Tonight’s Debate: The how, when and who
This is the last Democratic debate before the all important Iowa caucuses.
Unlike first, second debate doesn’t set viewership record
An estimated 66.5 million people watched the second debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, down from the record-setting audience who saw their first match but on par with the Obama-Romney contests four years ago. The first debate reached a total of 84 million viewers, more than for any other presidential debate on record, the Nielsen company said on Monday. The previous record of 80.6 million had been set for the only debate between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan in 1980. In 2012, an estimated 65.6 million people watched the second debate between President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney, after 67.2 million saw their first debate. On Sunday, the two candidates were competing against the NFL’s prime-time contest between the Green Bay Packers and the New York Giants, which was seen by 16.6 million people on NBC. A football game aired opposite the first debate, too, but it was on cable’s ESPN and reached only 8 million people. Sunday’s debate, moderated tightly by CNN’s Anderson Cooper and ABC News’ Martha Raddatz, was dominated early by questions surrounding Trump’s lewd conversation with Billy Bush in a recently resurfaced “Access Hollywood” outtake. In another clip getting wide airplay on Monday, Trump tells Clinton that “you’d be in jail” if he were elected. Raddatz on Monday said she could feel the tension in the room from the start. “When they came together at the beginning and didn’t shake hands, you knew you were in for a long evening,” she said on “Good Morning America” on Monday. The candidates shook hands at the end, following a disarming question from an audience member, who asked each candidate if they could think of one thing positive to say about the other. Raddatz and Cooper received generally good reviews for their sharp questioning and attempts to keep the candidates in line. Trump complained at times about not being treated fairly. At one point, when Trump objected to the Obama administration signaling in advance about an attack on ISIS positions in Iraq, Raddatz interjected with possible reasons for this tactic, including warning civilians to get out of harm’s way. CBS withdrawal from the political competition. CNN had 11.2 million viewers and Fox News Channel had 9.9 million, essentially flip-flopping their positions from the first debate. While that may be a reflection of a CNN personality serving as a moderator Sunday, it may also be an ominous sign of growing disinterest in the contest among Fox’s Republican-dominated fan base. A Fox personality, Chris Wallace, moderates the scheduled third and final debate Oct. 19. Republish with permission of the Associated Press.
Joe Henderson: 5 post-debate points to ponder
The unmoving needle: It generally is conceded that Donald Trump’s fervent base will be ecstatic with his performance. Breitbart.com, for instance, declared in a giant headline on its home page – Clinton Crash: Trump dominates. It highlighted a quote from Rudy Giuliani declaring, “Biggest knockout I’ve seen in a presidential debate.” Breitbart ran one of those quick-click polls asking “Which debate moderator was more shameful?” When I checked Monday morning, there were 50,744 votes. Martha Raddatz, if you’re curious, was the runaway “winner.” But Brietbart and, I’ll wager, the people who favor that site aren’t the ones who needed to be convinced about Trump. By repeating the same stuff he has been saying for weeks on the campaign trail, what did we really learn about Trump – or Hillary Clinton, for that matter? Well, Trump did say he would appoint a special prosecutor to look into Clinton’s alleged misdeeds. The base loved that, I am sure. Clinton, though, seemed prepared for this flurry of punches from an opponent trailing badly on points in the late rounds. If there is a bombshell out there about Clinton that could mitigate some of the nuclear fallout from his widely reported vulgar comments over the weekend, Trump probably should consider rolling it out very, very soon. The real takeaway from Sunday night is that Clinton got one day closer to being elected president. Numbers don’t lie: NBC ran a collage Monday morning of high-level Republican lawmakers and party leaders who rebuked or abandoned the party’s nominee after those remarks. It was a striking image that was overwhelmingly white and male. Of the 76 headshots on the screen, I counted two people of color and 12 women. The rest were white males. That has been the GOP’s problem all along, especially with a flame-throwing, race-baiting candidate like Trump. Sure, those Republicans – especially those on the November ballot – are condemning Trump. That’s because they understand the electorate is large, diversified, and can translate the code words coming from Trump’s base about immigration and crime. If Republicans don’t understand that after the beating it looks like they’re about to take in November, they never will. They love to talk about the “base” of each party. The GOP’s core ideal is lower taxes, less regulation, and smaller government. That message has been obliterated in a waterfall of hate, misogyny, and lies. We’re not electing a debater-in-chief: Debates are important and it can be rationally argued that Sunday was a draw. Trump played the only card he could, essentially turning the evening into a misdirection play to obscure his own real problems related to the now-infamous audio tape he dismisses as “locker room talk.” For what it’s worth, I have been in a