Trump fails to seize upper hand
When we editorialized on Sept. 11 about Republican Donald Trump’s quest for the presidency, we said that “his three upcoming debates with Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton offer him the perfect opportunity to show his strengths.”
The first debate has now happened, and it was not good for Trump.
Clinton was strong. Trump was impulsive, constantly on defense, showing little mastery of policy or facts.
We wanted him to be presidential. We saw him frequently try to stop losing ground by speaking over Clinton with “I did not say that,” or a childish “Not!” or “Ugh” or “You’re wrong.”
He rambled too often and gave little help to undecided voters.
During a discussion of the war in Iraq, which he insisted he had opposed, he claimed to have “much better judgment” than Clinton.
“There’s no question about that,” Trump said. “I also have much better temperament than she has, you know?”
On a night when Clinton often calmly stood by and let Trump hang himself with his own flustered words, he claims better judgment?
When Clinton defended the NATO alliance, extolled her days as secretary of state negotiating with Russia and China for sanctions on Iran and condemned Trump’s “cavalier attitude” about nuclear proliferation, Trump offered only a schoolyard retort: “It’s lies.”
We still hope that Trump will demonstrate his presidential character before the Nov. 8 election. There are still six weeks of campaign time and two more Trump-Clinton debates. We’ll continue to watch.
Before, during and after Monday night’s debate, Trump praised himself for restraint in not pursuing one line of argument against Clinton — dropping clues that what he had in mind was former President Bill Clinton’s marital indiscretions — and said he might bring it up at the next debate.
Please. After decades of hearing about the Clinton marriage, we are looking for presidential timbre, not another drag through the mud.
This story was originally published September 27, 2016 at 5:46 PM with the headline "Trump fails to seize upper hand."