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Observations From Last Night's Debate

    So, there was a debate last night.  If you have a TV or the internet, you already knew that.  If you don't, consider yourself lucky.  Anyway, the debate.  It was significantly less interesting than I had hoped.  As a millennial who has no loyalty to either party (read: I can actually think for myself), I switched over from the Falcons/Saints game merely hoping a more exciting clash.  It wasn't that interesting.  Trump said Trumpy things.  Hillary is still good ol' Hillary.  It was, however, no less a game than the one on ESPN.  Nonetheless, here are 10 thoughts on the debate.


  1. Donald Trump has bad hair.  This is a truth that needs no fact checking.  This is a principle upon which this country can be united.  Why, Donald, why?!  Certainly he can pay someone a yuuuge amount of money to correct this, right?!
  2. It's weird when Hillary calls Trump "Donald."  I'm not sure why.  It just is.
  3. Trump is one of the least self-aware human beings to walk this planet.  When someone like Donald Trump tells America that his temperament is one of his best attributes, there's simply nothing more that needs to be said.  Even if he is that delusional, he should at least be aware enough of his critics to know that they're going to eat him alive for that one.  C'mon, man!
  4. Neither candidate has a skeleton-free closet.  One of Trump's best lines was when he said he would release his tax return when Hillary released her deleted emails.  It was a strangely poetic moment in the debate.  America, if you were watching, that should have been the moment that you realize just how dirty they both are.
  5. Hillary is smug.  I'm not sure how else to express it.  She acted condescending, holier-than-thou, and uppity.  She acted like someone who hasn't really lived in the real world in a while.  
  6. Hillary is establishment.  That's the plain and simple truth.  She's as old, white establishment as they come, despite her attempt at normalizing herself by saying that her father installed drapes (or something weird like that).  It's not working.  Your haircut (it's better than Trump's, at least) cost more than my rent--for like the whole year! 
  7. Hillary is a far more polished debater than Trump.  He let her irk him.  She made him look ridiculous (that's not actually hard to do).  The points he was trying to make were often valid (like the fact that Hillary's campaign started the "birther" conspiracy), but unless you knew what he was trying to say, you didn't pick up on them.  She is the better politician, by far.
  8. Trump's best chance of winning is continuing to paint her as a disconnected politician, which, we just noted, she is.  His team clearly knew that and emphasized it.
  9. Lester Holt was trying to be as balanced as he could.  I think he leaned slightly left, but he tried.  Let's give him an "A" for effort.
  10. Really, America?  My wife and I watched as Hillary and Trump were being introduced and all we could express was, "Really?"  Donald Trump?  The guy from The Apprentice?  Hillary Clinton?  That lady whose husband was impeached by the House of Representatives?  That lady who has been embroiled in scandal basically her entire legal and political career?  Are we that out of options?  It's like a football team where all the starting QBs are injured, so you play that old guy who has been riding the bench for more than a decade (I'm looking at you, Browns).  We're really going with a Trump vs. Hillary ballot this year?  Am I in an episode of The Simpsons right now? 
  11. Here's one extra for good measure.  The basic feeling I came away with from this debate is the same feeling that I always have after viewing politicians duke it out.  Both politicians up on that stage believe that government is the key to solving my problems.  They identify them. They apply the solution.  Without their intervention nothing would be accomplished.  They may have different opinions for solving my problems, but they are the only ones qualified to do so.   Both candidates agree that government should be big and imposing.  Maybe Trump wants to cut taxes.  That's great, but listen to his reasoning.  We should do that because it is a good financial decision that will benefit our country economically, not because the government actually has a responsibility to take less of our money.  Hillary made a telling argument as well. She argued that her decisions on trade deals all had to pass the same test--will they raise incomes/create jobs in America?  Now, that sounds good to your Average Joe, but think about that.  Her test is not whether or not they are constitutional or whether they promote the liberty of the American people.  No, the test is the economic well-being of the people.  By that standard she can do anything that she thinks is best for the people.  That's her attitude.  That, my friends, is the mindset of an elitist.  The answer, for both candidates, still lies with what they will do.  What we think and what we want are irrelevant.  They know what's best for us. We, the peons, should just be grateful we have career politicians to increase our deficits and bankrupt our big cities.
    Well, I could continue, but what's the use?  We'll see you back her in four years when everything is exactly the same in the American political landscape.  


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