Debate- Izzy Lobin

The presidential debate was a powerful first view of the next two months of politics. Though some of the debate's outcomes and actions were expected, others were not. The clear division of political views were quite pronounce, as were the two candidates' demeanors.
Trump came into the debate with the people believing he would either be his usual self, or the scripted Trump. Throughout, he showed that he could be the him that won him the primary, but also be restrained when necessary, most notably evident in his small one word or sentence responses to Clinton's talking. The Trump seen over the last several months would have been a lot less restrained in his outbursts, but in the debate, held himself together. Though this can definitely be viewed as a positive in terms of talking more about facts and policy than just talking, it also came around to hurt Trump. When the debate broke out into an argument, it was evident that Trump was not flowing in his thoughts. His arguments were sometimes broken into pieces or in general, just seemed off kilter. This may be attributed to his lack of usual gusto and explosiveness, which was not only restricted by the rules of the debate, but also by himself. This also made it harder for him to attack his opponent, one of his key strengths. Overall, what might be considered his biggest strength in the debate was most definitely his biggest weakness; his restraint.
Clinton was very much able to use this restraint to her advantage. Though just as composed as Trump, she obviously seemed more comfortable in the position and was able to take advantage of some of Trump's shortfalls. Besides that, Clinton's main strength was her factual correctness. After (and even during) the debate, all sorts of people were already fact checking Trump's statements. Most notable, the fact that he said he believed in global warming, but this summer Tweeted that he thought it was made up by the Chinese. By slowly talking through her own policy, Clinton managed to bait out Trump and forced him to make some quick calls in terms of what to say. Through this strategy, Clinton managed to stay in control of the debate's tempo a little better than Trump. Clinton's main weakness seemed to come in her sometimes all too awkward speaking, primarily during long talking segments in which Trump did not interrupt. Clinton also managed to cover her weaknesses (primarily the email scandal) quite well throughout the debate. In comparison to Trump's false claims, her defenses for these shortcomings were more solid, and seemed to push the debate more in her favor. Other than her sometimes scripted talking, Clinton managed to look quite good during the debate.
Overall, I believe Clinton managed to take the debate. Even though Trump was able to do what some did not think he could and restrain his character, it came back to haunt him in the form of an uncomfortable speaking pattern. Clinton's ability to take this and run with it is what I believe won her the debate, as it ended up making her look a lot better than he intended to make her look.