lot of locker rooms and they can be places where the faint of heart should not tread. But I also remember a high school coach from my small Ohio town who would have had his players running until their tongues dropped if he heard the kind of chatter that has landed Trump in trouble. Back on point though, as a nation (and media), we are obsessed with “winners” and “losers” in settings like this. It generally was conceded that Clinton “won” the first debate. The bounce seemed to help her in the polls. It still should be more about policy, though, and less about debate skills. One of these two persons is going to be president of the United States. When that day comes, we won’t care about how they did in the debates Oh dear! They don’t like each other: Much was made about that the candidates didn’t shake hands after being introduced. It set Twitter afire. The honor of the best tweet in my highly unofficial survey (based solely on my reaction) goes to POLITICO Chief White House Correspondent Mike Allen: “No handshake! … Overheard: “Even Ali and Frazier touched gloves” #FightNight. They did shake hands briefly afterward, but put it this way: The moment was about as warm as New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick after losing to Rex Ryan. One final question to ponder: After all this, do we really need the third and (yes!) final debate on Oct. 19? I suppose if there is a big news story between now and then that one candidate or the other has to address (WikiLeaks maybe?), it could be intriguing to see what happens on the stage. The format will be the same as the first debate. At this point though, Trump looks to be trailing by two touchdowns, out of timeouts, and Clinton has the ball. Absentee and mail ballots have already been distributed in many states, so millions of Americans may already have voted by the time the two candidates meet again. Oh well. The pundits need something to do, I guess. ___ Joe Henderson has had a 45-year career in newspapers, including the last nearly 42 years at The Tampa Tribune. He covered a large variety of things, primarily in sports but also including hard news. The two intertwined in the decade-long search to bring Major League Baseball to the area. Henderson was also City Hall reporter for two years and covered all sides of the sales tax issue that ultimately led to the construction of Raymond James Stadium. He served as a full-time sports columnist for about 10 years before moving to the metro news columnist for the last 4 ½ years. Henderson has numerous local, state and national writing awards. He has been married to his wife, Elaine, for nearly 35 years and has two grown sons – Ben and Patrick.
From start, Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump set out to destroy one another
It started the minute they walked on stage and skipped the pretense of a cordial handshake. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton looked each other in the eye at the start of their second debate and set out to destroy one another. Given the perfect opening when moderator Anderson Cooper bored in on recent revelations about Trump’s predatory comments about women, Clinton struck first, and it was clear she was ready. “Like everyone else,” Clinton said, “I’ve spent a lot of time thinking over the last 48 hours about what we heard and saw.” She would have none of Trump’s claims that his comments about women were nothing more than locker room banter. “This is who Donald Trump is,” she declared. She added that it was not just women that Trump had disparaged, but also immigrants, blacks, Latinos, the disabled, POWs, Muslims “and so many others.” Then she said it again with rock-hard resolve: “This is who Donald Trump is.” Trump was ready to pounce with an ugly counteroffensive. He went THERE, digging into the very subject he had congratulated himself for avoiding in the first debate. “If you look at Bill Clinton, far worse,” Trump said. Yes, Trump allowed, he was sorry for what he had said about women. But his own mistakes, Trump said, were mere “words”; Bill Clinton’s mistakes, he said, were “action.” Trump gave a shout-out to the women he had strategically placed in the front row of the audience, including three who had accused Bill Clinton of rape or sexual impropriety. “You can say any way you want to say it, but Bill Clinton was abusive to women,” he said. Trump didn’t stop there. “Hillary Clinton attacked those same women and attacked them viciously,” he added. A fourth woman in the audience, Trump said, had been a 12-year-old rape victim whose alleged attacker Clinton had represented, successfully, as a defense lawyer. Not only that, Trump said, Clinton had laughed at the girl. “Don’t tell me about words,” Trump said. The facts: Bill Clinton never faced any criminal charges in relation to the alleged sexual improprieties, and a lawsuit over an alleged rape was dismissed. He did settle a lawsuit with one of the women who claimed harassment. Hillary Clinton, for her part, played a key role in defending her husband against allegations of sexual improprieties, but there is no clear or independent evidence that she either enabled his activities or bullied his accusers. She did reluctantly represent the defendant in the rape case. She did laugh in discussing procedural details of the case, but there’s no evidence she laughed at the victim. This was a fight to the death over character. The exchange captured all of the vitriol and disdain that these two candidates have harbored against one another from Day One of the campaign. They’ve contained it at times, let some of it loose on others. Now, before tens of millions of Americans, both Trump and Clinton let their dislike, anger and bitterness toward one another spew out. “He owes our country an apology,” Clinton said, citing Trump’s long campaign to question whether President Barack Obama was born in the U.S. Trump countered, “You owe the president an apology,” suggesting Clinton’s own campaign had been the one to raise the issue during the 2008 primary. And then he added that she owed people an apology for deleting tens of thousands of emails that flowed through her personal email system when she was secretary of state. From there, the two candidates moved on to talk about policy, differences over taxes, email and more. They even grudgingly managed to come up with something nice to say about each other at the end, but only when prompted by a questioner. Then, each feeling their mission accomplished, they shook hands. