Press. voanews.com
The U.S.
election cycle has featured no shortage of candidates sniping at each other,
but the attacks went to a new level Sunday with Donald Trump saying he would
launch a federal investigation against his opponent, Hillary Clinton. The scene
unfolded during their second debate as Trump added to the criticism of
Clinton's use of a private email system when she was secretary of state,
suggesting her actions amounted to an unprecedented level of deception.
Clinton called
him a liar.
"It's just
awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge
of the law in our country," she said. "Because you'd be in jail," Trump
replied. Mike Dawidziak, president of Strategic Planning and a former consultant
to President George H.W. Bush, said Trump's plan to appoint a special
prosecutor could be the biggest talking point of the debate.
"He
threatened to use the power of the presidency and the legal system if elected
to put his political opponent in jail. That's a pretty powerful
statement," Dawidziak said. "And she missed a golden opportunity to
say, 'That's the first time in a debate that I've ever been threatened.'"
Dawidziak said
there was not much new in this debate, or in their first matchup, in terms of
substance and that Sunday's event was fairly even "because it was pretty
much a mud fight." Clinton said she would revamp President Barack Obama's
landmark healthcare program. Trump said he would scrap and replace it. Both
candidates criticized each other's tax policies.
But there were
some important distinctions when it came to what is happening in Syria and
Russia's year-old role in that conflict. Last week, Republican Mike Pence said
during a vice presidential debate that if Russia continues bombing over the
northern Syrian city of Aleppo then the United States should attack Syrian
military targets in response. Trump said Sunday night he disagrees with his
running mate, stressing that he believes Syria is fighting the Islamic State
militant group and that should be a priority.
Clinton has long
advocated following current Obama administration policy of going after Islamic
State with more airstrikes, no U.S. soldiers on the ground, disrupting the
group's online propaganda efforts and cutting off the flow of foreign fighters
to Syria and Iraq. She and Trump agreed Sunday on the need for safe zones to
protect civilians, while Clinton added she would establish a no-fly zone over
Syria that Obama has resisted.
Trump also said
it would be great if the U.S. got along with Russia in order to fight Islamic
State together, Clinton described the situation in Syria as "catastrophic"
with the Syrian government and Russia bombing places like Aleppo. She said she
supports efforts to investigate both of those parties for potential war crimes.
And Trump
criticized Clinton's backing for rebels opposed to Assad, saying she does not
know who the rebels are. Trump's first mention of Islamic State on Sunday night
came when he was asked about a 2005 tape that surfaced Friday in which Trump
made lewd comments about women, including saying he can grope them because of
his status.
"Trump when
asked about the tapes right off didn’t answer the question," said Terri
Bimes, assistant director of research for the Institute of Governmental Studies
at U.C. Berkeley. "He went into this canned answer about 'Make America
Great Again.' He always has these great one liners, and he came back with that
kind of approach but he really didn’t answer the questions a lot of times, on
healthcare, on what would you do about the humanitarian disaster in Syria, he
really didn’t answer that. But I felt like he came across probably better to
his base than the first debate."
Bimes told VOA
Trump wanted to show Republican elites they should not abandon him, while
Democrats were probably disappointed Clinton "didn't knock Trump out with
this debate."
"He’s the
one I think who needs to really make up ground with the independent voters,
particularly women – most particularly moderate swing voter women he needs to
really make up ground with -- and I don’t think he did that tonight,"
Dawidziak said. "I wouldn't have rated either of her performances as being
spectacular, but they’re dependable."
Bimes said
Clinton needs to focus on the so-called swing states during the final month of
campaigning. "Trump has challenged her on stamina issues. She needs to
show that she’s an energetic campaigner. And not just do fundraisers, do
rallies and get out there, and I think with the groundwork that she’s laid with
get out the vote efforts she will be in pretty good shape."