The second presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, on October 9, pitted former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton against Donald Trump on issues ranging from ISIS to the Affordable Care Act.
Early on in the debate, moderator Anderson Cooper questioned Trump on the contents of a recently surfaced tape in which Trump graphically described sexually assaulting women.
“You describe kissing women without their consent and grabbing their genitals, that is sexual assault,” said Cooper. “You bragged that you sexually assaulted women, do you understand that?”
Trump vaguely apologized for his locker room talk and quickly changed the topic to ISIS. When pressed further by Cooper, Trump deflected by insisting he had great respect for women and that he had never done anything of that sort. Trump currently faces several accusations of sexual assault, including a lawsuit filed by a Jane Doe who says Trump assaulted her in 1994 when she was 13-years-old.
“There should be no room for sexual assault in the political system and the fact that so many politicians are willing to explain it away simply because he is their party’s nominee disgusts me,” said Brisha Howe, a College of Arts and Sciences student. “These accusations should be taken seriously and investigated.”
Clinton, for her part, attempted to focus on policy, discussing tax initiatives, reforms to the Affordable Care Act and directing audience members to her campaign website where staffers were vigorously fact-checking Trump’s statistics, allegations, and policy stances.
When asked about her tax plan and how it ensures that the wealthy pay their share, Clinton laid out her specifications: no one who makes under $250,000 per year will see a raise in their taxes; taxes on people making more than 1 million dollars per year, otherwise known as the Buffett rule; and a surcharge on people making more than 5 million dollars.
Although experts at the Tax Policy Center have said in their analysis of her plan that middle-class taxpayers may see a small uptick in their taxes, the majority of the tax burden would rest on the upper echelon; whereas Trump’s plan would raise taxes for an estimated 7.8 million people according to Lily Batchelder of the New York University School of Law.
“All of Trump’s policies make me nervous,” said Leo Rosas, College of Arts and Sciences student. “Many of his policies don’t add up financially and would lead America into financial ruin. Also, his policies make him sound more like a dictator forcing them upon Americans rather than trying to work with the system and compromise.”
Throughout the debate Trump made accusatory statements about the moderators’ treatment of him and has since made claims that the election is rigged.
“I don’t think the election is rigged at all,” said Taylor Bickel, a College of Arts and Sciences student. “As someone who works on campaigns, I can personally attest to the fact that every vote matters. It really does come down to who shows up on Election Day, so no, I don’t think that you can ‘rig’ an election ahead of time.”
“A true leader takes ownership for their losses and doesn’t deflect them onto properly working systems,” said Rosas.
Election Day is November 8, 2016 and marks the 58th quadrennial presidential election in the U.S.