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Second presidential debate featured tough moderators
Moderators Anderson Cooper and Martha Raddatz teamed to ask sharp questions of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton and to keep them corralled during many contentious exchanges during the second presidential debate. Sometimes those efforts drew the ire of Trump. “Nice,” he said. “One on three.” That signal to his supporters on Sunday night is sure to subject Cooper, of CNN, and ABC’s Raddatz to partisan criticism. But it seemed the dual moderators were determined to take a more active role than NBC’s Lester Holt during the first debate, seen by a record 84 million people. They took questions from audience members and viewers in the town hall-style debate, and frequently interjected tough follow-ups. After an opening question about whether the two candidates were modeling appropriate behavior, Cooper jumped in with a question to Trump about the 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape released on Friday where he was caught making crude remarks about women. “You’ve bragged that you sexually assaulted women,” Cooper said. “Do you understand that?” He later asked Trump if he had done the things that he talked about on the tape, coming on to women by groping and kissing them. “When you walked off that bus you were 59?” Raddatz later said. “Were you a different man, or did that behavior continue until just recently?” A direct question from Cooper also compelled Trump to admit he had not paid federal income taxes in nearly 20 years. Clinton, for her part, was questioned about her use of a private email server while secretary of state, an issue that prompted investigators to conclude she had put some top secret material at risk, although federal prosecution was not recommended. “You don’t call that extremely careless?” Raddatz said. The ABC newswoman also pointed to the leaked release of speeches Clinton had made to private corporations after serving as President Obama’s chief diplomat. Raddatz noted that Clinton once said a politician needed a private and public position sometimes on issues. “Is it OK for a politician to be two-faced?” Raddatz asked. The moderators frequently tried to hush the candidates by noting when they had gone past their allotted time. Clinton sometimes bulled past the stop sign and at other times, quickly wound down her answer. When Trump was unhappy, he complained of unfair treatment. “She goes one minute over and you don’t stop her,” Trump said about his opponent. “I go a second over and you come after me.” Raddatz replied: “You’ve had many answers.” Trump objected to Cooper looking to move on to a different subject during a discussion of Clinton’s email issues. “I’d like to know, Anderson, why can’t you bring up the emails. I’d like to know,” Trump said. Raddatz had asked the initial question on the subject. “We brought up the emails,” Cooper answered. “It hasn’t, it hasn’t,” Trump said. “And it hasn’t been finished at all.” Trump has been critical of the news media, and particularly CNN, in tweets in the weeks leading up to the debate. Cooper brought up Trump’s late nights on Twitter, particularly when he attacked in the wee hours last month a former beauty pageant contestant who had criticized him. Cooper asked whether it was the sign of a disciplined leader. Raddatz sharply drew out Trump when he was answering a question about how to deal with Syria’s civil war. She pointed out that a position stated by Trump countered that of one outlined by running mate Mike Pence. Trump noted that he hadn’t spoken with Pence on the topic and that he disagreed with him. In what felt a little like a first debate rerun, the two candidates argued over whether Trump had initially expressed support for the Iraq war. Trump has denied it despite audio evidence, which Clinton again pointed out. Raddatz noted that the topic had been fact-checked. Toward the end of the debate, the two moderators almost seemed like schoolteachers admonishing their students to be quiet and in asking the candidates to wrap things up so they can get to more questions. “Thank you very much, both of you,” Raddatz said when they quieted down, to the audience’s laughter. Cooper and Raddatz seemed anxious to get in one last audience question. A man asked whether each of the candidates could think of one positive thing to say about the other – a query that proved particularly disarming after 90 minutes of cutting insults. Clinton said she respected Trump’s children, and Trump said he admired that his opponent was a fighter. Chris Wallace of Fox News is scheduled to moderate the third and final presidential debate, scheduled for Oct. 19 in Las Vegas. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Tom Jackson: Donald Trump lost, big league … or did he?
