debate.
Highlights
The Moderators Handle the Candidates
Right out the gate Cooper and Raddatz hit with the hard questions. Yes, they asked about Clinton’s emails and thank God they asked about Trump grabbing women by the pussy. He gave his bogus answer, which I will get to in a bit, but the best thing about these two moderating the candidates is that they kept them on track. When they steered off course (Trump was the main culprit) the two journalists got them to answer the questions. It made for entertaining moments for sure but also helped show how Donald and Hillary often times forget about the issues at hand to exchange jabs at each other.
Trump Throws Mike Pence Under the Bus
Some reviewers might put this moment in the lowlights, but this was a highlight for me. Trump saying that he disagrees with this running mate and hasn’t spoken to him about Syria, the topic of discussion at the time, shows just how much of a shit show he’s running. Who openly disagrees with their pick for vice president and admits to not speaking to them? It shows disarray in his camp and gives a hint that these two joining forces is a facade. If Trump can’t unite his own people, how is he going to unite the country?
Hillary Reads Trump
During one of his many rambling moments, Hillary said what all of us are always thinking – Trump is a deflector. The exact “read” went something like this,
“Ok, Donald, I know you’re into big diversion tonight… Anything to avoid talking about your campaign and the way it’s exploding and Republicans are leaving you.” Thanks for that Hillary. Thanks for pointing out that the people who are so full of shit can’t even take Trump’s level of full of shitness.
Now it’s time for the lowlights, which, spoiler alter, mostly revolve around Donald Trump.
Low Lights
Muslims Should Snitch on Muslims
A Muslim woman asked, “…With Islamophobia on the rise, how would you help people like me deal with the consequences of being labeled as a threat to the country after the election is over?” Excellent question right? Well, according to Trump, if a person is Muslim, they need to report other Muslims who are doing bad things. “When they see hatred going on, they have to report it. Muslims have to report the problems when they see them.” He references what happened in San Bernardino and Miami as examples of incidents that could have been reported if other Muslims would have said something. How does this protect the “good” Muslims?
Trump Brushes off his Lewd 2005 Comments
He chops up his comments about being a star and having the ability to do whatever he wants to women as “locker room talk.” This proves to me that the apology he gave on Friday was disingenuous because you don’t dismiss this kind of behavior by trying to excuse it as just something men do. Furthermore, the lie that no one respects women more than him is laughable. What’s even more laughable is that he believes women have “a great deal of respect” for him. Yea, anyone with money will always have some kind of fake reverence.
Trump Meets with Bill Clinton Accusers Before the Debate
Oh, the shade and pettiness that exists in this man. He is on another level and by that I mean it’s pretty low. Not just because he continues to deflect his own misogyny on other people, but also because it just was not a good look. One of the women said she’s there, “To support Mr. Trump because he’s going to make America great again. I think everybody else should vote for him… He’s not what other people have been saying he’s been like Hillary.” I literally have no words. You can tell the three women were trying to remember what Trump’s staffers told them to say and it was a disaster. It has no relevance at all to the election. Pointing out what others do does not make what you do okay.
There were other head scratching moments throughout the debate, but these stood out for so many reasons.
With the way things went last night, there really is no need for another debate. I guarantee the final one is going to give you a strong case of deja vu.
Fact Checking all those Stats, Numbers and Statement from the Hillary Clinton vs. Donald Trump Debate 2:
We know all kinds of numbers and bold statement get made during Presidential Election debates, and it’s hard to figure out fact from fiction so here’s the rundown on many of the statements from both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton during the second debate on Sunday.
The real number of Syrian refugees: Trump inflated the number of Syrian refugees coming to the United States when he said “hundreds of thousands.” An analysis by the Washington Post found that over the past 12 months 12,500 Syrian refugees have been admitted.
Donald Trump loves the idea of crime increasing but, crime has decreased: Trump, as he did in the first debate, claimed that crime has increased while President Obama has been in office. He’s wrong. Crime has been decreasing steadily for decades.
If you knew Putin like I knew Putin: Trump said he does not know Russian President Vladimir Putin or about the internal workings of Russia. But earlier in the campaign, he had a different answer, saying he had learned about Russia while hosting pageants there and had spoken with Putin. PolitiFact has looked into this one.
Did Clinton fail at creating jobs in New York? Trump said that when Clinton was running for Senate in New York in 2000, she said she “was going to bring back jobs upstate New York. And she failed.” Trump is right. The Washington Post found earlier this year that “nearly eight years after Clinton’s Senate exit, there is little evidence that her economic development programs had a substantial impact on upstate employment.” In fact, “upstate job growth stagnated overall during her tenure, with manufacturing jobs plunging nearly 25 percent, according to jobs data.”
Let’s roll the tape on the U.S. invasion of Iraq: Trump and Clinton sparred on whether the Republican nominee supported the war in Iraq. Although Trump would later denounce the war, his earliest recorded comments say otherwise.
The Pinocchio scale: The Washington Post must have known Trump wouldn’t budge on claims he was always against the war. They had this special gif all ready to go.
Revisiting the vast right-wing conspiracy: Trump brought up the history of allegations of sexual misconduct by Bill Clinton and said Hillary Clinton shared some of the blame. “Hillary Clinton attacked those same women and attacked them viciously,” he said. The Washington Post breaks down this claim. Apparently, the primary allegation is that Hillary Clinton’s 1998 charge of a “vast right-wing conspiracy” against her husband was meant to discredit Monica Lewinsky. The Post notes that she uttered that line before Lewinsky or Bill Clinton had admitted they had had an affair.
An exaggeration on arms reduction: Clinton overstated the impact of the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) pact, which she brokered as Secretary of State. The Washington Post found that Russia was already meeting the treaty’s limits, for the most part, when the treaty’s implementation began.
Job growth after Obamacare: Trump’s attack on the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare to most of us) is wrong in regards to its effect on the economy, specifically jobs. Politico’s Dan Diamond pointed out on Twitter that the nation’s job growth was steady.
Off by just a hundred billion: Trump’s oft-repeated claim that the United States will pay $150 billion to Iran was debunked by the Washington Post. They explain how it’s closer to $50 billion once Iran fulfills its financial obligations.
Bleached emails? Donald Trump hit Hillary Clinton for deleting emails and said she “acid-washed” her server – or “bleached” the drive” which Trump said was a “very expensive” process. According to the folks at Wired – a magazine focused on all things tech – the software Clinton used to scrub her serve is free.
A closer look at health insurance premiums: Trump quoted insurance rate hikes of up to 71 percent, but an analysis by PolitiFact found that he was cherry-picking his stats.
Let’s go to the Truth-O-Meter: PolitiFact’s running tally of false statements by the candidates give Clinton the edge. More than 50 percent of Clinton’s statements have been rated true or mostly true compared to less than 20 percent of Trump’s.