What Did Hillary and Trump Forget To Address in the Electoral Debate?

At this point, you probably have already read the reports of my colleague Anna Virginia Balloussier regarding the debate between the candidates for the White House. Held on Monday, Sept. 26, the debate had a record audience and ended with Democrat Hillary Clinton ahead of the Republican Donald Trump.

Today, Wednesday, Sept. 28, the internet is plagued by reports, analyses and “memes” on the issues the candidates discussed: Who hit the mark, who failed to do so, who lied? This Mundialíssimo blog suggests another perspective: What issues did Hillary and Trump forget?

The British network BBC has a list of these issues. The most striking among them is Syria. Both candidates neglected to mention, for example, the city of Aleppo, aggressively bombed this week and embroiled in a humanitarian catastrophe.

According to the BBC, “As the candidates spoke, some 250,000 Syrians trapped in eastern Aleppo continued to be bombed by devastating air strikes that have been described as possible war crimes. The U.S. government has taken a leading role in criticizing the Syrian government and its Russian backers over the strikes, but neither candidate mentioned it. Only one segment of the debate — ‘securing America’ — touched on foreign policy issues.”

On the other hand, Hillary and Trump did discuss the threat of the terrorist organization the Islamic State and the nuclear deal with Iran. Having “forgotten” Syria may mean that it is not as relevant to the American electorate, or that discussing it would hurt the candidates more than it would help them.

Nonetheless, the American newspaper The Washington Post reports that Aleppo was not the only international issue the two candidates forgot. One analyst who was interviewed says it is “curious” that some issues were left out: for example, Trump’s proposal to build a wall separating the U.S. from Mexico.

It was also “curious” that the applicants failed to mention Israel, unlike in previous discussions. The Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post published an analysis of how Israel was not the center of the debate this time — even on issues where Israel is one of the most interested parties, such as the nuclear deal with Iran.