The French have a term for when the best lines occur to someone after leaving a meeting or a dinner party. They call it L’esprit de l’escalier, the wisdom of the stairs. Here is Donald Trump’s morning-after-the-debate version.
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I might not pay any taxes: Instead of repeating that I can’t until the audit is complete, I should have added that audits often require reporting changes, so I don’t want to release figures that might change. Besides, unlike Hillary’s staff, I have never been granted immunity from prosecution, so if I hadn’t paid all the taxes legally due the government I would be wearing an orange jump suit. If Hillary thinks I don’t pay enough taxes, she should have used her 30 years in public life to lobby for changes in the tax code that would have eliminated some of the provisions I have used to minimize my taxes, which everyone should do.
I derogate women: I should have said, Mrs. Clinton, I might have used language I wish I hadn’t, but I never abused women as your husband did, and as you did when you attempted to destroy his accusers. But I don’t want to go into details with your charming daughter, Chelsea, sitting here, so perhaps you would like to change the subject. Or discuss this in private, where you can meet the many women who supervise construction of my buildings and are high up in my wonderful organization.
How do we fight the battle of cybersecurity? I should have said that the first step should be to make sure that all government employees are not allowed to have private servers, as Hillary did. The FBI says that her server was not secure. Then a grand jury should be convened to take sworn testimony from all Clinton employees who were involved in the destruction of the evidence, and from Hillary to see if her testimony before Congress constituted perjury. Finally, we should get tough with the Silicon Valley crowd, major contributors to the Clinton campaign, and tell them that if they don’t do what the government asks we will consider prosecuting them for consorting with the enemy.
My business career involved cheating suppliers: I should have said that I pay for work completed on time and with agreed quality—which the government should also do. Look at the billions in cost over-runs on the VA hospital in Denver. Or on software used in Obamacare. I don’t hear Hillary saying she will try to recover those over-runs. Or the money squandered by the solar companies that went bust. Compare that to my new hotel in Washington, D.C. Or to the experience with the Wollman ice skating rink in Central Park, which the government couldn’t repair after six years and spending $12 million over budget. I took the project over in June of 1986 and finished it by November, two months ahead of the date I promised and $775,000 under budget. What did Hillary ever build?
I continued the birther attack long after Obama produced his birth certificate: I should have said that was a mistake, and I have sent a letter of apology to the president.
I might not donate significant sums to charity: I should have said that Hillary should be ashamed to raise the question of charities. The Clinton Foundation is one of the nation’s largest pay-to-play operations. Foreign countries donated millions to the Foundation, which supports the lavish lifestyle of her husband and his entourage, and in return got access to the Secretary of State or anyone else they wanted to see at the State Department. And appointments to high-security boards—at least until she got caught.
I am a racist: I should have asked, Is it racist to want to prevent Syrians from coming into the country until the FBI says it has the ability to check them out, and find the terrorists with forged passports? Is it racist to want to end sanctuary cities that shelter illegal immigrants with criminal records? Is it racist to employ thousands of Hispanics in my organization? Is it racist to call for stop-and-frisk to get guns out of the hands of the hoodlums in Chicago and the largely black neighborhoods of other cities?
I didn’t say any of those things. With good reason. To develop answers like that I would have had to prepare. In order to do debate prep I would have to admit that there are things I don’t know. That’s not possible for me. A few poor debate performances are one thing; I can always blame it on the moderators. That will pass. But admitting that there are things I don’t know, or worse still that I might have made a mistake, would scar me forever. The presidency would be nice, but it is not worth destroying my image merely to get to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, especially when I have a wonderful place to stay just down the street.
