The two US presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, face off in their first debate on Monday night in Hofstra University in New York. The US presidential debate is a tradition followed since 1960 to know the candidates off their campaign trails and out of convention halls. This was one of the most anticipated events as the two candidates come with certain amount of baggage. There are scandals looming over both Clinton and Trump, weekly polls wavering in their predictions and back-and-forth negative campaigning.
The Clinton-Trump showdown was nothing short of what was expected. Both candidates weighed in on issues starting from the economy to cybersecurity. The debate overall covered areas of gun policies, the relations between the police and African American community in the wake of recent shootings and NATO agreement.
Trump repeatedly underscored his role as a political outsider, questioning the economic stewardship of President Barack Obama and the administration of former President Bill Clinton, who sat in the front row. Describing the loss of manufacturing jobs, Trump said Clinton had been in government for 30 years, asking, “Why are you just thinking about these solutions right now?”
What's also important to highlight is that Trump denied that he was in support of the war in Iraq in 2002. Many commentators in the past have fact-checked and said he was very much in support of it.
Clinton took responsibility for using a private email server as Obama’s secretary of state and gave Trump nowhere to go. When Trump said he would release his tax returns if Clinton put out what he called her “33,000 deleted” emails, Clinton said, “I made a mistake using a private email” server. Trump interjected, “That’s for sure,” prompting Clinton to respond, “I take responsibility for that.”
So far the polls have been wavering with a 2 to 6 point lead for Clinton. The presidential debates in the past have known to have an immediate impact on the polls.
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