Paraphrasing the driver in “Taxi” when he approached the gorgeous blonde in the bar: “You look like the kind of voter who’s heard every debate takedown in the book. … So I guess one more won’t hurt.” Let’s begin by conceding that nobody knows anything anymore. There’s not a single conventional thinker who thought Donald Trump would make it as far as the Iowa caucuses, let alone wind up the center of the balloon shower at the Republican National Convention. And yet there he was Monday night doing the dueling lecterns thing with Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton (the only prediction validated by experience) in front of a record television audience of 100 million. Well, Trump always was, bizarrely, a ratings phenomenon. Nonetheless, from the moment he descended to the lobby of Trump Tower on that gilded escalator in June 2015 to toss the first Make-America-Great-Again cap in the ring, the usual rules and expectations ceased to exist. I thought Trump, whose only rhetorical weapons amounted to bombast and playground name calling, got killed — to borrow his phrase, big league — in every debate during the GOP primaries. And yet his numbers continued to rise. Similarly, Monday night he was equally unprepared, proving — one would assume — that reviewing policy papers between rallies is no way to bone up for a debate. Everyone from the pundit class to the Clinton campaign to the GOP establishment agreed: HRC, though somewhat robotic, was poised, polished, and knowledgeable to a granular level. You know, very much like Marco Rubio, without the schvitzing. So, experience tells us we should expect Trump’s poll numbers to spike. Except for this difference: For reasons that are his own — unless you buy the Chelsea excuse (and if you do, foreign adversaries got a glimpse of how to befuddle him) — Trump chose to disarm his trusty name-calling missile. We didn’t hear him utter “Crooked Hillary” even once; indeed, after an opening exchange lapse when he used her first name, he was reduced to the deferential “Secretary Clinton.” Because he wanted her to “be very happy.” If only low-energy Jeb and lyin’ Ted had known, right? All the while, Clinton herself referred to her rival not as “Mr. Trump” — which would have repaid the courtesy — but, simply, as “Donald,” as if she were the Madame and he was household staff. Trump’s unilateral disarmament was verifiably emasculating, like Samson after his haircut. He still played the schoolyard bully, murmuring boorish interruptions into his microphone, but without that first line of invective, the famous counterpuncher was ineffective at best, and defensive and tongue-tied at worst. After a decent first 30 minutes, the man who says he has a secret plan to tilt the Middle East balance of power in a heartbeat let the teacher’s pet — Did you catch her little shimmy after Trump’s boast about his “winning temperament”? — set the rules of engagement. Although he dominated microphone time-of-possession, Trump used his advantage to pick almost none of Clinton’s ripe, low-hanging fruit. He virtually whiffed on the breathtaking revelations from the FBI’s investigation of her private, undefended email server; missed a golden chance to zing her over cyber security; and failed to inject the seedy pay-for-play connection between Foggy Bottom and the Clinton Foundation. Worse, he even agreed with her that it would be proper and responsible to deny Bill of Rights protections to Americans on a super-secret government list. Hey, no president would ever use such a tool against the politically inconvenient, right? That would be like drafting an enemies list and siccing the IRS on them. Instead, he seemed stuck for reasonable answers to the birther issue, what his tax returns might reveal, his apparent history of stiffing contractors, welcoming the popping real estate bubble (which any first-year debate student could have tied to Bill Clinton’s housing policies) and, the coup de gras, after more than 90 minutes of keeping a civil tongue, getting whacked for verbal abuse of a former Miss Universe. So Trump was hopeless, right? All the smart people seem to agree. Even if the billionaire reality star didn’t hit the canvas, Clinton cut him up on points. But then there came this out of a crowded bar in western Pennsylvania, where, surrounded by Democrats and undecideds, columnist Salena Zito found eye-opening support for the guy we all thought spent the night on the ropes. Ken Reed, a small-business man, seemed to speak for the group when he described Clinton “as either smug or as if she was reading her résumé,” adding there was nothing on her résumé that touched on his life. “I am a small-business man, a farmer, come from a long line of farmers and coal miners,” he said. “The policies she talked about tonight ultimately either hurt me or ignore me.” Trump, Reed said, “had the edge this evening, he came out swinging but also talked about specifics on jobs and the economy.” He did? Well. Eye of the beholder, and all that. And so we have to reconsider what we thought we saw Monday night and discover how it played where it mattered, in counties such as those in western Pennsylvania, and those clustered along Interstate 4 in Florida. These, more than elite opinion-spinners clustered along our deep-blue coasts, will decide the Nov. 8 outcome. If nothing else has penetrated our thick skulls this year, it’s that conventional wisdom knows nothing.
At each other from the start: Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump debate
In a combative opening debate, Hillary Clinton emphatically denounced Donald Trump Monday night for keeping his personal tax returns and business dealings secret from voters and peddling a “racist lie” about President Barack Obama. Businessman Trump repeatedly cast Clinton as a “typical politician” as he sought to capitalize on Americans’ frustration with Washington. Locked in an exceedingly close White House race, the presidential rivals tangled for 90-minutes over their vastly different visions for the nation’s future. Clinton called for lowering taxes for the middle class, while Trump focused more on renegotiating trade deals that he said have caused companies to move jobs out of the U.S. The Republican backed the controversial “stop-and-frisk policing” tactic as a way to bring down crime, while the Democrat said the policy was unconstitutional and ineffective. The debate was heated from the start, with Trump frequently trying to interrupt Clinton and speaking over her answers. Clinton was more measured and restrained, but also needled the sometimes-thin-skinned Trump over his business record and wealth. “There’s something