The first round went to Clinton

A couple of weeks ago Colin Powell, a former secretary of state of the Butcher-turned-Thief of Bagdad, emerged from obscurity when he called Donald Trump an arch racist, an international pariah and an idiot for his public witch hunt in the media when he insisted that President Obama was not born on US soil. And then Trump, in a sort of anti-climax announced that Obama was born on American soil. I am sure that President Hollande of France must have chuckled through his croissant and coffee and Chancellor Merkel of Germany through her black bread and Swiss Emmental cheese and said under her breath ‘What a Dumkopf.’ Whether it was just a cathartic handing over of bigotry on the part of Trump, or because he thought he had not only damaged the Democratic cause or scored a major point, one will never know. What is obvious is that the prospect of Trump becoming president has sent waves of Existentialist Angst through the veins of Hispanic and Afro-American communities in the United States. The fact that the Bush clan and Colin Powell have decided to side with the Democrats has come as no surprise. Finally the first debate took place. It was the weirdest most acerbic debate in the history of presidential elections in the US. It was hardly a debate and more of a verbal slugging match where the two rivals poked each other with accusations and counter accusations. It went much as I expected. Clinton was composed, came prepared and stood firm. Trump toned down his belligerence, but couldn’t get rid of his mocking tone. When questioned as to why he hadn’t published his taxes and why he hadn’t paid any federal taxes for the last few years, Trump replied in his characteristic, derisive style, ‘You release your private emails and I’ll publish my tax retuns .’ All the time his eyes betrayed a celebrity’s squeamishness. Throughout the debate Trump showed atrocious bad manners by interrupting Clinton and muttering whenever she spoke. Clinton[WU1] portrayed him as a questionable businessman with few specific plans and a limited grasp of the facts and foreign policy. She accused him of racist behaviour in questioning President Obama’s birthplace. Trump retaliated by blaming Clinton for the birth and rise of the Islamic State.

“I have a feeling by the end of this evening, I’m going to be blamed for everything,” Clinton replied a little exasperated. [WU2] The general feeling among the audience was Clinton was statesmanlike and being a seasoned official with oodles of experience who was thoroughly familiar with the working of all departments of government was far more qualified to sit in the White House than somebody who comes across as a buyer and seller of real estate. I can imagine Trump on a world tour insulting female news readers by inquiring which of them was menstruating. During the slugging match Trump denied he was a racist. This was his Achilles Heel. Clinton reminded the serial insulter of the time an Afro-American family wanted to purchase an apartment in a new complex he had just built…and he denied the family a sale, which led to Trump being sued by the Justice Department. This was a difficult one to wriggle out of. Then he changed the subject and said the job of president could be handled only by a man and that Clinton didn’t have the stamina. For a woman who has trotted all over the world making friends for America and creating alliances, the remark was rather facetious. But then that is Trump who wants to reverse the deal with Iran, bomb North Korea and tell the Castro Brothers to go to hell. The poll conducted by CNN showed Clinton beating Trump by 62 to 27. One can only hope those will be the final results on November 8.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 2^nd, 2016.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.