Connor Touhey
Senior majoring in political science, history and journalism.
Well…that happened.
If this debate didn’t convince people that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is the better candidate for President of the United States, we are in deeper trouble than I realized.
After what felt like six hours of debating, this night boiled down to one thing: Donald Trump doesn’t know what the hell is going on.
From start to finish, he was unable to give a single real, competent policy proposal, nor was he able to adequately defend any of the dozens of ridiculous, bigoted statements he has made in the past. Every issue raised during the night resulted in Trump desperately lying his ass off.
But all that aside, maybe the most telling moment of the night was Trump’s statement on his long-held “birther” beliefs.
As most people probably have heard, Trump recently “dropped” his argument that President Obama was not a natural born citizen of the United States. He admits that he did so solely because it was a distraction from his campaign, not, of course, because it’s a preposterous lie molded out of delusional hate and racism.
Badgers, tonight, Donald Trump claimed that he let go of the birther issue when President Obama released his birth certificate 5 years ago. That’s just untrue.
Donald Trump claimed that the birther argument was constructed by Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign. That is also untrue.
He has again and again questioned President Obama’s legitimacy as an American citizen every year he has been in the political spotlight. In fact, he built his political career on it.
But overall, what this first debate showed me is that a private email server, a pneumonia diagnosis, or a fairly moderate political record don’t matter. This election is about preventing Donald Trump, who is clearly not in touch with reality and doesn’t seem to have even the slightest regard for the truth, out of the White House.
Clinton campaign response to health issue calls honesty into question
Yet, just because he is a billionaire and “not a politician,” millions will ignore the dozens of lies, conspiracy theories and hate that he floated in this debate alone.
They’ll vote for him no matter what he says or does. That is terrifying and I hope everyone who goes to this school is smart enough to know better.
Please, Badgers, dear Lord, don’t vote for Donald Trump.
Connor Allen
Junior majoring economics and history.
Near the end of tonight’s debate, Donald Trump referred to President Obama as “your president” when speaking to Hillary Clinton. Of all the outlandish things Donald Trump has said throughout this campaign, this strikes me as arguably the worst thing he has said.
By referring to President Obama as “your president” instead of “our president,” Donald Trump portrayed our country’s first African-American president as only representing part of America. This type of rhetoric embodies the divisive and racist nature of the Donald Trump campaign.
I thought the birther conspiracy, championed by Donald Trump, would represent the most offensive thing I would ever hear in regards to President Obama. Yet somehow tonight Donald Trump managed to top it.
While both candidates stood on stage making the case for why they deserved to represent this entire country as our next president, Donald Trump declared that our current president didn’t represent all of America. How can Trump make the case that he has the capability to unite and lead this country when he refuses to acknowledge our current president as his president?
A vital part of the American political system lies in maintaining the legitimacy of our elections and in turn the legitimacy of our elected officials. Donald Trump’s refusal to acknowledge President Barack Obama as his president represents another case of Donald Trump segregating Obama from other presidents.
No other president would be disrespected in that way and Donald Trump did so only because of the color of Obama’s skin. No other explanation exists for this type of disrespectful language toward our President.
Unfortunately this mindset toward Obama exists in a significant portion of the American populace. Donald Trump represents this portion of America and I, in every way, reject that mindset.
Yet even with my rejection of all things Donald Trump stands for, if in 43 days the American populace votes in favor of Donald Trump I will, however reluctantly, call him our president, my president. Regrettably, Donald Trump doesn’t have enough respect for our first black president to do the same.
Christoph Bruning
Junior majoring in journalism and history.
Early in the first presidential debate, Trump and Clinton sparred on the issue of taxation, which has been one of the most divisive policy points between the major campaigns throughout the 2016 election cycle.
Trump’s tax policies tie into his greater points of job creation and opposition to free trade and outsourcing. Trump noted he would reduce corporate tax rates from 35 to 15 percent, saying it would stop companies from moving to the United States to Mexico and China and increase domestic job creation.
“They [other countries] are giving tax incentives, those are things we don’t do,” said Trump. “My tax cuts are going to be the largest since Ronald Reagan, and I’m very proud of it.”
Clinton countered Trump’s tax proposals saying, “I call it Trumped up trickle-down…I don’t think top-down works in America,” referencing Ronald Reagan’s well-known platform of providing tax cuts to the wealthy and businesses in the 1980’s. She continued, “his tax plan would blow up the debt by five trillion dollars…we would lose three and a half trillion dollars.”
Clinton stated that her proposals, which include tax increases on the wealthy to make them ‘pay their fair share’ and government ‘investment,’ would ultimately create 10 million jobs and support a strong economy with a thriving middle class.
Regardless of which side you support, taxation will continue to be a major issue during this election cycle and election cycles to come.