he’s hiding,” she declared, scoffing at his repeated contention that he won’t release his tax returns because he is being audited. Trump aggressively tried to turn the transparency questions around on Clinton, who has struggled to overcome voters’ concerns about her honestly and trustworthiness. He said he would release his tax information when she produces more than 30,000 emails that were deleted from the personal internet server she used as secretary of state. Tax experts have said there is no reason the businessman cannot make his records public during an audit. Clinton was contrite in addressing her controversial email use, saying simply that it was a “mistake”. She notably did not fall back on many of the excuses she has often used for failing to use a government email during her four years as secretary of state. “If I had to do it over again, I would obviously do it differently,” she said. The televised face-off was the most anticipated moment in an election campaign that has been both historic and unpredictable. Both sides expected a record-setting audience for the showdown at Hofstra University in suburban New York, reflecting the intense national interest in the race to become America’s 45th president. The candidates sparred over trade, taxes and how to bring good-paying jobs back to the United States. Clinton said her Republican rival was promoting a “Trumped-up” version of trickle-down economics – a philosophy focused on tax cuts for the wealthy. She called for increasing the federal minimum wage, spending more on infrastructure projects and guaranteeing equal pay for women. Trump panned policies that he said have led to American jobs being moved overseas, in part because of international trade agreements that Clinton has supported. He pushed Clinton aggressively on her past support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact while she was serving in the Obama administration. She’s since said she opposes the sweeping deal in its final form. “You called it the gold standard of trade deals,” Trump said. “If you did win, you would approve that.” Disputing his version of events, Clinton said, “I know you live in your reality.” Trump struggled to answer repeated questions about why he only recently acknowledged that Barack Obama was born in the United States. For years, Trump has been the chief promoter of questions falsely suggesting the president was born outside of America. “He has really started his political activity on this racist lie,” Clinton charged. Clinton aides spent the days leading up to the debate appealing for the media and voters to hold Trump to a higher standard than they believe he has faced for much of the campaign. Their concern was that if the sometimes-bombastic Trump managed to keep his cool onstage, he’d be rewarded – even if he failed to flesh out policy specifics or didn’t tell the truth about his record and past statements. Trump’s campaign has said the Clinton camp’s concerns reflected worries about the her debating skills. The centerpiece of Trump’s campaign has been a push for restrictive immigration measures, including a physical wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and an early proposal to temporarily bar foreign Muslims from coming to the U.S. But he’s been less detailed about other ideas, including his plan for stamping out the Islamic State group in the Middle East. Clinton, a former senator and secretary of state, is banking on voters seeing her as a steady hand who can build on the record of President Obama, whose popularity is rising as he winds down his second term in office. She’s called for expanding Obama’s executive orders if Congress won’t pass legislation to overhaul the nation’s immigration system and for broader gun control measures. Overseas, she’s called for a no-fly zone in Syria but has vowed to keep the military out of a large-scale ground war to defeat the Islamic State group. For Clinton, victory in November largely hinges on rallying the same young and diverse coalition that elected Obama but has yet to fully embrace her. Trump has tapped into deep anxieties among some Americans, particularly white, working-class voters who feel left behind in a changing economy and diversifying nation. While the real estate mogul lacks the experience Americans have traditionally sought in a commander in chief, he’s banking on frustration with career politicians and disdain for Clinton to push him over the top on Election Day. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
AP FACT CHECK: Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton deny their own words in debate
Donald Trump‘s habit of peddling hype and fabrication emerged unabated in the first presidential debate while Hillary Clinton played it cautiously in her statements, though not without error. They both denied making statements that they are on the record as saying. A look at some of the claims in the debate and how they compare with the facts: TRUMP: President Barack Obama “has doubled (the national debt) in almost eight years. … When we have $20 trillion in debt, and our country is a mess.” THE FACTS: Trump’s expressed concern about the national debt obscures that his own policies would increase it by much more than Clinton’s, according to the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Trump’s tax cuts would increase the deficit by $5.3 trillion over 10 years, the group found, while Clinton’s proposals would boost the deficit by $200 billion. Those increases are on top of an already-projected increase of about $9 trillion over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office. By 2026, debt held by the public would total $23.3 trillion under Clinton’s plans, and $28.4 trillion under Trump. — TRUMP: “The Fed, by keeping interest rates at this level, the Fed is doing political things. … The Fed is being more political than Secretary Clinton.” THE FACTS: This is a recurrent claim by Trump with no evidence to back it up. It’s the Federal Reserve’s job to help improve the economy and to the extent that happens, political leaders and their party may benefit. But presidents can’t make the Fed, an independent agency, do anything. Under former chairman Ben Bernanke and current chairwoman Janet Yellen, the Fed has attracted controversy by pegging the short-term interest rate it controls to nearly zero for seven years. After one increase in December, it is still ultra-low at between 0.25 percent and 0.5 percent, a rate that some economists worry could spark a stock-market bubble or inflation. Bernanke was initially appointed by Republican President George W. Bush, and reappointed by President Barack Obama. One