My two cents on the first Presidential debate

I hate Hillary BUT I love an underdog. That was Donald. Now I am not going to pretend and spin a narrative here. I will call it straight. Pieces fall where they may.

Hillary has been built up by the press and the Liberal surrogates to be this Uber-woman of politics. The pinnacle of Presidential candidacy. The best this to be injected into politics since whenever. In respect to Donald trump, he was unelectable, unpresidential, stupid, boorish, charmless, ineffectual, inarticulate, and a joke.

What they had failed, in their stupidity, to realise is where this sets the bar of expectation for each candidate. Hillary has to annihilate Trump and handle him with utmost ease and Trump has to fail utterly.

I admit I thought it would go precisely either of two ways. Either she was going to be the frail, sickly, unfocused and off form or she was going to be on her game and well-rehearsed, focused and in command of her faculties.

Trump in the last few months has consolidated and gone hard after Hillary’s lead. It has vanished and the battle ground states that were 6 or 7 points down, he is now leading in. The ones that were 13 points down are now in play and some are starting to shift into being in play, that were not considered anything but safe. (Who would have guessed Missouri, Illinois or Massachusetts would have been a consideration two months ago?) But now was the moment of reckoning.

He was taking on Hillary. A frail, unfocused Hillary not in command of her faculties would kill the remaining hope of winning. He was going to roll her if she was like that. I hoped this is what was going to happen. I hoped for a series of coughs,, maybe a seizure and topped off with her excusing herself and then fainting. That could have worked for me. The alternative was that an focused well-rehearsed Hillary would smash Trump and not only stop his meteoric rise in the polls but would start reversing all that work. Then I saw her.

It was healthy Hillary. My heart sank. Trump was screwed.

Then something rather unexpected happened (I should expect the unexpected with Trump), Trump rose to the occasion. He held his own. I still find it strange that I find this so surprising.

Now I promised you honesty and so honestly speaking, Hillary technically was much better. She was practiced. She was focused and by any metric she beat Trump. let’s keep it real. She was polished. She was Presidential and statesman-like. (Believe me I do not like saying this either). Trump? He was not polished. He was not as prepared. He went off topic a fair bit. He was given to a lot of vague meandering nonsense and he interrupted. BUT not a lot. He ALSO took it to her as much as she him and on bigger point. They both left their mark on each other. He was came up with some damn good points and more importantly enough of them.

YES Hillary out-performed Trump but not considerably. The truth is that he stayed with her right to the end. She was SUPPOSED to break past him and leave him in the dust instead of a winning photo finish. HER strength over Donald is an in-depth knowledge of policies and politics from 30 years involved intimately with it. It was her chance to prove how great she could show herself in this and how lacking Donald was in this area. THAT is ALL she has. (Well that, and a Moderator helping her). She could not do it.

Serious questions need to be asked in the Clinton camp. Trump brings hope, a new vision, a persuasive personality, energy, and an ability to talk off the cuff about what he feels with Americans. What else does Hillary have besides the weight of the Liberal press and establishment (that has not stopped the rise of Trump) AND the well rehearsed scripts on policies and political experience (that came to mean nothing in the debate)? She has nothing.

Its actually worse than that though. Hillary was on the top of her game. Trump exhausted her ammunition and kept himself in check. He got the feel of what she was like her measure. I know he will capitalise. Hillary is not an evolving creature. She is the final form. He adapts and evolve and we have seen this throughout the Presidential race. He is unpredictable and she will not be able to get a bead on her. He has her and he will got after her to counter her a little on next debate.

Moreso than this. He was more presidential and in control than he has been any time in the cycle and she was the polished robot. Therefore whilst she has scripted answers, he seemed to go off the cuff. Whilst the prattling was a bit much sometimes it sounded (true or not) honest. She did not sound honest (true or not), she sounded like she had practiced everything she said. With such little between them in the actual debate, this factor will possibly sway the undecided voters to Trump. It would have been absolutely different if she sounded like a robot AND buried Trump….but she didn’t.

I honestly cannot see Hillary capitalising on this debate for the next. The debate was a wash. But it gave the opponents at least a measure of each other. I think Hillary is not going to be able to prepare for the next debate’s Trump. She lost her opportunity to take control of the campaign and take Trump off the chess board and she failed.

The beauty of it is the Liberal press and Liberal establishment have helped pave the way for her lose in overrating Hillary and underrating Trump as badly as they have. Had they have been considered equals she would not appear to have done so badly below expectation and he would not have appeared to eclipse all expectation. They screwed themselves and I love the Schadenfreude.

Trump Train has no brakes, it would appear. He will be next President.