What will the first debate be like?

[pppolitics]

What will the first debate be like?

I hope that they talk about real issues instead of, for example, Hillary's email.

[Penelope]

A living nightmare.

[heatcharger]

Based on the Lauer forum I wouldn't be surprised if the first question is about emails.

[Averroës Nix]

The only prediction that I will hazard is that it will leave most of us feeling embarrassed for our country and afraid of our future.

[Hermit For Peace]

I don't think I'll watch. I'm just going to come here and read the comments, and look at clips in the news. I really don't want to waste my time because I feel like that's what I would be doing. Trump cheats and throws low blows and is frankly a joke. I've got better things to do with my time.

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

I'm worried that it will be composed of either 1) grilling them on their respective scandals, or 2) Clinton and Trump shooting insults back and forth. What I want is an actual debate of the issues. I also want Clinton to make some sort of subtle appeal to potential Johnson voters.

[Xing]

Emails, Hillary's health, "deplorables", and maybe a question about the wall. It's probably going to be an embarrassment, and show that the media has no interest in political discourse, and instead wants a cage match.

[Warren 4 Secretary of Everything]

I have hope that Lester Holt and the NBC higher-ups took the backlash at Lauer and his forum's format and questioning to heart and will appropriately course-correct. The media already has their horse-race narrative thanks to deplorables/pneumonia-gate and are probably looking for a new narrative and will either spin the debate as a yuuuuuge Trump win or a yuuuuuge Hillary win. No in between.

[SaneDemocrat]

Hillary tries to get trump to say something insane.trump wins as a symptom of lowered expectations.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Considering the tendency of this place to overreact... I think it's best to steer clear for 48 hours.

[Inmate Trump]

The media will focus negatively against Hillary no matter who performs best.

Trump will get easy questions, none of which will focus on his scandals and constant lies, nor his blatant racism.  Clinton will get hard to answer questions, mostly about her "scandals," while Trump constantly interrupts her so that no one actually hears her answers--and the moderators will allow him to hijack the debate.

[Ronnie]

I don't think I'll watch. I'm just going to come here and read the comments, and look at clips in the news. I really don't want to waste my time because I feel like that's what I would be doing. Trump cheats and throws low blows and is frankly a joke. I've got better things to do with my time.

Liar.  You're going to watch it like the rest of us, and you know it.

[pppolitics]

The media will focus negatively against Hillary no matter who performs best.

Trump will get easy questions, none of which will focus on his scandals and constant lies, nor his blatant racism.  Clinton will get hard to answer questions, mostly about her "scandals,"

...pretty much what Matt Lauer did at the forum

while Trump constantly interrupts her so that no one actually hears her answers--and the moderators will allow him to hijack the debate.

^this

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

My prediction:

Clinton is a little too forced and rote on some of her answers, but makes no real mistakes. She displays clear, if civil, contempt for Trump's idiocy. (Her partisans love her for it.)

Trump comes across as a sub-moron spewing word-salad with confidence, and only a little deniable dog-whistling,  instead of the brain-damaged and insult-flinging Hitler clone everyone expects. (His partisans love it, and say he's "Presidential".)

The candidates supporters will each be convinced their side won, mainstream mediaeyeball whores will say Trump won.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

OK - I take it back, they're already overreacting.

[pho]

Clinton: Something about racism and division followed by a vague but serious enough policy proposal. Repeat.

Trump: Disaster! Sad! Disaster! Believe me! Repeat.

[Classic Conservative]

Who even knows at the point but I'll grab some popcorn and a soda.

[longtimelurker]

Lester Holt asks Trump a question about Social Security.  Trumps talks about emails.
Lester Holt asks Trump a question about job creation.  Trumps talks about Benghazi.
Lester Holt requests Trump answer the questions that are posed to him.  Trump calls Holt a biased liberal who's part of the MSM conspiracy to rig the election for Clinton.  Half of the country agrees with Trump.

[Hermit For Peace]

I don't think I'll watch. I'm just going to come here and read the comments, and look at clips in the news. I really don't want to waste my time because I feel like that's what I would be doing. Trump cheats and throws low blows and is frankly a joke. I've got better things to do with my time.

Liar.  You're going to watch it like the rest of us, and you know it.

Nope. Depending on how the first debate comes out I might watch the second one. If Trump is serious about debating and not just throwing trash around, that is....we'll see.

[Hermit For Peace]

The media will focus negatively against Hillary no matter who performs best.

Trump will get easy questions, none of which will focus on his scandals and constant lies, nor his blatant racism.  Clinton will get hard to answer questions, mostly about her "scandals," while Trump constantly interrupts her so that no one actually hears her answers--and the moderators will allow him to hijack the debate.

This sounds about right.  Trump will be able to give non-answers to any policy questions, which the moderators will not press him on.  Meanwhile Clinton will give very thoughtful and precise answers to hard policy questions and the moderators will rag her for not giving simple yes/no answers to complex situations.

The reason the moderators won't press Trump for answers is that it's futile. They won't get anything worth listening to and they'll just look foolish trying. Trump gets away with this kind of behavior time and again everywhere he goes.

And the reason they will rag on Hillary for her answers is because her answers are too detailed and that's just not good enough. Nothing she does is ever good enough.

It will be the double standard working in top form.



 

[Eraserhead]

I don't know but I'm glad I'll be able to enjoy it as a blood sport seeing as I'm not a supporter of either candidate. The 2012 debates were nerve-racking.

[BaldEagle1991]

Go watch Maury or Jerry Springer.

It'll be like that.

[pppolitics]

Who even knows at the point but I'll grab some popcorn and a soda.

Would you pass me some?

[Ronnie]

The first minute and twenty seconds of this song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wai3pwVs_ms

[PeteB]

Trump's strategy:  Attack Clinton on emails and trust factor, showing that if voters have any reservations about him, they should still pick Trump, as the lesser of two evils.  Try and explain his immigration and economic plan in general terms and avoid answering any complex questions!  Above all, get a zinger, an unforced error from Clinton or a "gotcha" moment, that will resonate with the audience and work against her.

Clinton's strategy: Attack her opponent on his ability to be POTUS and try to provoke Trump into saying something offensive, derogatory or just plain stupid.  Show knowledge and answer questions in detail, hoping there are enough non-reality-TV voters left who will understand the difference between her and Trump, in terms of capacity to lead the nation.  Avoid topics like Benghazi and emails.