Debate One: That Was Bloody

Wow...I had to stop watching and take a shower; that first debate between Donald and Hillary was ugly, yet was like watching a master fighter play with a cocky rookie.   Everyone knew it was going to be a train wreck, but my G-d I don't think any of us expected this.   Donald's only hope at this point is for Gary Johnson to get enough support to get a spot in the next debate, and, after Donald's performance tonight, that is looking very likely.

Donald and Hillary started off equally and each one appearing very Presidential, but Hillary came in with a game plan and was able to pull it off.   It appears to me that Trump just assumed he had it handled, but Clinton knew exactly how to play the one-on-one game and it showed.   Watching her was like watching a master angler troll the water; it was like some scripted ballet with dialogue written by SNL writers in their prime.  She didn't have to attack him;  he was a penned bull and the tight confines of the constant camera and open mike were wearing him down.   All she had to do was lay bait and wait for him to leap to it.    She didn't have to wait long.

"WRONG!"  "NO!"  "NOPE!"  Trump couldn't contain himself.  I looked at the clock and he lasted exactly 30 minutes before we all said "she got him."  From that moment on, the Presidential contender/pretender was gone and the Orange Hulk was in full SMASH! mode.  At least prize fighters get ring breaks...

The saddest part of the Trump breakdown in my not so humble opinion was that it happened before the hard subjects even started.   They began with economy and jobs which Trump had a slight advantage on to many and it was there that he blew it.    As the harder subjects came up, like race, war and terror, Trump had already lost his composure and the debate was just a sad display.   If he was going for sympathy support, he was too pathetic a sight even for that.  To Hillary's credit, she never pounced on him; she kept feeding him more and more rope and allowed him to hang himself.

Several times during the debate, I seriously questioned how serious Trump was taking this entire affair and I do still wonder if he is a plant.   He achieved the impossible and made her appear not only good but great.   She was calm in the face of endless and factless attack and remained restrained in ways that made her seem perfect.      His love of hyperbole and pitch-perfect set-ups for her quick one liner comebacks really does make the skeptic question if I watched a fight or a WWE event.   Remember: Trump does have a history with wrestling.    I wonder if he is simply just once again playing the wrestling heel to Clinton's hero.

Remember what Hunter S Thompson said:

 “There's a terrible danger in voting for the lesser of two evils because the parties can set it up that way.”

Oh, and one more:

“How many more of these stinking, double-downer sideshows will we have to go through before we can get ourselves straight enough to put together some kind of national election that will give me and the at least 20 million people I tend to agree with a chance to vote FOR something, instead of always being faced with that old familiar choice between the lesser of two evils?”

― Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72