2016 Road To White House: Take Home From US Presidential Debate Final.
The presidential nominees of the Republican and Democrat; Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton at the early hours of yesterday, squared up in the third and final of the three leg presidential debate in Las Vegas . This is to be the final debate between the top guns for the mantle of Power at the White House before voting on the November 8. From the Aso presidential villa, the commercial busy streets of Lagos, the road side vendor, the spectators glued to their radio, the gazing eyes in the living room, the watching eyes of the press amongst others… This Is It!!
In the build up to the debate, there were speculations that the Republican candidate Donal Trump was on an image-repair mission, one which was to either close the Polling gap or ultimately widen the obvious gap his opposition Democrat Hilary Clinton had over him. To many the lingering questions would be: How did Trump get here? The answer is not far-fetched from the video release of Trump’s statements which portrayed disrespect for non-celebrities and significantly Women.
Trump and Clinton sparred over six pre-set topics chosen throughout the hour-and-a-half debate, including the economy, Supreme Court, immigration, foreign hot spots, debt and entitlements and their level of fitness to be president. The major take home notable from the Debate are:
Trump denies allegations by his accusers
Clinton questions Trump’s ties with Russia
Trumps reaffirms his stance on the Wall
Clinton Supports-Trump believes Mosul Operation is Political
Trump will oppose the election results
Clinton Suggest Trump cannot be trusted with Nuclear Weapons and
Why should America vote for you? Candidates response.
Trump denies allegations by his accusers
In the early moments of the debate Trump had this to say when Wallace (Anchor) questioned him about the nine women who alleged he sexually assaulted or harassed them
“Nobody respects women more than me”.
A response which to the audience sounded more like a Calvin Hart stand-up comedy line prompting widespread laughter. Trump went further to state that he hasn’t apologized to his wife over the allegations, which he accused the Clinton campaign of planting, because he said they are “fiction.”
“I didn’t do anything. I didn’t know any of these women. I didn’t see these women,” Trump said. “These women, the woman on the plane, I think they want either fame or her campaign did it. And I think it’s her campaign.”
Clinton listed the many people Trump has clashed with throughout his presidential campaign, including a disabled reporter, the parents of a slain Muslim American soldier and Senator John McCain, a former prisoner of war.
“So it’s not one thing,” Clinton said. “This is a pattern, a pattern of divisiveness of a very dark and in many ways dangerous vision of our country where he incites violence, where he applauds people who are pushing and pulling and punching at his rallies. That is not who America is. I hope that as we move in the last weeks of this campaign, more and more people will understand what’s at stake in this election. It really does come down to what kind of country we are going to have.”
Clinton questions Trump’s ties with Russia
Clinton challenged Trump to condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin for what U.S. intelligence officials have called likely Russian government interference in the U.S. election.
“I don’t know Putin. He said nice things about me. If we got along well, that would be good,” Trump said. “He has no respect for her. He has no respect for our president.”
“Well, that’s because he’d rather have a puppet as president,” said Clinton.
“No, you’re the puppet,” said Trump.
When Wallace asked Trump again if he condemned the Russian interference, he said “of course.”
“This is not my best friend. But if the United States got along with Russia, it wouldn’t be so bad,” he said.
Trumps reaffirms his stance on the Wall
On immigration, Trump touted the necessity of the wall he wants built on the Mexican border not only to keep out illegal immigrants, but also illegal drugs.
“Drugs are pouring in through the border. We have no country if we have no border,” said Trump, claiming “drug lords” have been operating inside the United States.
“We have some bad, bad people in this country,” he said. “We have some bad hombres here and we’re going to get them out.”
Clinton Supports-Trump believes Mosul Operation is Political
On the Mosul Operation, Trump suggested that the new military operation to reclaim the Iraqi city of Mosul from ISIS was a political move by President Barack Obama to help Clinton. Clinton, who says she supports the president’s decision, derided Trump’s claim.
“That’s how Donald thinks. He’s always looking … (for) conspiracy theories,” Clinton said.
She said that when she was watching the attack on Osama bin Laden, “he was hosting ‘Celebrity Apprentice.’”
Trump will oppose the election results
The highlight of the Debate was the moment Republican candidate Donald Trump inferred he wouldn’t commit to accepting the result of the upcoming U.S. election. He said:
“I will look at it at the time,”
In her typical style Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called his answer “horrifying.”
“Every time Donald thinks things are not going in his direction, he claims whatever it is, is rigged against him…This is a mindset. This is how Donald thinks. And it’s funny, but it’s also really troubling.”
Clinton Suggest Trump cannot be trusted with Nuclear Weapons
Trump flatly denied he had ever suggested that countries like Japan could arm themselves with nuclear weapons, even though he had done so in a Fox News interview with Wallace himself.
Clinton said Trump’s contradictions on that issue proved anew that Trump couldn’t be trusted with that responsibility for the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
“The bottom line on nuclear weapons is that when the president gives the order it must be followed,” Clinton said.
Trump noted he has the support of more than 200 military leaders and criticized the U.S. for slashing its nuclear arsenal.
At the end of the night the all-important question of the night was: Why should we elect you president?
Both candidates were given one minute, unplanned to deliver closing remarks. Clinton said “all Americans — Democrats, Republicans and independents,” can help improve the country.
“That’s what my mission will be in the presidency. I will stand up for families against powerful interests, against corporations,” she said. “I will do everything that I can to make sure that you have good jobs with rising incomes, that your kids have good educations from preschool through college.”
Trump said a Clinton presidency would be “four more years of Barack Obama.”
“We’re going to make America great. We have a depleted military. It has to be helped. It has to be fixed,” he said. “We don’t take care of our veterans. We take care of illegal immigrants better than we take care of our military. That can’t happen.”
