‘Division of US’ Clearly Shown in First Presidential Debate

The U.S. presidential election is about 40 days away, and the first one-on-one presidential debate was held on Sept. 26. Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton has been receiving a more positive response. U.S. citizens preferred the calm Clinton over aggressive Republican nominee Donald Trump. No special promises were made during the debate, but it was the world’s biggest political show, which definitely highlighted the differences between the two candidates.

As expected, foreign policy was the biggest issue of debate. Clinton mostly stayed within the focus of traditional U.S. policy aims, while Trump clearly favored protectionism and pro-American policies. Trump previously said, “We cannot afford to be the military and police for the world … They have to pay… They have to defend themselves.” His freeloader theory shows he is more interested in economic gain than in keeping alliances intact. Attacking the Chinese as job thieves and arguing that China should deal with the North Korean nuclear threat on its own is unrealistic and prone to cause future conflict. He also attacked the Iran nuclear deal of July 2015, claiming that it is the “worst deal ever.” It seems that Middle Eastern politics will become even more complicated if he is elected.

Regarding domestic policy, ongoing gun violence and racism were the main points of debate. Both agreed that these were serious issues. However, Clinton suggested “reconciliation between the police and local communities,” while Trump attacked the government and politicians, pushing for the recovery of law and order. On economic issues, such as decreasing unemployment, the two candidates disagreed once again: raising minimum wage and ensuring equal pay for both genders (Clinton) versus the renegotiation of trade agreements (Trump).

The debate involved mudslinging; the two candidates repeated personal attacks against each other. Clinton called Trump a racist and a sexist, who has “called women pigs, slobs, and dogs.” Meanwhile, Trump tried to highlight Clinton’s health issues, such as the recent incident during which she fainted for a brief moment, and her email scandal. This runs somewhat afield from the original intent of the elections, which is to choose the better candidate to lead the country as part of a competition rooted in good faith. Of course, Trump is largely responsible for this, as his main tactics so far have involved propaganda.

As shown throughout this debate, U.S. society is divided on its values and the future of its country, and this can only affect foreign policy. This division seems to be a difficult problem to solve, no matter who is elected, but the direction that the U.S. will head in depends greatly on who is elected. Therefore, we should pay close attention to the U.S. presidential election.