As we come down to our final candidates America’s next question is who will step into the White House in November? Donald Trump, Republican, and Hillary Clinton, Democrat, faced off Monday night on September 26th, for the first Presidential debate. Both candidates brought up many topics and concerns with their own solutions.
Before he entered the Presidential Campaign, Trump was a billionaire real estate mogul and reality television personality. Now that he is the Republican nominee, Trump has preached over time that he plans to build a wall along the Southern U.S. border with Mexico sending all illegal Mexican immigrants out of the U.S. and plans on making Mexico pay for said wall. Trump also has spoken of banning all Muslims from entering the United States as he claimed “all Muslims are terrorists.” Trump also plans to strengthen our nation’s military and remove ISIS using military force. For the people, Trump promises he wants to remove ObamaCare and Common Care to replace it with something “terrific.” He wants to save Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security without cutting benefits for Americans. Trump finally wants to defund Planned Parenthood and make medical marijuana widely available throughout the U.S. with the exception of letting states choose if they want to legalize marijuana for their state.
Before Clinton entered the race, she was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2001 and she became the first American first lady to ever win a public office seat. She later became the 67th U.S. secretary of state in 2009, serving until 2013. In 2016, she became the first woman in U.S. history to become the presidential nominee of a major political party. Now that she is the Democrat nominee, Clinton has planned out her promises if she becomes the first female President of the United States. Overtime Clinton has promised equal pay for working women in the U.S. and to increase minimum wage for all U.S. employees. She wants to raise Social Security benefits for citizens who receive them. Clinton wants to make public universities tuition free to majority of U.S. citizens who want an upper-level education. For students who already are out of college, she plans to cut and restructure student debt for those who are still working to pay off their debts. Clinton has however said some promises that many citizens do not want for the nation. She wants the rich to pay for public programs with the money they already have for people who do not have that sort of money. Clinton is also striving to remove military-style weapons off the streets, effecting with the U.S. Second Amendment, “The Right to Bear Arms.”
After watching the debate many people had something to say about our presidential candidates. RCB History Teacher Eric Post thinks it has been one of the most “interesting” elections since 1968 (Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey). “The debate shows the establishment versus the newcomer. It’s pulling up a lot of background from both sides of the candidates,” Post said. Post believed Trump struggled more in the debate compared to his debut during the Presidential Primary. “There was less audience interaction for Mr. Trump than in the Primary and that’s why I felt he had a harder time presenting during the debate.”
Students also shared their own input of the candidate’s performances during the debate. RCB Senior Camden Cutlip shared his opinion on both candidates. “I think Clinton did a great job at portraying Trump as incompetent during the debate.” Cutlip said. Cutlip believes both candidates are unfit for the position of President of the United States. “I do not like either of them but if I had to vote for one it would have to be for Hillary.” RCB Junior Ethan Meighen would have to back up Cutlip’s statement as Meighen dislikes both candidates in the race. “I honestly don’t care about politics but I do not want any of them to win.” Meighen said. Both Cutlip and Meighen are not looking forward to see what November brings them when Election Day hits the calendar and people go to the polls to vote for the 45th U.S. President.