Short Story: Hillary won

She won because she simply had more substance to what she said on stage. Trump resorted to slogans and, at times, mad conspiracy theories. Trump was light on substance but big on showmanship. He knows how to get an audience riled up and, on many occasions throughout the night, he did but, at the end of the night, he simply lacked the ability to make me think that he was a person who took the Presidency seriously. He struck me as one of those people who thinks that the answer to all of America's ills is to eliminate debt and trade deficits.

The world is more complicated than that and a potential President should be cognisant of that. This was his first chance to show that he was not just a loud-mouthed sideshow attraction. This was his chance to showcase how he created successful businesses and how he would transfer those skills to the running of a country while, at the same time, acknowledging that a country is NOT a business.

He didn't even come close to that.

Hillary on the other hand used clear cut examples of her domestic and foreign policy experience on how to tackle some of the biggest problems that we have today. She is not a showman. In fact the best piece of acting all night was her smile whenever she was attacked by Donald Trump. Her ideas at the very least acknowledge that every major problem in America and abroad is multifaceted and those problems are not solved by one single grand solution.

Hillary showed pragmatism in her thinking where Trump showed arrogance bordering on ignorance.

That's why Hillary won.

The Long Story:

The first debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump proceeded as expected. It was a showcase of the two types of experiences that these people have.

On the one side had you had Hillary operating with a lifetime of experience of being a civil servant as well as a political candidate. She had a well thought out strategy to handle Trump which was to use personal experience and facts.

As for Trump, he used what I can only assume was the same tactics that he uses in his business dealings. Instead of allowing a free exchange of ideas he constantly interrupted both the other candidate and the moderator with short, effective outbursts of, “no” and “wrong”.

As a viewer from the other side of the world I was not impressed with the debate at all. It was a bit of free-for-all with Trump looking like an uneducated bully. I’ve listened to several of Trump’s speeches over the past few months and I was hoping that he would not just repeat the same slogans and catchphrases on this important night.

It seems as if he did not realize the importance of this debate. It was almost as if he was back at one of his rallies trying to stir up the hate, anger and fear of the populous.

On the issues, Hillary clearly had more substance that Donald. The only area where Donald even began to string together a coherent thought was about how to, “bring jobs back to America.” His plan to tax imports (aka tariffs) might work but, manufacturers could also price in the cost of a tax increase in the price of the goods sold in America increasing costs for the everyday citizen.

Trump spent most of the debate trying to link all of America’s woes to the trade deficit,Obama and Clinton by blaming Hillary for 90's trade deal NAFTA, blaming China and Japan for costing America money for everything from trade to global defense.

Unfortunately,once he left the realm of money he completely lost the plot.

In regards to nuclear weapons, he stated that he would both not use first strike and then, two seconds later state that he cannot take any options off of the table when it comes to first strike.

This person is running to be our Commander in Chief.

He once again reiterated his threat to our allies and the level of protection we can provide dependent on how much money they can pay. (This is akin to a protection racket).

In order to quell racial tensions in America he would increase, “law and order” through, what I can only assume, would increased federally mandated (?), stop and search laws because, of course, these laws are determined by the cities therefore, the Federal government could not force nationwide stop and searches laws without Federal police enforcing the laws.

Of course, the greatest blunder of the night was how Trump boasted about not paying federal taxes. Trump did not even act surprised when Hillary Clinton cornered Trump by referencing his tax returns that he released while trying to open a hotel in Nevada. When she stated that he did not pay any Federal taxes, he simply said, “it makes me smart”.

As for Clinton, she gave specific examples of what she could do to deal with huge, looming domestic and international problems in addition to citing her decades worth of public service.

Her answers on how to deal with racial tensions were complex and much better than just saying, "law and order". Her answers on trade deals, which I would believe is her weakest subject, at least strongly countered Donald's rhetoric that America is getting ripped off and the US Government, not the company shipping away jobs, is responsible. She even had some ideas on creating good, high paying jobs to Americans by creating a larger renewable energy sector.

Trump has an obvious plan. Be a bully and stir up the emotions of the people. It is a time tested, effective vote winner. That being said, you could see that he was not pleased with his performance and may do a bit more homework for the next debate.

If he does not calm down, give detail and act like a person who has some sense; I do not see how he can win the middle ground.

Hillary Clinton may not be a good performer but after that showdown, she showed what she was. A dedicated, competent public servant.