Round 1: Who Won?

Poles apart politically

The much anticipated first 2016 presidential debate is thankfully over, and it all went very nicely to script.  We did learn three things:  that Hillary seems to be still among the living, that Lester Holt has kept his part of the bargain and will likely remain alive for the short term; and that Donald Trump can endure the vicious ad hominem attacks that passes for debate in the small minds of the Clinton campaign.

After eleven days of intense and private debate preparation -  and most probably with the help of concealed intravenous drip medication - HRC seemed to be back on her game of deceit, misinformation, disinformation and well, outright lies.  In assuring her audience that she was indeed alive, she came across as smug, arrogant, hard and highly condescending.  That school yard  ploy of constantly referring to Mr. Trump by only his first name was so obviously childish that it was embarrassing to the adults in the room.  She was coached, scripted and ready to lie.  I watched with care to see if she could remain conscious for a full hour and a half while standing upright, and remember her lame DC two-step talking points.  She did manage to stay vertical, but several times during the debate, roughly every twenty-five minutes or so, she seemed to falter.  Her face appeared haggard and strained, her voice became forced and monotonic, her movements slowed and posture slumped, and she seemed to struggle to verbally articulate her point.  Then the IV drip would kick in, and she'd be back to the overbearing harpy she really is.  Oh, and the shimmy.  Her animated response to one of Trump's observations went on for just a smidgen longer than necessary. Involuntary neurological short circuit?  Or a planned middle finger gesture mocking those who have questioned her health?

For the Donald, it appeared that he was determined to maintain an adult, respectful and professional demeanor.  He could have ripped her lungs out by factually refuting each and every one of her lies - er, replies - to the leading and heavily weighted in her favor questions from the moderator.  But he didn't.  He let her show the entire world that she had nothing to offer but the continuation of hard left totalitarian ideas and goals that the Kenyan has implemented. He let her show the whole world that she was condescending, spiteful and vicious.  And like a refined gentleman he endured ninety-plus minutes of her sustained ad hominem attacks.  And he allowed her to put him on the defensive, personally.  The world witnessed that her team must have spent a considerable amount of time digging up anything they could find on him, and he let them bring it forward.  Some accusations didn't warrant a response; but some required DJT to acknowledge them and set the record straight.  He nailed her on several points, her lack of ethics and race specifically, eliciting thunderous applause from the audience.  He raised some more pertinent points regarding her "experience"; the political and leadership vacuum left in the middle east that gave rise to ISIS; the treason of selling and exposing state secrets including the exposure of names of covert assets around the globe, and most importantly he hammered her on the fact that the issues she claims to be able to fix are the very threats she herself has fomented during her decades long tenure in public service.

Of course, it was well documented that the HRC campaign literally required the fawning CNN apparatchik to "fact check" DJT's comments, and essentially act as a third debater.  Lester Holt let it go until the last half hour of the televised debate, but then added commentary and framed his questions  so as to support HRC's positions.  Certainly Trump knew he would be doubled teamed and attacked from both sides, but he agreed to come on the Clinton News Network in the first place.   It didn't seem to faze him, however, and made the contrast between his demeanor and hers even more glaring.

So who won the debate?  I doubt if any HRC and DJT supporters' minds were changed.  But polls show that undecideds have come over into the light.  They see a dire need for effective policies of national security, stopping government spying and overreach, stemming unchecked immigration, and creating and sustaining real jobs.  Notwithstanding the constant drumbeat of propaganda emanating from the White House, real Americans know they are NOT better off than they were four, or even eight, years ago.  And they know those rosy reports of recovery and job growth are certainly not evident in their neighborhoods or communities.  They know they're being played. The Democrat party and its compliant media have pulled out all the stops to win this election and continue to fully move America into state controlled government.  The people, on the other hand, see through this power grab, and as Hirohito, the emperor of Japan, said of the US in 1941 after his navy bombed Pearl Harbor, "I'm afraid all we've done is to awaken a sleeping giant." That's the appeal of DJT and other leaders around the world who see the Orwellian dangers inherent in globalism.  They've awakened a sleeping giant.  People everywhere reject the the homogenized multiculturalism being shoved down their throats.  They want their communities, their tribes, their heritage and their nations to stay uniquely as they are.

So who won?  The American people won last night. And that doesn't bode well for the globalists.