reason Yellen is keeping rates low is that, in some ways, she agrees with Trump that hiring needs to keep growing to provide jobs for Americans who want them. — TRUMP: “You don’t learn a lot from tax returns.” THE FACTS: Americans stand to learn plenty if he releases his tax returns like other presidential candidates have done. They would provide vital information about his wealth, taxes paid, tax avoidance efforts, exact amounts of real estate holdings and charitable donations that can’t be gleaned from any other source. For these reasons, every major party candidate for the last 40 years has released at least a few years of recent tax returns. — CLINTON, denying Trump’s accusation that she called the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal the “gold standard” of trade agreements: “I did say I hoped it would be a good deal.” THE FACTS: Trump is correct. As secretary of state, Clinton called the deal that was taking shape the “gold standard” of trade agreements, in a 2012 trip to Australia, and championed the agreement in other venues around the world. She did not merely express the hope it would turn out well. Clinton flip-flopped into opposing the trade deal in the Democratic primary when facing Bernie Sanders, who was strongly opposed to it. — TRUMP, when Clinton accused him of calling climate change a hoax invented by the Chinese: “I did not say that.” THE FACTS: Yes he did, in the form of a 2012 tweet: “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.” He later claimed he was kidding, but he’s also repeated the claim that climate change is a hoax, and one that benefits China. He tweeted in January 2014: “Snowing in Texas and Louisiana, record setting freezing temperatures throughout the country and beyond. Global warming is an expensive hoax!” — TRUMP: “I’ve been under audit for almost 15 years.” THE FACTS: Trump has never provided evidence to the public that he is actually under audit. A letter released by his tax attorneys never used the word, merely describing his tax returns under continuous review. “Review” is not a formal term for any kind of action by the Internal Revenue Service. Trump has declined to provide the IRS’ formal notice of audit to The Associated Press and other news outlets. And former IRS officials have expressed skepticism that anyone would be audited so frequently. Trump cites an audit as the reason he won’t release his tax returns. — CLINTON: As part of a list of economy-building moves, called for “making college debt free so more young people can get their education.” THE FACTS: Clinton has proposed making college tuition free for in-state students who go to a public college or university. But tuition free doesn’t equate to debt free. Under her plan, the government would pay for in-state tuition at public colleges and universities for students from families earning less than $125,000 a year. That would leave students still bearing the cost of room and board, which makes up more than half of the average $18,943 sticker price at a four-year public university, according to the College Board. Experts worry about other effects: Will colleges raise tuition once the government starts paying, increasing the cost to taxpayers? Will more students flock to public colleges because of the subsidy, also raising costs? — TRUMP to Clinton: “You’ve been fighting ISIS your entire adult life.” THE FACTS: Hillary Clinton was born in 1947 and is 68 years old. She reached adulthood in 1965. The Islamic State group grew out of an al-Qaida spinoff, al-Qaida in Iraq in 2013, the year Clinton left the State Department. — TRUMP: “My father gave me a small loan in 1975.” THE FACTS: Trump got a whole lot more than a small loan. Aside from $1 million in financing from his father, Trump received loan guarantees, bailouts and a drawdown from his future inheritance. Tim O’Brien noted
How to stream the high-stakes presidential debates
Television viewership for Monday’s presidential debate is expected to be high, but you don’t need a television to watch. There are plenty of ways to stream the showdown for free and get behind-the-scenes content and commentary, ranging from emoji responses to serious fact checks. A bigger question might be: Who isn’t streaming it? If you don’t have cable or satellite TV, or even an antenna, you can catch the streams that major news organizations will offer on their websites and apps. But many social networks and online outlets will offer the debate, too. Here’s your online guide to Monday’s debate , which starts at 9 p.m. EDT. All three presidential debates are expected to have similar streaming opportunities, and many outlets will cover the one for the vice presidential candidates as well. — TWITTER The service will stream Bloomberg Television’s live coverage of the presidential and vice presidential debates. To watch, go to https://debates.twitter.com , or visit Bloomberg’s bpolitics Twitter feed. Twitter says the streams will include special political programming and commentary from Bloomberg 30 minutes before and after each debate. You do not need a Twitter account – or be logged in – to watch. — FACEBOOK ABC News will show live streams from the debate and offer footage from watch parties, anchors and correspondents. The network says it will “incorporate viewers’ comments, questions and conversations” into its Facebook Live coverage. To find it, go to the ABC News Facebook page. Other organizations are hopping on the Facebook Live bandwagon as well, including Fox News, C-SPAN, The New York Times, CNBC and Telemundo. — YOUTUBE Google’s video streaming site is hosting debate streams from several news outlets, including NBC News , The Washington Post, Telemundo and Fox News . In addition, Google says “your favorite YouTube creators” such as the Young Turks and Complex news will be streaming live reports from the debates, using YouTube Live directly from their phones. — VIRTUAL REALITY For those with virtual-reality headsets, NBC News is planning special VR streams and content for each of the debates. It will also help organize virtual watch parties. Some of the events require RSVPs. — BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! Buzzfeed is promising “running emoji commentary of the action on Facebook Live.” Snapchat, meanwhile, will cover each debate as a “Live Story” within its app. CBSN, CBS News’ digital streaming service, will feature Instagram “Stories” in its live streaming coverage. Instagram Stories lets users share photos and videos from their day; they disappear automatically after 24 hours. — LAST, BUT NOT LEAST Bars across the country will be showing the debates. As with past debates, there will be drinking games and debate bingo for those interested. In New York City, the blog Gothamist assembled a list of places for “watching, boozing and laughing your way through the debate.” The gay club Eastern Bloc, for example, will feature a dance party and Hillary Clinton fundraiser following the debate. Whether you’re a fan of Clinton or Donald Trump, or you’re still deciding, check Meetup, Facebook or Google to find debate-viewing events near you. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Suburban NY police prep for 2016’s first presidential debate
