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Hillary vs Trump: Second debate a nasty, no holds barred affair
WASHINGTON: As they strode on to the stage after being announced, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump made it clear what the rest of the evening was going to be like.
WASHINGTON: As they strode on to the stage after being announced, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump made it clear what the rest of the evening was going to be like. They barely acknowledged each other and did not even shake hands as candidates usually do.
In the ugliest debate yet, Trump, who seemed angry and wound up and was constantly on his feet even when not speaking, attacked Clinton on her husband former president Bill Clinton’s infidelities, threatened to jail her over her use of a private email server if he was elected president, and repeatedly called her a liar.
Clinton, who was even-tempered and smiled often, was ready for the shot at her husband and deflected it easily. She said none of what Trump was saying was true and used the revelation of a tape of him to reanimate her case that he had no respect for women.
This was to be a make-or-break debate for Trump, who is facing a massive revolt in his Republican party with leading lights rescinding their endorsement of him after the release of the 2005 tape on which he bragged about groping women and forcing himself on them.
His poll numbers, which had been tanking after a bad first debate, were a worry too. Even his own running mate, Mike Pence, had seemed dubious.
But Pence liked what he saw on Sunday and congratulated Trump on a “big debate win”. There was a sense among Republicans Trump had survived the night. It was still unclear if Trump had stanched the bleeding in his campaign as many said he did, but he seemed more disciplined on issues compared to the first debate.
But the highlights of the evening were exchanges about Trump’s tape and his attack on Clinton about sex scandals involving her husband, who was in the audience, as were three women who had accused him of sexual assault.
Asked if he still thought it was “locker-room talk”, as he had said about the tape, Trump said yes, and added he was not proud of it . “But,” he said, turning the exchange around to attack the Clintons, “Bill Clinton was abusive to women. Hillary Clinton attacked those same women.”
Clinton had prepared for this moment. “So much of what he just said is not right,” she said. “He never apologises for anything to anyone,” she said, citing President Barack Obama, whom Trump had accused of not being born in the US.
Trump shot back that Clinton should apologise for deleting her emails, referring to her use of a private server as secretary of state. He said, if elected, he would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate her and that she will be in jail.
The debate was called the most sordid in the history of presidential debates and was the most tweeted about.
