Posted on 09/27/2016 6:47:38 AM PDT by libertarian27
Trump and Clinton debated each other for the first time last night. Here’s how I score the night.
Clinton won on points. She had more command of the details and the cleaner answers. Trump did a lot of interrupting and he was defensive. If this were a college debate competition, Clinton would be declared the winner. I call that victory on the 2D chess board. But voters don’t care about facts and debating style. They care about how they feel. So let’s talk about that.
For starters, Trump and Clinton both seemed “presidential” enough. That mattered more for Trump. We haven’t seen him off the teleprompter lately. So Trump passed that test by being sufficiently serious.
Clinton looked (to my eyes) as if she was drugged, tired, sick, or generally unhealthy, even though she was mentally alert and spoke well. But her eyes were telling a different story. She had the look of someone whose doctors had engineered 90 minutes of alertness for her just for the event. If she continues with a light campaign schedule, you should assume my observation is valid, and she wasn’t at 100%.
Some will say Clinton outperformed expectations because she didn’t cough, collapse, or die right on stage. That would be true if she also looked healthy in general, and her campaign schedule from here on out is full. We’ll know more this week, based on her schedule.
Clinton’s smile seemed forced, artificial, and frankly creepy. I’m already hearing on Twitter that mentioning a woman’s smile is sexist. I understand the point. But when someone goes full Joker-face and tests the uncanny valley hypothesis at the same time, that’s a bit different from telling a woman to “smile more.” My neighbor Kristina hypothesized that Botox was making her smile look unnatural. Science tells us that when a person’s mouth smiles, but their eyes don’t match the smile, they look disingenuous if not creepy. Botox on your crow’s feet lines around your eyes can give that effect. But whatever the reason, something looked off to me.
To be fair, Trump’s physical appearance won’t win him any votes either. But his makeup looked better than I have seen it (no orange), his haircut was as good as it gets for him, and he was otherwise his normal self that some voters hate and some like.
But the most interesting question has to do with what problem both of them were trying to solve with the debate. Clinton tried to look healthy, and as I mentioned, I don’t think she completely succeeded. But Trump needed to solve exactly one problem: Look less scary. Trump needed to counter Clinton’s successful branding of him as having a bad temperament to the point of being dangerous to the country. Trump accomplished exactly that…by…losing the debate.
Trump was defensive, and debated poorly at points, but he did not look crazy. And pundits noticed that he intentionally avoided using his strongest attacks regarding Bill Clinton’s scandals. In other words, he showed control. He stayed in the presidential zone under pressure. And in so doing, he solved for his only remaining problem. He looked safer.
By tomorrow, no one will remember what either of them said during the debate. But we will remember how they made us feel.
Clinton won the debate last night. And while she was doing it, Trump won the election. He had one thing to accomplish – being less scary – and he did it.
Trump was also debating two opponents.
HilLIARy had six of her favorite topics, and gave memorized and rehearsed answers.
And her smile WAS creepy. And you could tell Trump was getting to her when she brought up some stupid bimbo (Clinton’s term) who accused Trump of something stupid 100-odd years ago...
Clinton won the debate last night. And while she was doing it, Trump won the election. He had one thing to accomplish – being less scary – and he did it.
...
Also, the president doesn’t get up everyday to debate, or when he gets that 3am phone call.
I think Scott’s analysis is spot on.....but I’m not so sure Trump won the election last night.....
Hillary for nothing!
She is soggy toast.
I’m already hearing on Twitter that mentioning a woman’s smile is sexist. I understand the point. But when someone goes full Joker-face ...
...
LOL!
Reminds me of the Nixon-Kennedy debate back in 1960.
Those who heard it on the radio said Nixon won hands down!
Those who SAW it on TV said Kennedy looked more Presidential and Nixon looked “shifty”.
I remember Romney wiping the floor with a totally unprepared OBAMA four years ago. Obama still won the election.
This guy must have been watching a different debate.
...”Clinton won the debate last night. And while she was doing it, Trump won the election. He had one thing to accomplish – being less scary – and he did it.”
“Don’t hit the girl” as my father warned me when I was five years old may have also been part of his strategy. Dunno. Trump has shown he knows what he is doing more often than not, IMHO.
I agree but there is more. FWIW, Frank Luntz’s focus group was mediocre for Trump, but the “u decides” utterly crashed during some of Cankles harangues.
But my bigger point is the one I made pre-debate yesterday. It doesn’t matter who “won” because all the social media polls say Trump won by a big margin. It’s like the old saw, it’s not who votes that counts, but who counts the votes.
Trump wins that just as he did in the primaries.
Adams is the most brilliant commentator on 2016.
Romney won the first debate and gained in the polls. Where Romney lost I think was with the subsequent debates where he let himself get branded as Richie rich. His 42 percent comment didn’t help.
Joker face. And lying with ease. < p>
that is exactly what I was seeing.
This is true for those of us aware enough to look. I doubt the undecideds would notice.
my goodness, i do love this blog.
Adams is extremely confident. If he calls this accurately, his stock is going to rise immensely.
Just so. The question of who won the debate is academic, and not worth investing in. I think Trump won the debate, but I feel no urge to defend my point of view on that count. What matters is the election, and Trump has the momentum and room to "do better" in the interim.
Adams is right, this was never about who has the most detailed plan on their website - it’s about continuing the Obama nation.
As for her health, its clear she was jacked-up and I think the Dead offer some advice:
“Avoiding Trumps train, high on cocaine, Hillary you better watch your speed”
I’m still not sure what I thought about the debate last night, there were things that I wish Trump would have gone after - she was flat out making wild accusations about him to his face that pissed me off, but I can see the point that showing restraint and not letting her have it would make him not look like the boogey man that her campaign has tried to make him out to be. I will say, watching her for 90 mins make me dislike her even more.... and she did look “plastic” to me. But to the low info person who has no clue about any of the key issues.... I don’t know.....
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