Reactions: Conservatives Split On Debate Winner, Liberals and MSM Grant Clinton Victory
Tonight’s first of three presidential debates was a combination of personal attacks, policy arguments and even occasional policy agreements. Conservatives were split over who won, while liberals and mainstream commentators seemed to agree that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton beat her Republican opponent, Donald Trump.
Here’s a non-exhaustive, largely random sampling of Tweet and Facebook reactions to the debate:
Still think the 400lb hacker was the weirdest moment of the night.
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) September 27, 2016
Agree with Steve Schmidt: Debate will likely halt Hillary's slide in the polls.#debatenight
— Matt Mackowiak (@MattMackowiak) September 27, 2016
https://twitter.com/hunterw/status/780602616858288128
Trump says, again, in the spin room that he's "very proud" he forced Obama to release his birth certificate. #debatenight
— Jessica Taylor (@JessicaTaylor) September 27, 2016
Barf-Media asking Trump about pointless crap. Yet berate his debate performance. They are really no better.
— Craig Robinson (@IowaGOPer) September 27, 2016
#Breaking: Hillary supporters think Hillary won. Trump supporters think Trump won.
— Barry Gadbois (@BarryGadbois) September 27, 2016
I'd feel sorry for him if he wasn't a spoiled, racist, misogynistic, immigrant-hating, dictator-lover.https://t.co/N72B2laN2Y
— @adamjentleson.bsky.social (@AJentleson) September 27, 2016
She was not good, as usual. Staid, rehearsed, unlikeable. People could easily have tuned in early & thought Trump was fine. #debatenight
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) September 27, 2016
"He took the bait every single time….There were times when….he almost lost track of the point he was making." @chucktodd
Exactly.
— Jon Ralston (@RalstonReports) September 27, 2016
The media had no problem with 8 years of "Bush is not my president!" Now their panties are bunched. https://t.co/cOii24Iffc
— Derek Hunter (@derekahunter) September 27, 2016
LIVE: @RealJasonWert says @LesterHoltNBC threw away his journalistic integrity to benefit #Hillary tonite. #debatenight
— Joe Messina (@joemessina) September 27, 2016
Was there ever a time Trump didn't take the bait? The guy has a total inability to control his impulses. Let's give him the nuclear button.
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) September 27, 2016
https://twitter.com/gabrielmalor/status/780607184929513472
If you are a Trump supporter and are unhappy with the debate, blame Trump. He could have — should have –done better.
— Stuart Rothenberg (@StuPolitics) September 27, 2016
Biggest factor in #debatenight nonverbal communication? The #splitscreen
— Beverly Hallberg (@BeverlyHallberg) September 27, 2016
https://twitter.com/davidgregory/status/780608622673989632
https://twitter.com/JayCostTWS/status/780605656592224256
https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/780606030493446144
https://twitter.com/SharylAttkisson/status/780601400166322176
https://twitter.com/ellencarmichael/status/780603154492641280
Trump says she's being mean to him. What in the world is he thinking? https://t.co/p1BZLeg4EQ
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) September 27, 2016
https://twitter.com/advodude/status/780605324549951490
https://www.facebook.com/brad.tidwell1/posts/10103133386360411
https://www.facebook.com/seth.w.banks/posts/10100581890718577
https://www.facebook.com/ezraklein/posts/10154604825988410
Maybe this tweet from Matt Makowiak sums up the results of the evening:
Before and after the #PresidentialDebate: searches by US state for @HillaryClinton & @realDonaldTrumphttps://t.co/c3Eqtco5Je pic.twitter.com/Ekt9E3d13B
— GoogleTrends (@GoogleTrends) September 27, 2016
Or as TheBlaze blogger Matt Walsh described “tonight’s horrific spectacle” on Facebook:
For the first 30 minutes, Trump was great. In fact I was legitimately impressed. He put Hillary on the defensive and she responded by cackling and stammering and flashing an evil grin like Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Hillary is absolutely awful when you take her off her script. She knows how to do what she practiced, but she doesn’t know how to respond like a regular human person when she’s backed into a corner.
Unfortunately, the debate was not 30 minutes. It was 90 minutes. And those last 60 were a disaster for Trump. Period. And if you want him to win, you need to criticize him now and stop pretending everything he touches is gold. Or he will lose. Badly. That’s the situation. Time to deal with it.