September 26th kicked off the first of three presidential debates for the upcoming November 2016 election at Hofstra University. While it was almost certainly assumed that Hillary Clinton would be the Democratic nominee in this election, no one could have predicted that reality television star Donald Trump would be this nation’s Republican nominee for President of the United States.
The debate premiered to high anticipation, as many wondered if Clinton, a seasoned politician with over 30 years of public service under her belt, would be ready to battle Trump, a Washington outsider known for his short temperament and tendency to be politically incorrect. The debate, however, lived up to its hype as it became the most tweeted debate in social media history, exceeding 10.3 million messages sent out into the Twitter-verse back in 2012.
Despite the meme-worth moments during Clinton and Trumps head-to-head, viewers’ could not avoid serious topics like equal pay in the workforce, gun control and the Black Lives Matter movement. While hearing both candidate’s responses, these seven quotes stood out the most.
Flip through the gallery above to read them and see why.
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Hillary Clinton And Donald Trump Face Off In First Presidential Debate
Image Credit: Getty Images -
“African-Americans, Hispanics, are living in hell…you walk down the street you get shot.” – Donald Trump
Image Credit: Getty Images This garnered a lot of criticism from Black Twitter – and rightly so. While Trump’s intentions to raise many African Americans out of poverty may very well be genuine, this only further perpetuates the myth that all African Americans and Hispanics live in poverty. And while it is a fact that there are significant portions of African Americans and Latinos that live in poverty, this comment casts a dark shadow on those African Americans and Hispanics who have made significant strides in society to overcome the very racial bias in class and poverty that is currently in discussion.
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“We also have to make the economy fairer. That starts with raising the national minimum wage and also guarantee, finally, equal pay for women’s work.” – Hillary Clinton
Image Credit: Getty Images President Barack Obama once said, “You can judge a nation, and how successful it will be, based on how it treats its women and its girls.” This is true. Equal pay for equal work only allows women to further contribute to the economy, growing it while creating jobs that will stimulate our economy. Furthermore, Clinton’s mention of the national minimum wage is supported by many economists who all agree that once upon a time, someone with a family of three working a minimum wage job on 40 hours a week would not be in poverty. In today’s times, according Economic Policy Institute, if someone with the same family size wanted to lift themselves out of poverty, they would have to earn $10.10 per hour.
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“Too many young African-American and Latino men ended up in jail for nonviolent offenses, and it’s just a fact that if you’re a young African-American man, and you do the same thing as a young white man, you are more likely to be arrested, charged, convicted and incarcerated.”- Hillary Clinton
Image Credit: Getty Images Fact. There is no empirical evidence that proves Black and Hispanic men commit more crimes than whites. However, there are many studies that show African American and Latino communities being over-policed, overcharged by the courts, and over-incarcerated for nonviolent offenses when compared to their white counterparts. In fact, in his 2015 Academy Award speech, John Legend pointed out that there are more black men in correctional control today than enslaved in 1850. The unfair criminal justice system is most certainly going to be a topic that both candidates are going to have to deal with if they want to continue to build strong relations with minority communities.
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“We pay approximately 73 percent of the cost of NATO.” – Donald Trump
Image Credit: Getty Images While this statement is quite false (we actually only pay 22% of the cost of NATO), Donald Trump uses this argument as a way to urge other world leaders, particularly those in the Middle East, to up their defense spending and take care of the growing threat of terrorism in their own back yard. This comment is hardly a partisan issue, as many politicians on the left also agree that countries, particularly Muslim countries in the Middle East such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and more, need to do more to fight ISIS, al-Qaeda, and other terrorist organizations that pose a significant threat to their region.
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“Donald started his career in 1973 being sued for racial discrimination.” – Hillary Clinton
Image Credit: Getty Images In 1973, Trump, along with many other organizations, was sued by the United States Justice Department for violating the Fair Housing Act of 1968. However, this is just one of Trump’s many run-ins with racial discrimination. As many know, Trump opened up his campaign with derogatory marks towards Mexicans, referring to some of them as “rapists” and “murderers.” He even recently called for racial profiling against suspected Muslim terrorists, as well as advocating for the return of stop and frisk, a policy that he believes was successful despite it being ruled unconstitutional.
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“We have to take the guns away from the people that shouldn’t have them … These are bad people.” – Donald Trump
Image Credit: Getty Images There’s no doubt that this comment may very well have come as a shock to gun rights enthusiasts and gun lobbyists like the NRA. While Trump has indeed earned the endorsement of many pro 2nd Amendment organizations, talking points such as this one are commonly popular among those who wish to enforce stricter gun control laws, and shied away from those who do not. Still, this comment demonstrates the concern that Trump and many others have for the gun violence in our nation. While Trump did not speak in detail on how he plans to act on gun control, this quote signaled that he just may be willing to compromise with the Democrats and get the guns out of the hands of the wrong people.
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“Donald says climate change is a hoax created by the Chinese.”– Hillary Clinton
Image Credit: Getty Images While Donald Trump denies the validity of this statement, it is very much true. In a tweet sent out on November 6, 2012, Trump claimed “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.” Since then, he has continued to call it a hoax, only recently admitting to it being man-made and a threat against our environment. Obviously climate change will continue to remain a large issue for world leaders, particularly the United States and China – two countries that are continually looking for ways to reduce our carbon footprints and make the environment a safer place for generations to come.
While many pollsters predict that Clinton won the first presidential debate, one should be careful not to underestimate Donald Trump. With two more debates pending and Clinton and Trump inches away from each other in the polls, this election is truly anyone’s game to win.