Demonstrators are expected at Hofstra University for Monday night’s showdown between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, but police are keeping them at a distance from the debate hall. Police are setting up a designated protest area that is across a six-lane roadway from the actual presidential debate site. They say the goal will be to keep opposing groups from tangling with each other. “We’ll segregate the groups in order not to pour gasoline on a fire,” said Thomas Krumpter, the acting Nassau County police commissioner. He said police will not tolerate “any violations of law, but we will do everything we can to protect people’s rights for free speech.” Police and state court officials said contingency plans are in place in the event of mass arrests. They are preparing for up to 10,000 demonstrators, though its unknown how many might actually attend. Susan Gottehrer, director of the Nassau County chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said her organization will have about 10 people monitoring the activities of police and demonstrators. Hofstra University, 25 miles east of New York City, was tapped this summer to pinch-hit as host for the first presidential debate after Ohio’s Wright State University dropped out. Police officials say the experience of hosting presidential debates at Hofstra in 2008 and 2012 is helping them prepare for Monday night’s debate. Krumpter said 1,000 officers will be on hand for the event, in addition to the Secret Service and state police, up from 600 officers in 2008 and 700 in 2012. The estimated cost of policing the event for the Nassau department is nearly $2 million. Michael Balboni, a former adviser on public safety to two New York governors, said the basketball arena where the candidates will debate is ideally insulated within the campus, and hundreds of yards from dormitories and classrooms, allowing planners to have several layers of security zones. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Presidential debate: Donald Trump built his image as he built his businesses
Donald Trump once claimed to be publicity shy. No joke. It’s right there in The New York Times of Nov. 1, 1976. In the same article, the 30-year-old real estate developer talks up his millions, showcases his penthouse apartment and Cadillac, and allows a reporter to tag along as he visits job sites and lunches at the “21” club before hopping an evening flight to California for more deal-making. So much for that shy-guy claim. Young and ambitious, Trump worked just as hard at building his image as he did at expanding his real estate empire. Along the way, he honed the communications skills that would benefit him at the negotiating table, turn him into a reality TV star and launch a presidential campaign. He’ll put them to the ultimate test as he goes one-on-one with Hillary Clinton in three nationally televised debates over the next month that will help determine the next president. Trump, who’d never participated in a debate before the presidential primaries, is keeping his preparations for Monday’s leadoff general-election debate low key – no mock face-offs or the like. “Really, you’re preparing all of your life for these,” he told Fox Business Network recently. “You’re not preparing over a two-week period and cramming.” Is he ready? Experts on public speaking find all kinds of faults with Trump’s oratory: His vocabulary is juvenile, his syntax is jumbled, he’s casual about accuracy, he’s demeaning, his voice is thin and nasal, he’s weak on policy details and more. And yet, Aaron Kall, who directs the University of Michigan’s Debate Institute and debate team, will venture to tell you this: “He performs like a maestro.” “He’s a media natural,” says Kall, who edited a book about Trump’s primary debate performances. “He really understands audiences and tailors a message to what he thinks that they want to hear.” Trump inherited a flair for promotion from his father. Fred Trump, who built homes and apartments in Brooklyn and Queens, used all sorts of gimmicks to sell his properties: He filled the scoop of a bulldozer with women in bikinis. He released balloons on Coney Island containing $50 discount coupons. He dressed up apartment building lobbies with bird cages. From the beginning, his son Donald never passed up an opportunity to be on camera. Long before NBC’s “The Apprentice” turned Trump into a reality TV star in 2004, he was advancing his biz-whiz image in TV and movie cameos, chatting up Howard Stern on the radio and filming ads for Pizza Hut, McDonald’s and more. Then, over 14 seasons of “The Apprentice” and “Celebrity Apprentice,” he sharpened his ability to work the camera, think on his feet and promote the Trump brand. As a presidential candidate, he’s drawn on those same skills to keep himself in the news, dishing out provocations and insults sure to guarantee the public’s attention. “Across his history, he evolved from a builder to a brand,” says Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. “He would not be successful were it not for his ingenuity at securing publicity.” A big question heading into Monday’s leadoff debate in Hempstead, New York, is which Trump will turn up on stage – the bombastic name-caller who dominated stages for most of the primary season or the more disciplined candidate of late who marveled during the final Republican debate, “I can’t believe how civil it’s been up here.” Voters looking for a smackdown may be disappointed. Kall says that because a key question for voters is whether Trump has the right temperament to be president, the Republican nominee needs to put the bluster on hold and offer a measured, thoughtful debate performance in which he shows a command of policy detail. Trump faltered on policy questions at times during the primary debates. At one point he appeared unfamiliar with the concept of the nuclear triad, which includes intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched missiles and strategic bombers. On another occasion, he seemed unaware China was not part