Last night we witnessed our first presidential debate for our upcoming election. If you haven’t watched it, then you have probably seen various tweets and memes flooding your timeline, and it is all fun and games until realization sets in that one of these two candidates will be the next leader of the free world.
There were three focus issues that were discussed; those included:
- Achieving Prosperity
- America’s Direction
- Securing America
While discussing America’s prosperity, they spoke about our economic issues, mostly touching on their tax reforms. Clinton spoke about building an economy for everyone, not just those in a place of privilege with their wealth. She put emphasis on new jobs with rising incomes; jobs in manufacturing, infrastructure, renewable energy, and technology to name a few. She advocated for equal pay for women’s work. Hillary’s big problem throughout her campaigning was that she never seemed to relate to the American people. She talked about the importance of balancing family and a career, which to me seems like a clear strategy to seem more as a person with family, rather than just a politician.
Donald Trump claimed that our jobs are fleeing to other countries, the country that most came up was Mexico. “We have to stop our jobs from being stolen from us,” said the republican nominee. He promises to reduce taxes from 35% to 15% for small and big institutions. Trump continuously questioned why Clinton has just started to act upon Americas issues if she has been heavily involved with politics for around 30 years.
When asked how he was going to bring back American manufactures, Trump responded with he simply was just not going to let them leave. Trump was also evasive when asked about his tax returns. Clinton insinuated that her opponent had something to hide. But of course this debate would have not been complete without the mention of Clinton’s emails. She quickly called out his “bait and switch” and recognized she made a mistake– but the public hasn’t forgotten.
After back and forth banter, they moved on to the theme of America’s Direction, specifically regarding race. In recent events involving police brutality and the question on how to “bridge a wide and bitter gap”, the two candidates were asked on where they stand.
“Unfortunately race determines too much,” said Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. She spoke about how race still determines where people live, the quality of their education, and how they are treated by the criminal justice system. She pushes to restore trust between the communities and the police. Almost instantly though, she commended the “good, brave, police officers who equally want reform”. She moved on to the “gun epidemic” that plagues young black men in their communities, but fails to mention the numerous shootings committed by white people. “According to data compiled by Mother Jones magazine, which looked at mass shootings in the United States since 1982, white people — almost exclusively white men — committed some 64% of the shootings.”
But that is a conversation for another day.
Trump advocated for the necessity of law and order. He said African Americans and Hispanics are “living in hell”, and once again brought to the table the correlation between gang violence and Hispanics. He vouched for stop and frisk, and talked about how that policy worked very well in New York, despite it being ruled unconstitutional because it involves racial profiling. He targeted undocumented immigrants (once again referring to them as illegals) who get “guns and shoot people”. Clinton made sure we didn’t forget this is the same man who has been sued by the justice department twice, for not renting apartments to African Americans. The two candidates did agree on restoring trust between communities and our justice department is the essential way to go.
On securing America, Clinton has a plan. It includes going after Isis online by preventing their operatives to use the internet. She promoted having to intensify our air strikes. Isis is the top priority, she believes. Trump promises to take out Isis. He says because oil is their main source of income, not taking it from them is where we failed. Clinton shot back by stating he had supported the invasion of Iraq in the first placed, he also wanted Gaddafi to be taken out, after being involved with him through business. Trump criticized the countries involved with NATO for not paying their debts, and believes NATO should go in with the U.S. to the middle east.
As far as our first presidential debate went, it is a bit scary to have to settle for someone who will become the most powerful person in the world. It can not be chosen based on temperament or how involved they are with millennial pop culture. This is an important conversation to have within our communities, but advocating doesn’t stop at good conversation. If you can vote, you hold a right many do not. So use it. Stay tuned for more presidential debates. The next one will be held on Sunday October 9, at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
