2016 Sept 27^th

The first debate is over and the win goes to Hillary Clinton, unless, of course you are a Trump supporter, in which case the winner was Donald Trump.

Trump avoided making a total fool of himself, but he did come close. At one point he claimed Hillary Clinton didn’t look presidential. Then, realizing that he was already in trouble with women voters claimed that he meant that she didn’t have the stamina to be president. Clinton reminded him of the miles she had flown, the treaties she had negotiated and the eleven hours she had been forced to testify to a Republican Benghazi committee, and then she told Trump once he had done that that he could talk to her about stamina. Congressman Gowdy who led those Benghazi hearings that lasted eleven hours did not expect his posturing would supply Clinton with such a fine riposte to Trump.

The candidates performed predictably. Trump could not shut up, even talking over the moderator when he was reminded that his time was up. He had no hesitation interrupting Hillary Clinton or doing his mugging when he wasn’t talking over her.

For Clinton’s part she was well prepared, smiled pleasantly, talked about her family’s hard times when she was a child, but probably got little sympathy for that story.

This morning on Morning Joe, Kellyanne Conway was on the spot defending her employer. The duck ‘n’ dodger very cleverly attempted to turn Clinton’s preparation to her disadvantage by claiming that Clinton was over prepared and scripted while Trump was completely extemporaneous. Well, she had to say something but that was a bit lame. The debate has now been analyzed well beyond any reasonable person’s caring. For example, one analyst counted 51 interruptions of Clinton by Trump compared to 17 interruptions of Trump by Clinton. We will have to wait a few days but I don’t believe the debate, interesting as it was for the political fanatics, will change any votes.

One strange thing emerged  from Trump’s performance: Trump has a tendency to “sniff.” What’s that about? Every so often while he is talking, he snuffles as if his nasal passages are over moist, but not enough to require the use of a handkerchief. This was noticeable enough to produce a number of post-debate comments. When asked about it Trump claimed it was the fault of a poorly adjusted microphone. That is a truly silly explanation; a mic can’t pick up what isn’t there.

Another explanation offered by Howard Dean, a former DNC chairperson, Vermont governor, and a physician as well, is that Trump could be dealing with an old cocaine habit, or perhaps a current one. It’s not just the sniffing but other aspects of Trump’s behavior ads credibility to Dean’s speculation. Maureen Dowd was interviewed and asked about Dean’s speculation. She thought it was silly because Trump didn’t drink or smoke. Dowd apparently believes such abstemious behavior with alcohol and tobacco make him immune to the appeal of coke. Oh well!