By Leena Sen
Monday marked the date of the first presidential debate in the heated race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. The debate was off to a rocky start, quickly revealing Hillary had come well prepared to answer questions which would target weak points in her past.— such as email scandal, among other things. The following are key points from the debate.
Race: A topic of utmost importance both on the general public frontier, as well as the political frontier, has been race. When asked how they would heal race relations in response to the national outrage over recent police shootings, Clinton noted that gun violence is a leading cause of death for young African-American men. She also noted the overall toll gun violence has had on the US. Trump, on the other hand, focused more on his ongoing theme of “make America safe again” and defended Stop-and-Frisk. Clinton brought to attention Trump’s “long record of engaging in racist behavior” after recalling a 1973 Department of Justice lawsuit accusing him of not renting apartments to black individuals. In response, Trump dismissed the issue by associating it with companies other than his own, and praising himself for opening a club in Palm Beach, FL.
Tax Returns: Clinton brought the national audience’s attention to the question of why Trump will not release his tax returns. Her argument begged the question of whether he may be hiding business practices or debts, among other things. She also called to attention an architect in the audience who Trump refused to pay for his work on a Trump building’s production. His response: “Maybe he didn’t do a good job and I was unsatisfied with his work”.
Cyber Security: In explaining their views on cyber security, Clinton focused on her concerns with Russia and firmly stated that the US “is not going to sit idly by” and allow for individuals or hostile nations to obtain US information on both the private and public frontiers. She pointed out Trump’s past praise of Vladimir Putin.
