It may sound strange, but actually, Donald Trump won the debate against Hillary Clinton last night. After the 2005 video in which he made very hurtful statements against women, it seemed his days were numbered. Game over! Republican foremen are leaving him en masse. But does the same hold true for his followers? Trump was not down for the count. On the contrary. He went on the offensive in a spectacular television debate in which Trump and Clinton danced around each other like verbal boxers.
Trump began by apologizing for the offensive remarks that brought his campaign into its deepest crisis. “I’m not proud of it. Certainly I’m not proud of it — but this is locker room talk.” Clinton immediately attacked him. “Donald says the video doesn’t represent who he is. But I think it’s clear to anyone who heard it that it represents exactly who he is. He is not fit to be president.” To that Donald immediately responded by bringing up former president Bill Clinton’s misdemeanors. “Bill Clinton, far worse: Mine are words, his was action. […] Bill Clinton was abusive to women. Hillary Clinton attacked those same women and attacked them viciously.” In the room was Bill Clinton, but Trump had brought along as guests four women who fell victim to the ex-president, among whom was Paula Jones.
Right before the debate, Wikileaks leaked speeches Hillary Clinton held for big business banks such as Goldman Sachs. She said that politics is “like sausage being made,” and that, generally, she had two points of view: a private and a public position. Clinton received a great deal of critique for holding these speeches for a lot of money and at the same time not wanting to release their content. To the question of whether she was “two-faced,” she responded that former President Lincoln was two-faced as well. Trump: “Now she’s blaming the lie on the late, great Abraham Lincoln.”
The body language on stage was spectacular. Trump circled Clinton, who repeatedly went to sit down. When she spoke, he was standing right behind her, casting questioning looks and looks of surprise. Clinton spoke in college jargon; Trump in short sentences with little policy content. For more than an hour and a half, they jabbed at each other. Clinton once again apologized for her description of Trump supporters as “deplorable.” Trump also announced that, should he win the election, he would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the email scandal. “You’d be in jail,” he said. A rare remark in a debate between presidential candidates.
The health insurance scheme Obamacare was also addressed. The system is about to collapse: premiums are going up while coverage is cut in half. Clinton announced several measures, while last week, Bill Clinton described Obamacare as “the craziest thing in the world.” Clinton also announced that she wants a progressive judge in the Supreme Court, where an empty seat was left by judge Scalia’s death. Trump wants a conservative judge and is thus trying to win back Christian voters who disconcertedly left after publication of the challenged video.
Conclusion: The battle seemed over after the video, but Trump came back in the debate and, at times, dominated. It’s only really over when it’s actually over, on Nov. 9.*
Derk Jan Eppink works in New York for the conservative think tank London Policy Center. His U.S. exchange column with Michiel Vos for our newspaper appears weekly on Saturday. As an exception, a column by his hand is published today as well.
*Editor’s Note: The U.S. presidential election is on Tuesday, Nov. 8.
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