The first schedule of the US presidential debate has finally started. Four days are scheduled for debates for the presidential and vice presidential debates. The first presidential debate was held on September 26th at Hofstra University. The debate was divided into six parts of 15 minutes each on major subjects. In this debate, they discussed about taxes, ISIS, racial issues, the economy, foreign affairs and environment.

Trump first hit Clinton for supporting the Iran deal and creating ISIS which he said will make the US government develop nuclear weapons. The moderator asked Trump about the meaning when he kept on saying that Clinton doesn’t have the stamina to be US president. Trump answered that to be the president of the United States, you need stamina. However, Clinton responded to the question by telling him that as Secretary of State, she traveled to around 112 countries. She then blasted Trump as a sexist for describing women as pigs, dogs and slobs. The former Miss Universe competition winner, Alicia Machado supported Clinton.

The competition was held by Donald Trump and she recalled how Trump treated her. "He was really rude. He was a bad person to me. We cannot accept any more insults for my Latin community. No more insults for the women. I know Mr. Trump very well and I can see the same person that I met 20 years ago," she said. Clinton added that he called her Miss Housekeeping” because she’s Hispanic. Trump was also questioned by the moderator why he kept pressing questions about President Obama’s birthplace. Clinton said the question was related to a racist behavior of Trump.

The debate took place at Hofstra University on September 26th

Even though President Obama’s birth certificate proved that he was born in Hawaii, he questioned the president’s nationality. However, Trump answered that he was the one who got him to produce the birth certificate and he thinks that he did a good job about that. Another racial problem which was taken into debate that day was the stop-and-frisk policy in New York City. Thousands of people in New York City were stopped and searched for weapons but mostly black and Latino citizens were searched. The two candidates had a different perspective on this issue. While Donald Trump thinks that the stop-and-frisk policy had a tremendous impact on the safety of New York City, Hillary Clinton says that it was found to be unconstitutional, and in part because it was found to be ineffective. It turned out that the crime rate went down after the policy was enforced, but only 0.2% had weapons among the total people who were searched. Trump was also asked why he didn’t release his tax returns. Trump said that he has continued to release them but couldn’t because they are under audit for 15 years. However, he quickly changed the subject by mentioning about Clinton’s email scandal and that he will release them if she does first. Unlike Trump, Clinton admitted that she made a mistake using a private email and said that she isn’t going to make any excuses for it.

The interviewers asked those who attended the debate who did a better job in the debate regardless of which candidate they happen to support. 62% thought that Clinton did a better job, while only 27% answered Trump. 56% felt that Clinton was a stronger leader and 53% believed that Clinton was more sincere and authentic. This survey shows that the debate was a huge success for Hillary Clinton. Some people say that Trump was unprepared and he was easily rattled. However, there are 3 more debates to watch which is why we shouldn’t make up our mind who to support just yet.

By Jeong Seung-in, reporter  samcandothat@naver.com

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