The debate as seen through millennials’ eyes
Unexpected technical errors gave the Monday night presidential debate watch party at the Crest Westwood Theater the feel of a student A/V club production gone horribly wrong.
When Donald Trump’s lips were moving, students would hear Hillary Clinton speaking. When it was Clinton’s turn to talk, Trump’s voice boomed through the packed auditorium near UCLA.
As a result, the student-dominated debate audience hurled its loudest boos at the theater’s beleaguered staff.
But even if the words weren’t lining up with the picture, the largely Clinton-leaning audience still picked up on the applause lines — mostly those from Clinton.
When Clinton referred to Trump’s economic policy as “Trumped-up trickle-down,†the crowd responded joyfully, as if they’d just watched a Bruin throw down a dunk. When Clinton told Trump that he lived in his own reality, students whooped. When Clinton defended her economic plan by shooting back at Trump, “I think my husband did a pretty good job in the 1990s,†students clapped.
For those gathered here, Clinton’s biggest line of the night came when she defended her level of preparation for the debate by saying she had been preparing — to be president.
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Trump’s frequent interjections and interruptions — “Wrong!†he shouted at one point— got a more hostile reception.
When Trump said to Clinton, “I want you to be happy,†the youthful crowd groaned. When he told Clinton she’d been fighting Islamic State her “entire adult life,†a young man in the audience shouted, “What?!†And when Trump said he wouldn’t release his tax returns because he was under audit, that brought yet another groan.
Trump’s declaration that his strongest asset was his temperament brought shrieks of disbelief. And when he complained that Clinton’s jabs about his treatment of women were “not nice,†the crowd responded with hostile, mocking “awwws.â€
Still, by the end of the evening — when the crowd of more than 100 had thinned a little out of frustration with the audio issues — it was clear that a small group of Trump supporters had started to vocally assert their support.
“What surprised me the most [was] the people in the front rooting for Trump,†said Reena Shah, a 30-year-old UCLA graduate student.
She said she has in the past been put off by Trump’s “racist†remarks. In the first presidential election in which she’s registered to vote, Shah came to the debate thinking about voting for Clinton. But she was not impressed with Clinton’s performance.
“I feel like she threw a lot of mud on Donald Trump,†Shah said. “She didn’t really touch the issues much.†Shah also thought Trump had “intelligent things to say†and “didn’t seem thrown off†by aggressive questioning and retorts from Clinton and NBC News moderator Lester Holt.
Eshaana Sheth, 24, gave a contrasting review. “I think Trump has skirted around a lot of issues,†she said of Trump’s responses to Holt’s questioning, which included queries about Trump’s past views on the Iraq war and President Obama’s birthplace. “There’s a lot of boasting on his end,†Sheth said.
The audience gave some of its biggest applause for Clinton during the segments on racial issues and crime. “I liked what she had to say about gun control,†Sheth said. Clinton’s statements seemed “clear, correct,†she said, while Trump’s claims to have hired employees of diverse backgrounds in the past seemed like “tokenism.â€
Jessica — a 22-year-old, newly minted government employee who declined to give her last name because she wasn’t sure what she was permitted to say in public — said plainly: “I thought Hillary won.†And then she laughed.
“It was exactly what I was expecting,†she said. Trump seemed unqualified, Clinton qualified. The high point of the night for her was when Clinton criticized Trump’s remarks about Latina beauty queen Alicia Machado. “It was a low blow, but when Hillary mentioned the beauty queen — the fact she mentioned the woman’s name was great,†she said. Trump’s reaction, by contrast, was “disgusting.â€
One of the audience’s corps of Trump supporters, Katherine Vasconez, a 29-year-old attorney, gave a mixed review of Trump’s performance.
“Going into the debate, I was actually nervous,†Vasconez said — nervous that Trump’s “childlike†demeanor would throw off potential voters.
Overall, “he didn’t really do anything to change how he’s seen,†Vasconez said. She said Clinton seemed collected and appeared presidential, while giving answers with “amazing†presentation.
But her own faith in Trump was not shaken. She didn’t want someone who looked presidential, she wanted someone who got results. And Trump, she said, is still her candidate.
“I came away just equally enforced in my viewpoint that we need a strong leader,†she said. If Trump wins, she added, “It would change what it means to be presidential.â€
Email: [email protected]
Follow me on Twitter: @mattdpearce
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