In Debate, a Reeling Donald Trump Regains His Footing GOP candidate gets back on his feet following setbacks from videotape scandal and Republican backlash: Gerald Seib
Donald Trump entered Sunday night’s debate both lacerated and liberated.
He had been lacerated by the release of a now infamous videotape in which he talked about how he seduces women, including married women.
And he was liberated by essentially declaring his independence from the Republican party and its leading figures, many of whom abandoned him over the release of that tape.
So the question approaching an epic presidential debate Sunday night was whether, in this new phase, a liberated Donald Trump could stop the bleeding and get back on his feet. In the first half hour, that seemed unlikely. But then, over the next hour, he appeared to succeed.
In those raucous opening minutes, Hillary Clinton declared that Mr. Trump isn’t fit to be president of the United States. In return, he promised that, if he is elected, he will order his attorney general to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate her.
And those were only the highlights of an opening phase that was simply shocking in the intense nature of the personal attacks between the two people vying to become the next president of the United States. And that seemed unlikely to allow him to recover.
Then a different kind of debate evolved—one that was still pointed and nasty, but substantive.
Mr. Trump, who had seemed on his heels at the outset, recovered to deliver an effective critique of President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul. He defended his seemingly friendly attitude toward Russian President Vladimir Putin by saying simply that it’s worth getting along with Russia if the Kremlin will help attack Islamic State.
At one remarkable point in discussing the vicious civil war in Syria, he acknowledged he disagrees with his own running mate, Gov. Mike Pence, on whether to confront aggressive Russian tactics there.
The candidates engaged in a spirited but enlightening debate on tax policy during which, in an odd twist, two wealthy Americans each accused the other of being in favor of helping other wealthy Americans.
He may have interrupted Mrs. Clinton a bit too often, and engaged in what some will consider bullying tactics. Yet once the atmosphere calmed down, those moments seemed less frequent than in their first debate.
Mrs. Clinton still was the greater master of policy detail, and she delivered her own critique of the so-called Obamacare health law and what she would do to fix the crown jewel of her party’s domestic policy achievements in recent years. She continued to hammer Mr. Trump on disparaging comments he’s made over time about immigrants, Muslims and, especially, women.
She delivered a sharp critique, for example, of Mr. Trump’s proposal, made earlier this year, to ban all Muslims from entering the country.
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