Results Are In: Hillary Clinton Won The Debate
The results from the second presidential debate are crystal clear, Hillary Clinton is the victor. Last night, Donald Trump repeated the same falsehoods he’s spewed since the start of his campaign, admitted to evading federal taxes for years and tried to mask his offensive comments and actions against women as “locker room talk.” Post-debate polls and journalist have agreed there’s only one candidate fit to be commander-in-chief.
CNN/ORC Poll: Clinton 57%, Trump 34%
YouGov: Post-debate poll: Clinton 47%, Trump 42%
@nytimes: Clinton endured the nuclear attack and Trump solved none of his problems.
@HuffingtonPost: Political figures from both parties thought Trump's performance was a disaster
@Mic: Hillary Clinton won the second #debate, mostly because Donald Trump totally imploded
LA Times: Second presidential debate updates: Hillary Clinton won again, our analysts say “... He [Trump] had a big hole to climb out of, and he did not do it. He was snappish throughout, repeatedly interrupting Clinton and badgering the moderators. He repeated falsehoods -- that neighbors of the San Bernardino terrorists saw bombs in their apartment and said nothing, that he had never tweeted about a sex tape involving last week’s Trump target, a former Miss Universe … Clinton, by contrast, was knowledgeable on policy matters and handled criticisms … It seems unlikely that he will benefit in any meaningful way from tonight’s debate, and it’s very possible she will benefit.”
Washington Post: On Twitter, Hillary Clinton won the debate “In general, Twitter users were more favorable to Clinton than Trump — in line with the snap polls. This was particularly true when she addressed the tape of Trump’s lewd comments about women and in the half-hour after the debate.”
New York Times: “With Donald J. Trump’s campaign engulfed in crisis, the second presidential debate promised a clash of grand proportions: a decisive, even cataclysmic showdown between one candidate on his heels and the other, Hillary Clinton, emerging as a strong front-runner.”
Reuters: “Wall Street rose on Monday morning amid gains across most sectors, driven by oil prices, and as Democrat Hillary Clinton was widely seen as the winner of the second presidential debate. A Clinton presidency would be more positive for the markets because her positions are more well known than those of her Republican rival Donald Trump, according to a Reuters poll.”
Economic Times: Hillary Clinton 'clear winner' of 2nd presidential debate: Polls “Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton today emerged as the "clear winner" after the second US presidential debate … Trump fell back on the tricks he has learned from his years in pro wrestling and reality television, making clear how deep his cynicism goes and how little regard he has for his party, let alone the presidency ... The editorial added that during the debate, Trump "struggled" to construct coherent statements of his own policies, "wandering down strange, shadowy alleyways as he pursued his various claims about Clinton", including that she, not he, was responsible for his birth”
Washington Post: “Winner: Hillary Clinton: … Clinton went into this debate with massive momentum in the race — much of it caused by Trump's stumbles — and didn't make any sort of glaring error that would allow the Republican back into the contest. She was steady, knowledgeable and pleasant — even in the face of some very personal attacks — throughout. And she let Trump talk, which, as has been the case since he got into the race, is always his undoing.”
New York Magazine: “On Sunday night, the Republican presidential nominee was asked why he had bragged about committing sexual assault. Donald Trump dismissed such boasts as locker-room talk, promised to prosecute his chief political opponent, attacked Hillary Clinton for allegations of sexual violence made against her husband (despite the fact that numerous women have made such allegations against Trump himself), all while sniffling into his microphone 93 times … Most early metrics suggest that Clinton won the debate”
Slate: “She had to appear unruffled while Trump, stewing and pacing, loomed behind her, physically menacing her with his bulk. He threatened to have her imprisoned if elected; she betrayed not a hint of rage or shock … Trump bullied and lied. He once again dismissed his hot mic boasts about sexual assault as “locker-room” talk. He denied sending an early morning tweet telling Americans to check out the (nonexistent) sex tape of a former Miss Universe, when the tweet, less than two weeks old, is on the internet for all to see”
Huffington Post: “The town hall format allowed Trump to stalk the stage, lurking behind Clinton as she answered questions, and he muscled his way into directly confronting the Democratic nominee on issues such as her emails and her modest record of accomplishment in Congress. He proudly admitted that he had indeed used $916 million in tax write-offs against his income, but attacked Clinton for not changing the very law he used … But other polls, including from CNN, showed Clinton winning handily.”
Business Insider: Clinton scores decisive victory over Trump in 2nd debate “A CNN/ORC instant poll taken immediately after Sundaynight's presidential debate in St. Louis gave Hillary Clinton a decisive victory over Donald Trump.Fifty-seven percent of 537 registered voters surveyed in the immediate aftermath of the political showdown said the Democratic nominee won the contest.”
The Oxford Eagle: Hillary Clinton won the presidential debate tonight over Donald Trump “Trump, the Republican, missed on facts in accusations against Clinton, he rambled at times late in the debate, and he spoke over moderators and Clinton at times. Trump even dissed his Republican vice presidential running mate at one point, when he disagreed with running mate Mike Pence’s position on the proper strategy to deal with the civil war and humanitarian crisis in Syria.”
Iowa State Daily Editorial: Clinton wins second presidential debate “… Trump seemed to cycle through sound bite arguments and, like last time, gave very little of anything resembling a straight answer. Almost immediately, Trump received questions about his latest scandal: his 2005 comments that depicted the Republican candidate bragging about sexual assault. And while Trump seems to think that this “locker room talk” means very little when faced with his favorite talking point, ISIS, he failed to show the American public not only remorse, but a stance that showed anything other than complete disregard for severity of sexual assault and the power of words.”
