Alright GAF. I am a broken individual. I was halfway through a bag of chips and a bucket of salsa before the debate even started, and by the end, I was downing powerful corn whiskey mixed with caffeine-free diet coke and just generally feeling bad about America.
I had impressions about the debate. I'm not sure if I still have them because I'm basically just giggling about nothing now and listening to the JSRF soundtrack, but I definitely had them at one point.
First, I zoned out several times during Trump's responses. I assume this is good for Hillary because it probably means that Trump seemed very unfocused some of the time, or something.
Second, I think I was right about Hillary having to tread lightly on the issue of the accusations with Bill. Her response seems like it would basically scrape through without offending very many people. And, she preempted Trump's attack well. But, she also didn't manage to detonate nukes in Trump's face about it. She didn't get totally pulled into it, which is good for her.
Third, what the heck was up with that special prosecutor shit? Good to know you'll be Putin your opposition in jail for stuff they've already been cleared of. That's properly American right there.
Fourth, I'm surprised at how many poor answers Hillary had. Like the Russia/Wikileaks thing which, while true, opened her up to attack and didn't do much beyond stating an obvious truth that Trump could easily shrug off and deflect without his base giving a damn.
Fifth, despite the thing I just said above, some of Hillary's answers were on-point, measured, and just generally pretty good. That thirty years rebuttal was especially excellent, and Trump look idiotic for continuing to go after it, especially with the whole "I don't understand the structure of the US federal government" crap shenanigans.
Sixth, despite often being unhinged and rambling, Trump had frequent moments of surprising clarity, where he came across as coherent. He looked like he would fall apart like he did in the last debate, but sometimes occasionally half climbed out of it. I was impressed. Like, I got the impression that he actually prepared for the debate to a degree.
Seventh, if I was a bald eagle, I'd be banging my head into all the walls right now. That was just generally awful.
Eighth, it'll be interesting to see the state of the GOP tomorrow.
Ninth,
...
eh