Clinton and Trump battle over trade, racism, and personal criticism

Students gathered on South Quad on September 26 to watch presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton take the stage at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, for the first presidential debate of the 2016 election cycle. Notre Dame hosted a campus-wide debate watch outside of South Dining Hall, with a large screen, tables, and chairs set up to gather students together for the event.

This first general election debate differed from those during the primaries in that the debate moderator, Lester Holt, asked the audience to remain silent. It was also the first time the two major party candidates found themselves sharing a stage.

Neither of the third party candidates, Jill Stein and Gary Johnson, reached the required 15 percent popular vote to participate, so the only two candidates on the stage were Clinton and Trump.

While Stein, candidate for the Green Party, was not officially on the bill, she did make an appearance. On the day of the debate, Stein had several interviews scheduled with news media correspondents on assignment. Not only did Stein partake in these interviews, but she and her supporters also held a demonstration in an attempt to launch her campaign into the spotlight of American media. Instead of achieving that goal and having Stein join Clinton and Trump on stage, she and her supporters were quickly escorted off Hofstra premises and given a restraining order.

Freshman Jack Cocoran told the Rover, “Anyone who’s made it to this point in the election with a significant percent of the polls should be allowed on stage. She shouldn’t be up there as she doesn’t have a significant percent whatsoever.”

Under Lester Holt, the debate started with a highly-discussed issue: jobs. Both candidates attempted to show that they were the most prepared to create jobs in America.

Trump strove to invoke renewed fervor for trickle-down economics, also known as Reaganomics. He highlighted the outsourcing of American jobs to China and Mexico in advocacy for both his economic policy and the renegotiation of trade deals. “We need to stop these countries from stealing our money and our jobs,” he said.

Trump also called for a tariff on foreign goods and dubbed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) “very bad deals.” He reminded viewers of Clinton’s praise for the TPP as the “gold standard” of trade deals during her tenure in the Obama administration.

Clinton, in response, stated that she supported “smart, fair trade deals” and claimed that at the time, the TPP met those standards. While she agreed with Trump on the mediocrity of the TPP in its current state, she also pointed to her record of increasing global trade by 30 percent as secretary of state.

Clinton sought early on to use one-liners to cater to her audience of millennials by naming Trump’s economic policy “Trumped-up trickle down economics.” She also called Trump out for rooting for the housing crisis in an attempt to make money.

Trump did not deny Clinton’s accusation. In fact, he claimed, “That’s called business.” Further, when Clinton attacked him for capitalizing on tax exemptions in the past, Trump inserted, “That makes me smart.”

When the attacks became personal, Holt decided to move the debate from the economy and the job situation in America to race relations. Specifically, Holt asked how America can heal the racial divide.

Clinton began by stating, “Race still determines too much.” She advocated for community policing, criminal justice reform through the end of private prisons and mandatory minimum sentencing, and further gun control measures for people on terrorist watch lists. She also stated that police departments should have training to help keep their implicit biases in check to end racial profiling.

Trump quickly threw out a new catchphrase of his, “law and order,” and claimed that both principles need to be implemented in cities like Charlotte and Chicago. He said that under a Trump presidency, communities would have better relations with their police officers. He added that “stop-and-frisk” tactics would become more widespread and pointed to their success in New York City under then-mayor Michael Bloomberg. He challenged Clinton by claiming that she is another politician who “has abused and used [the African American community] for votes.”

Eventually, the talking points spiraled away from race relations and to Trump’s birtherism theory about President Obama, which Clinton called racist. Trump stated that he was highly successful in his attempts to see Obama’s birth certificate as in the end it was released.

With this, Holt led the candidates toward a topic of securing America. In this segment of the debate, conversation ranged from current conflict with Russia, Syria, and ISIS to the war in Iraq and international nuclear weaponry. Trump took a stance on change in U.S. nuclear policy, foreign affairs with Russia, and military strategy on ISIS. Clinton advocated for more sanctions on Russia and their state-sponsored cyber warfare teams, intensified air strikes against ISIS, and working closer with allies in NATO for world peace.

Toward the end of the debate, all attacks grew increasingly personal. At one point, Clinton referred to Trump as “a man who can be provoked by a tweet” in an attempt to show him as unpredictable. Trump responded by commenting that his stamina and temperament for international affairs are better than those of Clinton, referring particularly to her time as secretary of state.

An early CNN poll showed that 62 percent of viewers believed Clinton won. However, several polls also showed Trump taking the victory. When asked who won the debate, junior Jeremy Trevvett told the Rover, “It was a tie. Donald Trump didn’t mess up as badly as I expected, but Hillary Clinton wasn’t impressive as she should have been.” In response, freshman Vaishali Nayak shared with the Rover, “Hillary at least gave us a little insight about what her plans are. Trump’s plans, though, I’m still not entirely sure of.”

Drew Lischke is a freshman studying sociology. He enjoys Butterfingers, the outdoors, and smiles. You can contact him at alischke@nd.edu.