It was a presidential debate, wounded animal edition.
Bleeding supporters and running out of time, Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump fought and clawed his way through his second debate with his Democratic rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton.
In the process, he gave his base of die-hard supporters the performance they have long wanted, but offered little for the broader audience of Americans still resistant to a Trump presidency.
In a 90-minute encounter filled with insults and interruptions, Trump employed every tactic available to try to move past the campaign-rocking video that had sent his bid into freefall 48 hours earlier.
He showed little contrition and no restraint. He diverted attention to the sex scandals in former US president Bill Clinton’s past. He went stunningly personal, claiming to see “tremendous hate” in his opponent’s heart, referring to her as “the devil” and a liar, and declaring that, if elected, he would put her in jail.
His maneuvering spared no one — not even his Republican vice presidential nominee or his own party.
“I am so disappointed in congressmen, including Republicans, for allowing this to happen,” Trump said, criticizing Republican lawmakers for their handling of the investigation into Clinton’s handling of classified e-mail.
The performance was a vivid display of what has made Trump an unstoppable force in US politics for 15 months. The New York businessman gave voice to long marginalized complaints about the Clintons. He showed he would not be cowed by the crisis or restrained by the conventional norms of civility.
Republicans hoping their badly damaged nominee might take himself out of the race were reminded they should not hold their breath.
Clinton met Trump’s wrath with dismissive smiles and eye rolls.
She began the debate in St Louis, Missouri, quoting first lady Michelle Obama: “When they go low, you go high.”
When Trump repeatedly interrupted her, Clinton chose not to protest — hoping to let her opponent hang himself with his words.
However, her strategy was arguably less effective than in their first outing. When the conversation turned to taxes, Washington politics culture or Clinton’s handling of classified e-mail as secretary of state, Trump was able to land some punches and build some momentum.
“I say it all the time. She talks about healthcare. Why didn’t she do something about it? She talks about taxes. Why didn’t she do something about it?” he said. “With her, it’s all talk and no action.”
Trump was unapologetic about his own tax record. He acknowledged for the first time that he had avoided paying personal federal income taxes for years.
Asked if he would say how many years he had avoided paying taxes, he replied: “No.”
For debate watchers not primed for the battle by conservative radio and media, it was hard to see what new — on either policy or personal trust — Trump presented.
His campaign was already trailing badly with women voters before the video, in which he can be heard describing predatory groping of women. Winning over those voters likely begins with a moment of uncharacteristic humility or candor.
However, Trump’s dismissive remarks on the episode on Sunday — “Certainly I’m not proud of it, but this is locker-room talk” — changed little from the statement he gave on Friday night, even though several Republican leaders deemed it insufficient then and publicly abandoned his campaign.
Although Republican leaders have urged him not to, the candidate could not be deterred from raising the Clinton sex scandals in his defense. With typical showmanship, he gathered three women who have accused Bill Clinton of unwanted sexual advances and sat them in the front of the town-hall style forum.
Trump offered no new policy proposals, or new fluency with issues such as healthcare or national security. Confronted with contradictions in his position and Indiana Governor Mike Pence’s comments on whether the US should be ready to use force to protect civilians in the war in Syria, Trump bluntly rebuked his running mate.
“He and I haven’t spoken, and I disagree. I disagree,” Trump said.
In some respects, Trump’s target audience was not average voters, but Republican leaders, who are in the remarkable position of deliberating whether to continue spending money and time trying to elect their own nominee.
It was unclear whether Trump’s performance helped on that front — although no more Republican officials publicly disavowed him in the immediate aftermath of the debate.
Republican leaders weighing that decision — including calculations about Trump’s effect on their prospects for holding the US senate — can be sure he will not go quietly.
Asked to name something they admire about each other as ended their sparring, Trump declared he respected Clinton’s perseverance.
“She doesn’t quit,” he said.
Neither does he.
A high-school student surnamed Yang (楊) gained admissions to several prestigious medical schools recently. However, when Yang shared his “learning portfolio” on social media, he was caught exaggerating and even falsifying content, and his admissions were revoked. Now he has to take the “advanced subjects test” scheduled for next month. With his outstanding performance in the general scholastic ability test (GSAT), Yang successfully gained admissions to five prestigious medical schools. However, his university dreams have now been frustrated by the “flaws” in his learning portfolio. This is a wake-up call not only for students, but also teachers. Yang did make a big
As former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) concludes his fourth visit to China since leaving office, Taiwan finds itself once again trapped in a familiar cycle of political theater. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has criticized Ma’s participation in the Straits Forum as “dancing with Beijing,” while the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) defends it as an act of constitutional diplomacy. Both sides miss a crucial point: The real question is not whether Ma’s visit helps or hurts Taiwan — it is why Taiwan lacks a sophisticated, multi-track approach to one of the most complex geopolitical relationships in the world. The disagreement reduces Taiwan’s
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is visiting China, where he is addressed in a few ways, but never as a former president. On Sunday, he attended the Straits Forum in Xiamen, not as a former president of Taiwan, but as a former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman. There, he met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Presumably, Wang at least would have been aware that Ma had once been president, and yet he did not mention that fact, referring to him only as “Mr Ma Ying-jeou.” Perhaps the apparent oversight was not intended to convey a lack of
A foreign colleague of mine asked me recently, “What is a safe distance from potential People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Rocket Force’s (PLARF) Taiwan targets?” This article will answer this question and help people living in Taiwan have a deeper understanding of the threat. Why is it important to understand PLA/PLARF targeting strategy? According to RAND analysis, the PLA’s “systems destruction warfare” focuses on crippling an adversary’s operational system by targeting its networks, especially leadership, command and control (C2) nodes, sensors, and information hubs. Admiral Samuel Paparo, commander of US Indo-Pacific Command, noted in his 15 May 2025 Sedona Forum keynote speech that, as
RSS