If you've tuned into any of the big news outlets this morning, you've no doubt heard some talking head yakking about "Hillary's big win." If all you heard were the mainstream reviews, you'd think Clinton crushed her opponent in one of debate history's most epic beat downs. They've basically gone wall-to-wall with tales of their queen's decisive victory over an unprepared dullard.
The thing is; if she really did that well, they wouldn't need to be work so hard to sell you on it.
I'll be the first to admit that Trump's night was far from perfect. Here at CainHQ, immediately following debates, we have a little email pow-wow where we discuss our impressions with the boss. I'll tell you exactly what I told him:
Trump had a stellar 30-40 opening minutes, during which he was solidly in control of both his facts and demeanor. He came across as tough, but not unhinged, and hit her hard right out of the gate. That's good news because (if you believe the pollsters) the opening half hour is the most important part of the debate.
...And things went downhill as the night went on.
He got into the weeds on questions about his taxes and the birther issue. It was nice to hear him bring up Blumenthal's involvement in the latter, but both answers eventually fell flat. He missed also missed several opportunities to lower the boom on Clinton - particularly when he failed to relate Hillary's illegal server to the cybersecurity question.
He whiffed again when pressed on whether he was for or against the Iraq war. The correct answer to that questions was "It doesn't matter. I was a private citizen at the time. The woman next to me voted FOR the war and actually sold it to Congress via a passionate speech on the Senate floor."
Once he started playing defense, he had a hard time getting back on his feet. He did a bit better during the last 20 minutes, but his performance after the first third was undeniably shaky.
All of that said, the debate was not the knockout the press would have you believe it to be.
The one thing Trump has always had going for him is this: He says the exact things that working class people all over the country say every night at their dinner table. The media can nit-pick and fact check to their hearts content. They can overlook a biased moderator, an over-rehearsed Hillary, and painfully unfunny applause lines like "I call it Trumped-up trickle down."
The fact is, Trump's message in the first half hour will absolutely resonate with a blue collar population that feels it's been ignored - or abused - by its elected officials. It will play in rural America where the idea that America is circling the drain has taken root. I'd be shocked if anything Hillary said will move the needle among these demos - something she desperately needs to do.
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Trump's message won't do anything to help him on in elitist strongholds like New York, Chicago, L.A., and D.C., but those are lost causes anyway.
As for the media's proclamations of victory, we've all seen debates where one candidate gets crushed, puts his foot in his mouth, or blows an election with one disastrous response. However much the press may wish it had, that didn't happen last night. Trumps overall performance wasn't his strongest, but neither was it the inarguable failure the Clinton campaign needed.
At worst it was something close to a draw. Given the current polling, that's bad news for team Clinton.
If you've tuned into any of the big news outlets this morning, you've no doubt heard some talking head yakking about "Hillary's big win." If all you heard were the mainstream reviews, you'd think Clinton crushed her opponent in one of debate history's most epic beat downs. They've basically gone wall-to-wall with tales of their queen's decisive victory over an unprepared dullard.
The thing is; if she really did that well, they wouldn't need to be work so hard to sell you on it.
I'll be the first to admit that Trump's night was far from perfect. Here at CainHQ, immediately following debates, we have a little email pow-wow where we discuss our impressions with the boss. I'll tell you exactly what I told him:
