For most of the time Hillary Clinton outsmarted Donald Trump in the first presidential debate with a combination of experience and knowledge, particularly on foreign affairs, as the Republican candidate gave away the initial momentum he earned.
But will the performance have a positive influence on Clinton’s bid to win over the undecided voters remains to be seen. As for Trump, his supporters are unlikely to swerve in their backing for the billionaire real estate tycoon.
Trump appeared to be having an upper hand when he attacked Hillary Clinton’s support for trade deals under presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
He also aggressively pursued the issue over Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary of state.
But then he lost his way, in one of the most widely watched debates,
During much of the time, the Democratic candidate appeared at ease, challenging Trump’s views on race issues citing a case him in early 1970 when he was accused of racial discrimination.
Then came the issues like US relations with allies including NATO and defense of countries like Japan Clinton clearly used her experience to appear as a much suave diplomat.
Here Trump said things that sounded like outsourcing American leadership on a host of national security and foreign policy issues.
Trump was also on the back foot on the question of gun control.
The Republican who had started by addressing Hillary Clinton as Secretary Clinton lost his temprament and toward the end called her Hillary on a couple of occasions.
He also seemed to have given to Clinton’s plan to get frustrated when claimed “I have the presidential temperament.”
Clinton rolled her eyes and looked amused at some of the tall things Trump said.