of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. Lillian Glass, an expert on speaking and body language, said Trump needs to be “completely focused on what is discussed and not talk about himself and how great his business was and what he did in the past. We know. We all know. Now, it’s time to focus on the issues.” There’s also Trump’s voice to consider. Ruth Sherman, a public speaking coach, says the public has grown so accustomed to Trump over the decades that people give him a pass on what she says is a poor speaking voice. “He doesn’t get criticized for the quality of his speaking voice but he should,” she says. “It’s a thin voice. It’s not smooth. It’s somewhat nasal.” Plenty of critics have highlighted the GOP nominee’s banal vocabulary – heavy on “great,” ”amazing,” ”stupid,” ”dumb,” ”bad” and “sad.” “It almost sounds at times as if he’s working from a random word generator in which there are a limited number of adjectives that are repeatedly used,” says Jamieson. But a big part of Trump’s appeal is his knack for simplification, skipping over the nuances of complex problems to dangle the promise of easy solutions. Trump may find that it was easier to pull that off on a crowded debate stage than it will be facing just Clinton, who is sure to try zero in on missing elements and policy gaps. Dan Schnur, director of the University of Southern California’s political institute and a veteran of John McCain’s 2000 presidential campaign, says of Trump: “For all his bombast, he must know that 90 minutes toe-to-toe with Hillary Clinton doesn’t leave him much margin for error.” Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Debate Night: Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump set for high-stakes showdown
After months of tangling from afar, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will confront each other face-to-face for the first time in Monday night’s presidential debate, laying out for voters their vastly different visions for America’s future. The high-stakes showdown — the first of three presidential debates — comes as both candidates are viewed negatively by large numbers of Americans, with Democrat Clinton facing questions about her trustworthiness and Republican Trump struggling to convince many voters that he has the temperament and policy depth to be president. Interest in the presidential race has been intense, and the campaigns are expecting a record-breaking audience to watch the 90-minute televised debate at suburban New York’s Hofstra University. Clinton, a former senator and secretary of state, is banking on voters seeing her as a steady hand who can build on the record of President Barack Obama, whose popularity is rising as he winds down his second term in office. She’s called for expanding Obama’s executive orders if Congress won’t pass legislation to overhaul the nation’s immigration system and for broader gun control measures. Overseas, she’s called for a no-fly zone in Syria but has vowed to keep the military out of a large-scale ground war to defeat the Islamic State group. For Clinton, victory in November largely hinges on rallying the same young and diverse coalition that elected Obama but has yet to fully embrace her. Her campaign manager, Robby Mook, told “CBS This Morning” on Monday that she fully understood she still needs to earn voters’ trust. “When she’s had the opportunity to talk about not just what her plans are to make a difference in people’s lives, but how this campaign is really part of a lifelong mission to fight for kids and families, she’s done really well,” Mook said. Trump has tapped into deep anxieties among some Americans, particularly white, working-class voters who feel left behind in a changing economy and diversifying nation. While the real estate mogul lacks the experience Americans have traditionally sought in a commander in chief, he’s banking on frustration with career politicians and disdain for Clinton to push him over the top on Election Day. Trump’s campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, said Monday that she saw her candidate as “ready for tonight.” That natural connective tissue he has with people, and his ability to communicate directly with people through the noise — or through the silence, whatever the case may be — will be on display tonight,” Conway said. The centerpiece of Trump’s campaign has been a push for restrictive immigration measures, including a physical wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and an early proposal to temporarily bar foreign Muslims from coming to the U.S. But he’s been less detailed about other ideas, including his plan for stamping out the Islamic State group in the Middle East, and Conway suggested he’d be similarly coy in Monday’s debate. “You will get his view of how best to defeat the enemy — without telling ISIS specifically what it’s going to be,” Conway said on MSNBC, using another acronym for IS. Clinton’s camp is worried that Trump will be held to a different standard in the debate and is particularly concerned that the notoriously hot-headed businessman will be rewarded for simply keeping his cool. Clinton backers have been publicly pushing moderator Lester Holt of NBC News to fact-check Trump if he tries to mislead voters about his record and past statements. “We also are concerned that Trump is going to continue to lie,” Mook said. The billionaire’s advisers have indeed been urging him to keep calm on stage, mindful of voters’ concerns about his temperament. On Saturday, Trump showed a glimpse of the traits his advisers want to keep in check, announcing on Twitter that he might extend a debate invitation to Gennifer Flowers, a woman who had an affair with Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton. Trump’s campaign said the candidate was responding to Clinton’s decision to invite businessman and Trump critic Mark Cuban to the debate, and that Trump floated the invitation to remind people of his ability to punch back. By Sunday, his campaign said Flowers would not be attending. Trump was often a commanding presence in the Republican primary debates, launching biting personal attacks on his rivals. But at times, he appeared to fade into the background, especially during more technical policy discussions — something he’ll be unable to do with just two candidates on stage. Clinton has debated more than 30 times at the presidential level, including several one-on-one contests against Obama in 2008 and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in 2016. But Monday’s contest will be her first presidential debate against a candidate from the opposing party. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
