Who Lost The Second US Presidential Debate?

As drawer of the shortest straw, it falls on this lucky correspondent to watch the second American Presidential debate taking place in St. Louis, Missouri, at 6:30 am IST.

After all at Newslaundry, our unofficial motto is, we watch/read dire things, so you don’t have to. This debate, moderated by flawlessly coiffed CNN anchor Anderson Cooper and Martha Raddatz of ABC News, follows the townhall format. This means that unlike the previous debate, there will be no podium for the speakers to proselytise at, and more importantly allows for audience questions, albeit pre-vetted and screened.

The concerns of the last debate were that Republican Nominee Donald Trump had to stop lying (and following the 2005 hot mic debacle, perhaps the GOP wishes he hadn’t) and that Democratic Nominee Hillary Clinton (whose own email scandal has followed her the length of this election) was overprepared (zealousness and preparation are apparently frowned on when it comes to holding positions in the government).

And while policy, unemployment, police shootings, and immigration have been the core of their respective platforms, what has really shaked up the polls is the recording of Trump advocating sexual assault.

As Republicans rush to condemn and distance themselves from him, including his own vice presidential pick, astute readers are aware that this is nothing new under the sun for Donald Trump. If his past actions and comments on women, African Americans, Mexicans, and immigrants is anything to go by, Trump continues to be #TRUETOHISBRAND.

And so, with one plate of reheated momos, a glass of subpar gin, the second 2016 US Presidential Debate Highlights:
Prior to the debate, Trump hosted a media event where he brought forward three women who have accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault or rape and one woman, raped as a child, whose assailant Hillary Clinton defended, as court mandated, in 1973. This was the strategy he had admitted to eschewing during the first debate.

Surprising no one, the candidates did not shake hands at the start of the debate.

Asked about his comments on the video that had surfaced, Trump dismissed it as “locker room” banter, compared Bill Clinton’s treatment of women as “far worse,“ before ineptly segueing into an explanation of ISIS.

Clinton did not respond to Trump’s allegations on the behaviour of her husband, other than to comment they were “inaccurate.”

Trump also disagreed with his vice-presidential nominee Governor Mike Pence on Syria, claiming they hadn’t spoken.

“She didn’t interrupt you. Please allow her to respond,” Cooper interjected at one point, perhaps aware that Clinton had been interrupted 70 times at the last debate. In fact, Trump interrupted her six times in a one-minute period for a grand total of 18.

Clinton was forced to explain her use of a private email server as secretary of state. An explanation that was found wanting, “If you did that in the private sector, you’d be put in jail, let alone after getting a subpoena from the United States Congress,” Trump said.

A point he’d go on to repeat. He told Clinton, if he were president, she’d be in jail (keeping Trump in the fine company of leaders who have jailed their opponents such as Putin, Mugabe and Pinochet).

Perhaps, the strangest question was the one that brought the evening (or morning) to a close. An audience member asked the two candidates what they admired most about each other.

“His children,” Clinton deftly answered. Trump called her a fighter saying, “She doesn’t give up. I consider that to be a very good trait.”

However, the many subjects that did not come up were racial tensions in the US, the refugee crisis, gun control and women’s sexual and reproductive rights, despite being the divisive platform for both parties.

As to who won the debate insofar as these things can be considered in such terms? CNN attributes the victory to Clinton, others, to Trump.

Caption: Despite having the look of a Christmas duet, this debate was akin to an underground rap battle, only meaner.

But as to who lost? We did, every one of us who was up, woke up, and stayed up. The US elections continue to hurtle past the point of existing tracks. Nothing has changed, no one’s vote base has dislodged, and one reporter is simply out the cost of cheap gin.