The Moment We’ve All Been Dreading: The 2016 Presidential Debate

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Cassie Volkin, Writer, Artist

It’s official: there’s no turning back. Unless there is some kind of divine intervention, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are the final candidates for the most powerful job in the world. People of both parties have been mourning the results of the primaries for about a month now, and the debate didn’t do much to soothe their anxieties.

Sophomore Savannah Plume, a Trump supporter, gives her opinion of the debate. “It was a catastrophic tidal wave of stupidity. Even though both candidates were clearly in the wrong, Trump seemed to be not as rude as Hillary.” Indeed, Trump seemed to be less aggressive than he had been in the Republican primaries, perhaps hoping to lure some Clinton supporters to his side, since most states are split evenly between the two candidates.

The debate covered topics such as race relations, job growth, and Trump’s tax returns. As a matter of fact, Trump’s record was called into question multiple times, with debate questions concerning his support for the stop-and-frisk policy (now ruled unconstitutional) and his doubt about Obama’s American citizenship. Hillary’s record, on the other hand, which is littered with problems such as Benghazi and the infamous email scandal, was barely brought up. The moderator, Lester Holt, refrained from fact-checking during the debate, so both candidates were free to lie as they pleased.

A Hillary supporter, Mrs. Brandy Panagos, thinks that regardless of which candidate she supported a year ago, based on the two remaining candidates, one embarrasses her for the country, while the other (Clinton) at least speaks coherently. Both Trump and Hillary were true to character at the debate, with Trump shouting and interrupting, and Clinton calmly giving her prepared speeches.

Some people have simply given up hope, such as Sophomore Jessica Coe, who states, “This is stupid.”

There are two more debates before the presidential election on November 8th, one on October 9th, and the other on October 19th. Hopefully, they will be more substantial and focused than this first one, but Trump hopes to expose more of Clinton’s corruption in future debates, which could lead to some very fiery arguments. No matter what happens, all we can do is sit back and watch the mayhem unfold until election day.