Dear Commons Community,

Last night was an ugly evening for Americans as they watched nastiness between the two candidates most of which was instigated by Donald Trump. As the New York Times editorial today stated:  Trump went “low” in his attacks and most of the debate stayed there.  I did not find either candidate inspirational as the person I would look up to as the leader of our country but Hillary at least could put together coherent comments about policy.  Trump proved once again that he cannot and lambasted her even threatened to put her in jail if he is elected.

Hillary Clinton presented herself as calm most of the evening although she appeared a bit ill at ease over Trump’s comments about her deleted emails.  She fumbled over a wikileaks question that she says one thing in public and something else in private.     She also suggested that Trump and the audience go to her website to fact-check a number of points that Trump made – perhaps doing this a few too many times.

Trump paced around the stage, interrupted a lot, criticized the moderators, and had breathing problems again while speaking into the microphone.  However, he did better than in the first debate, appealed to his base, and stopped the bleeding for his campaign which resulted from tapes that emerged on Friday about how he treats women.

For me the winner of the evening was Carl Becker,  a member of the audience,  who asked the last question of the candidates:  Name one thing positive thing that you respect the other candidate for?   Clinton mentioned Trump’s children and how they have grown up.  Trump referred to Clinton as a fighter who doesn’t quit or give up.

And it continues!

Tony