2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumOverall Hillary Did Better, But Trump Was Slightly Less Out of Control
Hillary - She was clearly more knowledgeable and responsive to questions, Kept her cool and did not interrupt or argue with the moderators. She also listed and addressed the audience members. She also actually described proposals. At times, she got slightly in the weeds, but this does reinforce that she is prepared.
Trump - He looked like he could barely control himself, but he was not quite as unhinged as he was in the first debate. He really did not respond to the questions, and tried to turn every question into an attack on Hillary. However, at the end, I know even less about his policies, then I did after the first debate. He essentially just painted a dark picture and offered himself as a savior with no specific. Still, I thought he came off as an asshole and petty with his frequent arguments with the moderators.
Moderators - They were very deferential with Trump, because when his time was up, he would just throw a tantrum until he got his way. I actually think that Raddatz seemed to get a bit annoyed by Trump, which was understandable and unfortunate when he kept on blowing off her question, but it made Raddatz look rattled, which sadly made Trump look more in control.
Overall: I think Hillary did better in both substance and style. She was calm, but very assertive. She also really did a good job of connecting with each audience member who asked a question. Some folks will say that Trump did better, because he just kept on his attacks on Hillary without responding to any questions about his conduct or his proposals. However, I saw him as an entitled asshole. Some folks will say he won because he was acting like he was entitled and answerable to no one. However, I saw it as both arrogant and dismissive.
The pundits may declare him a winner because he did not fail miserably and he acted like a pompous asshole, but I also can see a lot of folks getting turned off by that. Also, I think Hillary was helped because she seemed to connect with people, perhaps at the cost of giving up some opportunities for attack.
liberal N proud
(60,335 posts)Maru Kitteh
(28,340 posts)whined about the moderators, complained that it was 3 on 1, picked arguments with the mods, and stalked like a creeper.
TomCADem
(17,387 posts)...this is a guy who fawns over Putin, and he is threatening to jail his political opposition once he is elected. I find that far more scarier than him picking fights with the mods. Still, compared to the first debate, he was slightly more focused. The first debate was totally, totally unhinged, which means that he created this really low bar.
Doctor Jack
(3,072 posts)To a rambling sociopath in this debate.
molova
(543 posts)This debate pitted Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton.
Now tell us who won.
TomCADem
(17,387 posts)My point is that Trump is getting judged against his first debate performance, and his recent meltdowns, so he is going to get graded on a curve by the pundits who were expecting him to pull some Jerry Spring shit, which sort of did with the stunt about former Bill Clinton accusers.
As a Presidential Debate, Hillary Clinton won easy. As an episode of Jerry Springer, then Trump was must watch TV.