Analysis: Trump, Clinton came out swinging in fiercest presidential debate in modern times

The debate before the debate began was all about which Donald Trump would show up on stage.

Provocative Trump, who unexpectedly claimed the Republican presidential nomination over a dozen rivals with stronger political résumés? Or Presidential Trump, who in recent weeks has toned down his rhetoric and, in another political surprise, managed to pull even with rival Hillary Clinton in national and battleground polls?

The original Trump came home.

In a debate that was scheduled to last 90 minutes but headed into overtime, Trump and Clinton jabbed each other in the fiercest series of exchanges in a presidential debate in modern times. He portrayed her as one of the political hacks who has led the nation dangerously astray. “It’s all words, it’s all soundbites,” he said dismissively, repeatedly interrupting her and at times audibly snorting as she spoke.

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She portrayed him as a questionable businessman with few specific plans and a limited grasp of the facts, advocating economic policies she repeatedly dubbed “Trumped-up trickle-down.” She accused him of racist behavior in questioning President Obama’s birthplace and questioned what he was trying to hide by refusing to release his tax returns while they are being audited.

The moderator, NBC’s Lester Holt, tried with only limited success to keep control.

Trump blamed Clinton for the rise of Islamic State.

“I have a feeling by the end of this evening, I’m going to be blamed for everything,” Clinton replied.

“Why not?” he interjected.

“Just join the debate by saying more crazy things,” she replied.

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Despite speculation beforehand that Clinton would focus on coming across as more likable, she chose instead to be a counter-puncher. That said, her responses to him seemed to be marked by more amusement than anger, and she made a point of smiling.

And despite all the speculation beforehand that Trump would try to come across as having a more moderate temperament, he defended himself as fiercely as ever — flatly denying several assertions that have been documented as true by fact-checkers, including that he had supported the invasion of Iraq.

From the first question, he described a nation that was in dire straits, at home and abroad. “We have to stop our jobs from being stolen from us,” he said, denouncing the threat from Mexico and China in a signature lament. “We have to stop our jobs from leaving the United States and with it firing all our people.”

From the first question, she described a country that has problems but has been making progress — and in a signature of her own, crammed a dozen bullet-point policy proposals into a two-minute answer, from infrastructure investment and a higher minimum wage to equal pay for women and debt-free college.

The setting inside the debate hall at Hofstra University looked dignified enough to fit in the White House itself, with a dark blue backdrop, a discrete band of white stars and a depiction of a golden eagle soaring over the two contenders. But the mood surrounding the opening forum was almost gladitorial.

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No presidential election in modern times has defied the conventional wisdom as much this one, which has ended up pitting a political neophyte and reality-TV star against the wife of a former president, a member of the family that defines the Democratic establishment. And no presidential debate in the television age has been more hotly anticipated.

For the first time of the campaign, they were face-to-face, side-by-side.

In a preview of the combat that would follow, Trump needled Clinton a few hours before the debate on Twitter, a platform he has perfected as a political weapon. “My team of deplorables will be managing my Twitter account for this evenings debate,” he wrote, a reference to her description at a fundraiser of his followers as a “basket of deplorables.”

Clinton was tweeting about the same time: “Trump told 31 outright lies just last week.”

History demonstrates that the first debate can be powerful enough to boost a candidate or wound one. Eleven campaigns have included debates in the television age. In nine of them, it shaped the trajectory of the campaign that followed in fundamental ways. The opening debate helped elect John Kennedy in 1960 and Ronald Reagan in 1980. It helped defeat Michael Dukakis in 1988 and Al Gore in 2000.

They typically have had the most impact when an incumbent president isn’t running, and when the candidates come in with something to prove, and when the contest is close and fluid. That is, in a campaign like this one.

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