The first presidential debate viewing party of the general election was hosted by the Hopkins College Democrats, the College Republicans, IDEAL and JHUnions in Nolan’s on Monday. The debate, moderated by NBC’s Lester Holt, was broadcast live in the dining facility. Debate topics included the economy, race and national security.
Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton began by reiterating promises to create a fairer economy. These included an increase in the minimum wage, equal pay, family leave, affordable child care, debt-free college and an end to corporate loopholes.
“First, we have to build an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top. That means we need new jobs, good jobs, with rising incomes,” Clinton said. “We also have to make the economy fairer. That starts with raising the national minimum wage and also guarantee, finally, equal pay for women’s work.”
Republican nominee Donald Trump focused on outsourcing of American jobs.
“Our jobs are fleeing the country. They’re going to Mexico... You look at what China is doing to our country in terms of making our product. They’re devaluing their currency, and there’s nobody in our government to fight them,” Trump said. “Because they’re using our country as a piggy bank to rebuild China, and many other countries are doing the same thing.”
He also promised to reduce taxes while decreasing the debt and rebuilding infrastructure.
“We’re a serious debtor nation. And we have a country that needs new roads, new tunnels, new bridges, new airports, new schools, new hospitals,” Trump said.
President of the Hopkins College Democrats senior Cynthia Hadler said that Trump is good at formulating a convincing anti-free-trade message.
“He advanced by creating scapegoats, whether it be Mexico, China or different trade deals,” Hadler said. “But at the same time, it’s not a zero-sum game. Trade is mutually beneficial.”
On the issue of race, Trump repeated his “law and order” slogan and advocated stop-and-frisk as an way to reduce crime.
“We have gangs roaming the street... Right now our police, in many cases, are afraid to do anything. We have to protect our inner cities, because African-American communities are being decimated by crime,” he said. “Whether or not in a place like Chicago you do stop-and-frisk... It brought the crime rate way down.”
Hadler thought Trump was out of touch with voters.
“It’s really problematic to paint their entire existence as this war-zone tragedy,” Hadler said. “He’s out of touch, and he doesn’t know how to reach those voters, resonate with them or fix the problem.”
Clinton advocated fixing mandatory minimum sentences, creating more second chance programs, ending private prisons in federal and state systems and enacting background checks and bans on certain weapon classes.
“Race remains a significant challenge in our country. Unfortunately, race still determines too much, often determines where people live, determines what kind of education in their public schools they can get, and, yes, it determines how they’re treated in the criminal justice system,” Clinton said. “We’ve got to address the systemic racism in our criminal justice system. We cannot just say law and order. We have to come forward with a plan that is going to divert people from the criminal justice system, deal with mandatory minimum sentences.”
Hadler, however, mentioned the multi-determinate causes of systematic racism and questioned whether it could be fixed with legislation.
“You have to fix the cycle of poverty. You have to fix racial biases in law enforcement and judicial courts. And I don’t think there’s law that can fix racial issues or gender issues... You just have to talk about it until you’re blue in the face,” Hadler said.
For the theme of “Securing America,” Clinton discussed the need to defend America against both commercial and state hackers and to cooperate with NATO and other allies to address terrorism.
Trump blamed Clinton and Obama for constructing a power vacuum that allowed for the creation of Daesh. He suggested working with NATO, although he reiterated that the United States cannot continue to support the costs of the alliance if other member nations do not pay.
The audience at Nolan’s generally seemed to favor Clinton. Several of Clinton’s lines, especially those concerning race and the prison system, were met with applause.
Trump was never applauded and was occasionally met with laughter, in particular when he spoke about his temperament.
“I have a much better temperament than [Clinton] does,” Trump said. “I think my strongest asset, maybe by far, is my temperament.”
Sophomore Rachel Long did not agree with Trump’s self-evaluation.
“Donald Trump says Hillary Clinton doesn’t have policies, but he’s the one who doesn’t,” she said.
Sophomore Caroline Lupetini agreed.
“I think Hillary’s much more composed,” she said. “She’s just letting him talk himself into a hole.”
Samantha Hardy, a sophomore Republican, thought that the debate was unproductive.
“The presidential debate was not as productive, or even as entertaining, as I thought it would be,” she wrote in an email to The News-Letter. “Both candidates said what was expected of them.”
Freshman Anna Gordon had a somewhat more positive outlook on Trump
“He was a lot more poised than I expected,” she said. “But, that doesn’t mean I like him. I don’t think he’s doing well. I think relative to how he did in the GOP debates he’s much calmer.”
Earlier on Tuesday, the JHU College Republicans endorsed Trump’s candidacy. In their announcement they stressed that the decision does not reflect the individual opinions of club members. The post on Facebook garnered strong reactions on social media with 34 shares and 121 ‘reactions’ at the time of print.
The viewing party for the vice presidential debate will be held on Oct. 2 in Nolan’s.
