Trump Vs. Clinton: First Presidential Debate And Predictions For The Upcoming Ones

Everyone was waiting for it, the first official showdown between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Broadcast from the Hofstra University in Hempstead to an estimated audience of 84 million (not counting the live stream viewers), this debate was unlike any other in the history of US politics, but like most debates, it was clear who lost.

The Huffington Post called it “America on the Brink”, The Drudge Report termed it the “Debate of the Century”. Apparently, it lived up to all the hype. It was the “most tweeted debate ever” according to Twitter spokesperson, Nick Pacilio.

Who Won And Who Lost?

Major media outlets and the public has the same opinion, Hillary was the clear winner.

Trump’s Trumped-Up Rhetoric And Policies

The event started smoothly enough then turned into a roller coaster of lies, half-truths, and accusations. The sheer asymmetry of the debaters, in terms of experience, knowledge, and professionalism, was revealed in stark contrast.

Mr. Trump wasn’t in his element, to say the least, and he seemed thoroughly unprepared to handle the battle against Clinton. None of his answers seemed relevant and the overall rhetoric was a mess. Clinton on the other hand delivered all the punches she could with perfect poise.

Watch the highlights of the 90 minute debate in 5 minutes:

Hillary referred to Trump’s tax policies as “Trumped-up trickle-down”, this phrase is applicable to the rest of the policies and plans that the GOP presidential nominee stated during the debate last night. It was bad enough that Mr. Trump had come to the global arena unprepared, but he made it worse by showing everyone how thin-skinned he really is.

He acted like a tough defensive bully, Hillary started out uncertain about how to react to this behavior. She quickly came into her during the end of the first half. By the time the second half came around, she was blazing ahead and leaving Trump behind with her scorching attacks.

Perspectives From The Twitter-Sphere

The Twitter-sphere was abuzz with reactions during the debate with lots of people and mainstream media outlets live-tweeting the debate. However, the post-debate reactions offer perspectives.

Octavia Nasr, a journalist with CNN summed up the debate succinctly:

MSNBC’s Howard Fineman tweeted the following:

The former president of Mexico, Vicente Fox tweeted out this reaction:

The ex-host, Jerry Springer had this to say:

What The Experts Are Saying And Highlights

Rudy Giuliani said that Trump should participate in upcoming debates only if certain concessions were granted. “If I were Donald Trump I wouldn’t participate in another debate unless I was promised that the journalist would act like a journalist and not an incorrect, ignorant fact checker,”, he said.

At this point there is no telling what Mr. Trump might decide, after all he does live “in his own reality”.