It was an exciting debate last night, from the childish antics of Trump in the first 20 minutes to actually discussing some of the issues later on (I especially liked Hillary’s energy question response). What I thought was the biggest takeaway from the debate was how they (especially Trump) responded to the last question asked:
Becker: My question to both of you is, regardless of the current rhetoric, would either of you name one positive thing that you respect in one another?
Hillary’s response discussed the respect she had for his children with how able and devoted they are and how that reflects well on Trump—then going on to say how important this election is. I thought that was reasonable—identifying an area of respect but yet keeping well within the framework that Trump is simply not fit to be President.
Trump’s response was completely different and totally surprised me (bold italic emphasis is mine):
Trump: Well, I consider her statement about my children to be a very nice compliment. I don't know if it was meant to be a compliment, but it is a great... I'm proud of my children. They have done a wonderful job and they have been wonderful, wonderful kids. So I consider that a compliment. I will say this about Hillary.
She doesn't quit and she doesn't give up. I respect that. I tell it like it is. She is a fighter. I disagree with much of what she is fighting for, I do disagree with her judgment in many cases,
but she does fights hard and doesn't quit and she doesn’t give up, and I consider that a very good trait.
This is quite amazing—this is what Hillary has emphasized time and time again, that she is a fighter and very persistent, follows through to make sure she accomplishes what we need and definitely does not give up. To me, this almost sounds like a concession speech and not that far from an endorsement. Based on what we’ve seen about Trump, this seems to be some spontaneous, not planned, and it makes me think after this debate (and all recent events) that he really doesn’t have much hope for himself left and might be in the initial stages of understanding the impending defeat that he was have to endure.
Here’s the full transcript (easily Googleable, of course): www.politico.com/...
