First Trump/Clinton Presidential Debate: Little Discussion of Immigration
Here is the debate in three minutes:
The first of three scheduled debates between Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump and Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Many observers predicted that immigration would be a topic of discussion, with fireworks likely. The only safe bet was that debate moderator Lester Holt would be calm, cool, and collected (which in fact was the case).
Here is the transcript to the debate. There were no questions directly on immigration. According to a poll of debate watchers, Clinton prevailed. Patrick Healey and Jonathan Martin of the New York Times summarized the debate as follows:
“In an antagonistic debate, Donald J. Trump and Hillary Clinton clashed over trade, his refusal to release his tax returns and her use of a private email server.”
“He repeatedly interrupted her, and she often chided him for bungling his facts.”
Political analysts for the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and CNN offered similar verdicts.
The first topic of the debate was “Achieving Prosperity,” with the initial question on job creation and improving wages. Hillary Clinton, among other things, suggested increasing the minimum wage. Trump complained repeatedly about jobs leaving the United States and going to Mexico, China, and other countries: “We are losing good jobs”; jobs are “being stolen from us.” Trump said that, as President, he would reduce taxes, which he claimed would create jobs. He also called for renegotiating trade deals, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he attacked as unfair to the United States.
The was a lengthy give-and-take about (1) Clinton’s e-mails sent from a private server and (2) whether and when Trump would produce his tax returns. Clinton repeatedly suggested that Trump was hiding something in his tax returns. Trump repeatedly said that Clinton had done little to solve the nation’s problems in her 30 years in government.
The second topic of the debate was “America’s Direction.” Holt asked the candidates how they would heal the deep racial divide in the United States. Not responding to the question directly, Trump emphasized the need for “law and order” and suggested that protesters were part of the problem. He highlighted the crime problems in the United States afflicting Blacks and Hispanics, including the crime problem created by “illegal immigrants.” Trump endorsed stop-and-frisk policies and the need to protect minorities in our cities. Clinton acknowledged that implicit bias is a problem among people generally, not just the police. She also mentioned that stop-and-frisk policies had been found to be unconstitutional and a form of racial profiling. Clinton acknowledged the need to address the racism in our criminal justice system.
The Birther Issue. Lester Holt asked Donald Trump about his claim that President Obama was not a natural born U.S. citizen. Trump, who credited himself with forcing the President to produce his birth certificate, said that he admitted that President Obama was born in the United States once he saw President Obama’s birth certificate. Trump stated that, after the President’s place of birth was settled, he wanted to move on to other things, such as building the wall along the U.S./Mexico border. He said that he would “say nothing” to those who asked him why he continued to press the birther issue after President Obama’s birth certificate was produced. Clinton highlighted that Trump became politically visible through publicizing the birther “lie. ” Clinton also mentioned that Trump had been sued for racial discrimination.
The last segment was on “Securing America.” Trump mentioned his many military endorsements and the ICE endorsement. ISIS, cybersecurity, and home-grown terrorism were topics of discussion. Clinton pounted out that Trump’s attacks on Muslims has made it difficult to fight terrorism. Clinton questioned Trump’s temperament to be commander in chief.
Trump brought up immigration in the last segment of the debate, with the reasoning difficult to follow:
“HOLT: Mr. Trump, very quickly, same question. Will you accept the outcome as the will of the voters?
TRUMP: I want to make America great again. We are a nation that is seriously troubled. We’re losing our jobs. People are pouring into our country.
The other day, we were deporting 800 people. And perhaps they passed the wrong button, they pressed the wrong button, or perhaps worse than that, it was corruption, but these people that we were going to deport for good reason ended up becoming citizens. Ended up becoming citizens. And it was 800. And now it turns out it might be 1,800, and they don’t even know.”
The next presidential debates are scheduled for October 9 at Washington University in St. Louis and October 19 at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.
KJ