28 September,2016 09:38 AM IST | | Agencies
In the first of three presidential debates between candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, she puts him on the defensive and lands enough one-liners with facts to emerge victorious
Donald Trump greets Hillary Clinton before the debate at the Hofstra University in empstead. Pic/AP
Hempstead: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump yesterday battled it out at the Hofstra University in Hempstead in the first of three televised debates viewed by millions of undecided American voters, tackling racism, terror and temperament, with the media declaring the Democratic nominee as the winner of the fiery contest.
The 90-minute clash, watched by a television audience of up to 100 million, saw the 68-year-old former secretary of state and the 70-year-old Republican nominee, who have attacked each other for months in separate campaigns, taking the stage together here for the first time.
Topics touched upon
The two candidates indulged in a series of combative, acrimonious exchanges as the battle turned personal, with the controversial real estate mogul questioning Clinton's "stamina" after her recent bout of pneumonia.
Smiling through the insults, Clinton hit back, saying: "Well, as soon as he travels to 112 countries and negotiates a peace deal, a ceasefire, a release of dissidents... or even spends 11 hours testifying in front of a congressional committee, he can talk to me about stamina."
She also landed jabs of her own to put Trump on the defensive over his temperament, refusal to release his taxes and his past comments on race and women in the debate that set netizens talking about the showdown in huge numbers. When he was being grilled for not releasing his tax returns, he responded with, "As soon as she releases them (33,000 emails deleted by her), I will release them."
Trade deals and birtherism
However, in a well-played volley, Trump attacked her on her initial support of the TPP and blamed her for her husband's singing of the The North American Free Trade Agreement, putting her on the backfoot. She later hit back that the "racist lie" perpetuated by her rival about Barack Obama of not being a natural-born citizen "bothered and annoyed" the President and was a hurtful one".
