Monday, October 10, 2016

Well, That Was Easily The Craziest And Most Surreal Debate In Modern History

Author: mohaisen Category: News 9:23 AM

BuzzFeed News reporters Ben Smith, Ruby Cramer, Adrian Carrasquillo, Darren Sands, Rosie Gray, and McKay Coppins were at Washington University in St. Louis. Ema O’Connor and Dominic Holden reported from New York; Emma Loop reported from Washington, D.C., and Claudia Koerner reported from Los Angeles.

Pool / Getty Images

OK AMERICA! Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton held the most surreal U.S. presidential debate in modern history (and probably ever) Sunday night. Settle in folks, we're gonna unpack this thing for you. 💁🏾
The debate was happening amid utter upheaval in the Trump campaign: 2005 hot mic comments, revealed Friday, Trump suggested Trump sexually assaulted women. Many Republicans pulled their support for him.
So first, a digest of the night: Trump denied he's ever sexually assaulted a women; Hillary defended her speeches to big banks by citing ... Abraham Lincoln; Trump literally vowed to lock Clinton up if he became president; Trump straight-up dissed his running mate, Mike Pence; and Trump denied referencing a "sex tape" by one of his former Miss Universe contestants which, well, is a lie.
They takeaways: Clinton was unfazed in the face of aggressive personal attacks. And Trump did well enough to keep himself afloat.
The madness began before the debate even kicked off: Trump held a surprise appearance with several women who accused Bill Clinton of sexual abuse in the past. The move caught everyone — even Republican Party officials — off guard. Then the accusers sat in the crowd.
The night began with Trump being asked if he's ever sexually assaulted a woman as described in the 2005 comments — he denied it, and dismissed the whole thing as "locker room" talk.
Trump then attacked the Clintons, saying, “There’s never been anybody in the history of politics in this nation that’s been so abusive to women" about Bill and that Hillary “attacked” the accusers.
Trump, incredibly said he would appoint a prosecutor to look into Clinton if he became president. When Clinton said she was glad he wasn't in charge of national law enforcement, Trump responded "because you'd be in jail."
And, um, Trump kept creepily hovering behind Clinton during the debate. People were freaked out.
And that's not the half of it — at the end everyone just related to this dude.
Who do you think won the debate? "Take our poll."