Denver Post Editorial: Trump doubles down on desperate strategy in second debate “Trump’s attacks before and during Sunday’sdebate represented a cynical Hail Mary pass that we hope objective voters see through as the desperate acts of a badly damaged politician.Rather than trying to reverse the perception of him presented by a video recording in which he talks about women as if he were a common thug, Trump chose to blame Hillary Clinton for her responses to well-known problems she and her husband dealt with years ago. Only in a mind as unprincipled and undisciplined as Trump’s does such an argument make sense.”
Miami Herald Editorial: In debate, Trump’s scorched earth vs. down-to-earth Clinton “Donald Trump had one job at Sunday night’s debate: Persuade the group of undecideds in the room and beyond that his misogynistic bragging in a video that surfaced last week has absolutely no bearing on his fitness to be president. News flash: Donald Trump is unfit to to be president. He ducked, dodged, backtracked, spoke in ridiculously broad generalities — Hillary Clinton was a “disaster” as a U.S. senator — took responsibility for absolutely nothing ... It was more of his scorched-earth approach, based on the belief that he will make life better for Americans simply because he says so.”
Las Vegas Sun Analysis: Donald Trump didn’t win anyone over with performance in second debate “Sunday night in St. Louis, Donald Trump proved yet again he’s not interested in winning over any voters outside of his loyalists. After reiterating a tepid apology for his disgusting hot-mic remarks in a 2005 video, he tried to divert attention from it by discussing former President Bill Clinton’s extramarital affairs and pledging to have a special prosecutor investigate Hillary Clinton over her email scandal if he were elected president. Classic Trump, the same as when he challenged moderator Anderson Cooper of CNN over the debate rules, saying he was in a “one-on-three” situation against Cooper, Clinton and moderator Martha Raddatz from ABC News. … As for those who question Trump’s fitness to serve, however, he did nothing to convince them to vote for him.”
St. Louis Post-Dispatch Editorial: A debate unlikely to win voters over to Trump's side “Trump made clear he is not aiming for a campaign reset but instead will use misogyny as a theme to attack his opponent. As angry accusations flew between him and Clinton, Trump stated bizarrely, “We have a divided nation … because of people like her. Believe me, she has tremendous hate in her heart …tremendous hatred.” In response to the laundry list that Hillary Clinton gave of his insulting treatment of women, Latinos, Muslims, immigrants and disabled people, Trump’s response was to wave it off along with the scandal that erupted Friday regarding his 2005 remarks: “It’s just words, folks. Just words. … That was locker room talk.” He then, inexplicably, tried to transition from that to a critique of the Obama administration and the Islamic State. … Whether Trump managed to win over undecided voters with his show Sunday night is anyone’s guess. This newspaper is unswayed in our belief that he is dangerously unfit to be the next president.”
Chicago Tribune Editorial: Donald Trump may have lost the 2016 election in 2005 “The recording strikes Americans who've reliably loathed Trump as another we-told-you moment. They wonder, correctly, why all Republicans and Trump converts weren't long ago repelled by his notorious comments about women, Mexicans, Muslims and others he has diminished. Why, Republicans, are you just now offended? Fair question. One answer: because this raw revelation reaches a more frightful order of magnitude. Here we have Trump not only demeaning women but describing how he preys on them. … We'll be surprised if this week's opinion polls don't suggest that millions of Americans are finished with Trump. After Sunday night, this fate both echoes and looms: He may have lost the 2016 election in 2005.”
Salt Lake Tribune Editorial: Trump’s performance in Sunday’s debate did little to steady his ship “With all the slime attached to Trump's campaign, and not just in the past few days, his only hope of repairing the damage to his own chances, and to the whole election cycle, would be for him to make a convincing case, in the little time remaining, that in spite of everything he has the ideas, the skills and the temperament to lead this nation. He didn't do that Sunday.”
Cleveland Plain Dealer: Desperation, thy name is Donald Trump: Thoughts after the second presidential debate “Perhaps the only suspense that remains in the final month of this race is whether Trump will face this adversity with any dignity. Spoiler alert: The Trump who showed up Sunday in St. Louis for his second debate with Democrat Hillary Clinton seems determined to go down in a blaze of desperation. The New York businessman is grasping for anything that might stop the bleeding from a series of self-inflicted wounds dating to their first face-off nearly two weeks ago...If Trump's goal Sunday was to reassure his remaining supporters and to keep undecided voters from giving up on him, he failed before the Washington University debate even began.”
Dallas Morning News Editorial: Debate exposes the same old mile-wide-and-inch-thin Trump “With Republicans in panic mode -- some even encouraging Trump to step down in favor of vice presidential nominee Mike Pence -- Trump showed himself Sunday to be incapable of contrition. He also exhibited an inability to describe any strategy he would employ -- from health care to Syria -- if elected to the White House. While Democrat Hillary Clinton talked more about policy and tactics, Trump resorted to broad-brush -- and often bewildering -- attacks, such as saying Clinton "has tremendous hate in her heart."
Boston Globe Editorial: Vile words drown Trump’s mediocre performance “AS HIS FELLOW Republicans deserted him one by one, Donald J. Trump put up the best fight he’s capable of at the second presidential debate in St. Louis on Sunday night. But it was nowhere close to good enough. Trump wasn’t convincing as a potential president. … There are probably no magic words that Trump could have said that would have undone the damage he has inflicted on his campaign. If anything, Sunday’s debate will make it easier for his fellow Republicans to leave him to his fate.”
