One would be hard-pressed to find someone in the media, other than Donald Trump and his ardent supporters, who believe the GOP presidential nominee won last night’s debate. Most agree that Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton won.
Polls and focus groups are also saying Clinton won. I’ll give them that, but I don’t think her performance was that exceptional. I think her win has more to do with Trump not being prepared and taking the bait on a range of issues he shouldn’t have.
Clinton definitely had some good answers on policy, and she was able to jab Trump on birtherism, refusing to pay contractors or release his tax returns, and more.
Trump started the debate strong; this much also seems to be pretty agreed upon. Van Jones, in commentary on CNN after the debate, said Trump did well in the first 20-30 minutes, and that most people probably stopped watching after that anyway. If that’s the case, then the polls might not reflect much of a bounce for Clinton in the coming week.
Trump then flailed in the final hour by taking Clinton’s bait — that’s something he definitely has to work on. It’s also something he could probably fix by the next debate.
Monday night’s debate was not at all like the first debate of 2012, where Mitt Romney started strong and remained that way throughout. It was clear that not only did Romney give a commanding and memorable performance, but President Obama was trounced.
As much as the media is pretending Monday’s debate was just as clear, it wasn’t. Trump had Clinton in the beginning. He played into Americans’ fear of a declining economy, while Clinton tried to make it seem like things were doing well but needed a little work around the edges (which is not how the American people see things).
He also had Clinton in the crosshairs when he assailed her for her private email use and the fact that several of her aides involved with the email scandal have pleaded the Fifth.
At no point during the first debate of 2012 did Obama have an edge. Obama was still able to overcome what happened during that night and go on to improve and win the next debates and the presidency. Trump, too, can learn from Monday night and use that to potentially win the next debates (if he tries; he’s shown no indication that he will, however).
Clinton, meanwhile, has nowhere to go. She was obviously told to smile and seem more personable, but as Beverly Hallberg, a media consultant, wrote in the Washington Examiner, Clinton’s attempts “seemed canned and condescending.” There’s just nothing Clinton can do to humanize herself and seem likable and less robotic. Some people can seem personable, and others can’t.
Clinton’s strategy worked, but would any other strategy? If Trump didn’t take the bait on a host of issues, what could Clinton have done? They would have just been two candidates talking about each other’s scandals, and no one would have won or seemed presidential.
If Trump fixes the mistakes in his first performance, he could win. Clinton would have to come up with an entirely new strategy, and I’m not sure there’s anything else she could do that would allow her to remain presidential.
Ashe Schow is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
