Few great lines, but several memorable moments
A novel's worth of words flew in the second presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, but few of them will be long remembered. What will live on: the nastiness of the encounter.
A novel's worth of words flew in the second presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, but few of them will be long remembered. What will live on: the nastiness of the encounter.
The 90-plus minutes of discussion from a stage at Washington University in St. Louis were filled with invective, exasperation, interruptions and, at times, whining. These two combatants could not hide how much they despise each other.
Coming a little more than 48 hours after the release of a tape in which Trump boasted about sexually assaulting women, and getting away with it because he's a celebrity, the debate was a high-stakes chance for the Republican nominee to regain his footing as a slew of senior GOP leaders condemned him or withdrew their support.
Some notable images and moments:
No handshake. Even MMA fighters touch gloves before trying to punch and kick each other into a stupor, but Trump and Clinton did not shake hands when they were introduced and came onto the stage. She nodded toward him but made no move. Trump seemed to be poised for a ritual handshake, but the moment passed, and the two just bobbed on the balls of their feet as the live audience applauded. It got nasty quickly. Trump called Clinton "the devil." She said he is not fit to be president.
Bill Clinton's past in the front row. Two women who accused former President Bill Clinton of sexual assault, Kathleen Willey and Juanita Broaddrick, were seated in the front row of the audience, guests of the Trump campaign. Willey alleges that Clinton groped her in the Oval Office in 1993, and Broaddrick accused him of raping her in 1978, when he was attorney general of Arkansas. Joining them were Paula Jones, who sued Clinton for sexual harassment, and Kathy Shelton, a rape victim who claims Hillary Clinton, who was her alleged attacker's attorney, had mocked her. Boom! Trump went there. Before the debate, he posed with the women in a photo op for the media. "Mr. Trump may have said some bad words," Broaddrick said. "But Bill Clinton raped me and Hillary Clinton threatened me. I don't think there's any comparison."
Lurking. Through much of the debate, Trump loomed over Clinton's shoulder as she was talking. It looked slightly menacing. Broadcasters eventually took to close-ups of the former secretary of state to crop Trump out of the shot.
You're no Abe Lincoln. At one point, Clinton invoked President Abraham Lincoln, saying she admired his flexibility in presenting different arguments to different people at the same time, which enabled him to cobble together congressional majorities for the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery.
It seemed innocuous - what could go wrong with praising nearly everyone's favorite president? - but it turned out to be a tactical error. "Honest Abe never lied," Trump snapped. "That's the biggest difference between Abraham Lincoln and you."
The moment sprang from a question about a WikiLeaks disclosure of what purported to be remarks Clinton gave in a paid speech to the Goldman Sachs investment bank, in which she spoke of the need for politicians to have private and public positions in order to have negotiating leverage. Clinton said she was talking about Lincoln as portrayed in the 2012 Steven Spielberg movie. Notably, she did not deny the quote. Clinton has refused to disclose her paid speeches.
A moment of praise. At the end, an undecided voter who was among the questioners for the town-hall portion of the debate put Trump and Clinton on the spot. He asked the two candidates if they could name one thing they admired about the other.
Clinton said she admired Trump's adult children, adding that they do credit to him as a father.
Trump, who had been jackhammering her with attacks all night, paused. "She doesn't quit. She doesn't give up," he said. "I respect that. I tell it like it is. She's a fighter. I consider that to be a very good trait."
And then, at the end, they shook hands.
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@tomfitzgerald