Given the vileness of the man she was up against, Hillary Clinton’s restraint during her first encounter with Donald Trump during yesterday’s presidential debate is admirable.
Clearly aiming to demonstrate Trump doesn’t have the ‘temperament’ for the job, Clinton stayed calm and collected during the 90-minute exchange, with most major outlets declaring it a victory for the Clinton camp. She kept her cool despite the patronising tone of her opponent who continually talked over her, repeatedly (attempted to) cut her off, and sneeringly asked if she was “ok”.
She also used the exchange to call out one of Trump’s biggest problems, his misogynistic behaviour that should (if it hasn’t already) turn off the female voting population.
“This is a man who has called women pigs, slobs and dogs,” she said. “And someone who has said pregnancy is an inconvenience to employers, who has said women don’t deserve equal pay unless they do as good a job as men.”
“And one of the worst things he said was about a woman in a beauty contest. He loves beauty contests, supporting them and hanging around them, and he called this woman ‘Miss Piggy,’ Then he called her ‘Miss Housekeeping,’ because she was Latino. Donald, she has a name. Her name is Alicia Machado.”
This was the start of Clinton’s Gender Trump Card. We can only hope that she uses it again and again – calling out Trump’s repeated sexism, outdated attitudes and the many vile comments he’s made about women.
Indeed, Trump appears to have been rattled by the debate. He later claimed the moderator had been unfair. He said he had a bad microphone. He praised himself for not going harder about the marital infidelity of Bill Clinton. “I was going to hit her with her husband’s women. And I decided I shouldn’t do it because her daughter was in the room,” he said. What a gentleman.
A few hours later he told a television appearance that he may make Bill Clinton a campaign issue, and said he was right to criticize the former Miss Universe winner Machado, over her weight.
Trump tried – starting the debate with a calm and considered tone that lasted about ten minutes – but once again his arrogance got in the way.
