ST. LOUIS – The presidential forum between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton at Washington University in St. Louis delivered early on the drama that the country anticipated since Friday.
After tapes and audio emerged Oct. 7 of Trump explaining in blunt detail about his history with groping women and attempting to seduce married women, thousands of press and millions of Americans watched as he faced off against Clinton, the first female head of a major party’s presidential ticket.
Before the debate, the Washington University campus reveled in the spotlight as politicos, staffers, secret service members, law enforcement officials and journalists flooded the campus in droves. A small fair with booths sprung up to commemorate the moment. Amongst large sets for MSNBC and FOX News on the quad, students held signs supporting their favorite candidates, advocating for causes, or simply making jokes. One sign Saturday even called it “Washington University’s College Gameday,” referencing the ESPN pre-game show for College Football.
But as the sun set on St. Louis around 6:40 p.m, a sense of anticipation filled the press room as an estimated 3,000 journalists sat at their laptops intently listening to the beginning of the debate.
When Clinton refused to shake hands with Trump, it set a tone that indicated that it would not be a civil contest.
The first question sated the nation’s thirst for the confrontation. After both answered a member of the audience’s question about appropriate behavior, moderator Anderson Cooper asked Trump if his words meant that he had sexually assaulted women in the past.
“I don’t think you understand what I said. This was locker room talk,” Trump said before pivoting to nastiness committed by ISIS. “You have ISIS chopping off heads, drowning people in steel cages… This is like medieval times.”
Clinton was quick to attack after Trump finished speaking, saying his comments were demeaning and dangerous to women and his apology issued Friday night was not sincere.
“What we all saw and heard on Friday was Donald talking about women, what he thinks about women, what he does to women,” she said. “I think it’s clear to anyone who heard [the tape], he represents exactly who he is.
“He never apologizes for anything to anyone.”
After the debate, Brian Fallon, Clinton’s press secretary, agreed with that assessment.
“I don’t think he was accountable on those comments,” Fallon said. “He dismissed it as locker room talk, and that will keep it alive in the coming days and we’ll continue to draw attention to it because I don’t think he properly took responsibility for it.”
While the exchange and back-and-forth between the two candidates occurred, it was punctuated by awkward moments. At one point, Trump threatened to throw Clinton in jail if he became president, he leered at her as she answered a question, and he consistently called out the moderators on time – claiming he was fighting a “one versus three” battle.
Clinton fumbled as well as Trump brought up scandals in which she had been untoward to victims of rape and sexual assault. He alleged that she had attacked women who had accused her husband of having affairs with them and brought up an incident in which she laughed when discussing a rape victim when she worked as a public defender. She only blew off these attacks as lies and untruths but did not comprehensively respond to them.
Before the forum, Trump held a short press conference with some of those alleged victims.
Beyond that, the forum hit at a wide-range of issues from tax policy to health care policy and ObamaCare as well as the humanitarian and geopolitical crisis in Syria and terrorism.
When it came to these questions, Missouri Congressman Jason Smith, one of Trump’s representatives in the Spin Alley in the press room, said that Trump came out on top.
“When you talk about repealing Obamacare and replacing it with our plan that promotes free markets and competition, making sure there are no state lines so there’s more competition, that’s part of the Better Way Initiative that the House Republicans submitted just this summer,” he said. “These are things Donald Trump was speaking of that we need.”
Before the debate, U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill said the candidates’ stances on the issues should drive the debate and that Clinton’s experience in government gave her a leg up.
“Trump has been long on bombastic rhetoric and short on actual plans,” she said. “I think once again, she should show that she’s the serious person when it comes to being commander and chief and having the grasp of the real, complicated policy.”
