Race, Taxes, and Stamina: Breaking Down The First Presidential Debate
“Goodness gracious, could you have a more damaging 12 minute stretch?”
Last night we had the first of three presidential debates between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump. They covered a lot of territory; racism, taxes and the economy, foreign affairs. Clinton was on the offensive all night, and seemed to rattle an often rambling Donald Trump.
Shane Goldmacher of POLITICO says Clinton goaded Trump early on in the night by bringing up the money given to him by his father, and Trump took the bait. Goldmacher says Trump was on the defensive for the rest of the night, and he says every minute is valuable during these debates.
“Any time you have a 90 minute presidential debate, that sounds longer than it is,” says Goldmacher, who notes moderator Lester Holt was unable to get to all of the topics he intended to cover with the candidates.
One of the topics Holt did get to was racial tension in the country. He asked the candidates what they would do to promote healing in the country. Trump responded by calling for more police and stricter stop-and-frisk type policies in predominantly African American communities.
“I was surprised that he was not prepared to at least offer some token remarks… about the need for community,” says Tim Alberta of the National Review.
Alberta says Trump spent 12 minutes talking about stop-and-frisk policing and defending his “birther” crusade over the past eight years.
“Goodness gracious, could you have a more damaging 12 minute stretch?” asks Alberta.
To hear more from Alberta and Goldmacher on Detroit Today, click on the audio player above.
