Jobs, Taxes—And Facts—Come Under Scrutiny In First Presidential Debate

"I know you live in your own reality," Clinton told Trump.
From: NewNowNext

 The first scheduled presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump took place last night at Hofstra University, and it seems the only thing the two candidates agreed upon was the time and location.

NBC’s Lester Holt moderated the head-to-head, which saw Clinton and Trump disagreeing on everything from the economy and policing to global warming and the war on terror.

 Fact-checkers worked overtime vetting the candidates’ statements, with a number of Trump’s assertions—that Hillary started the “birther” movement, that he never claimed climate change was a “hoax”—being called out as false.

In fact, Clinton spent much of the time reminding the audience of statements Trump has made, and his decades as a controversial businessman and public personality.

“I know you live in your own reality,” she told Trump, to a roar of applause from the live audience.

 For his part, Trump claimed Clinton flip-flopped from a harsh Obama critic in the 2008 primary to one of his biggest boosters now.

“You treated him with terrible disrespect and I watch the way you talk now about how lovely everything is—it doesn’t work that way,” he said. “When you try to act holier than thou, it really doesn’t work.”

Clinton took aim at Trump’s finances, reminding viewers he had yet to release his tax records, as most presidential candidates do.

 “Maybe he is not as rich as he says he is,” she pondered. “Maybe he is not as charitable as he claims to be… Maybe he doesn’t want the American people to know that he has paid nothing in federal taxes.”

Trump replied “That makes me smart.”

While Clinton attacked Trump’s record of bankruptcies and “stiffing” contractors, he claimed his economic policy would be “a beautiful thing to watch.”

“We have to stop our jobs from being stolen from us. We have to stop our companies from leaving the United States and, with it, firing all of their people,” he said.

“Under my plan, I’ll be reducing taxes tremendously, from 35% to 15% for companies, small and big businesses. That’s going to be a job creator like we haven’t seen since Ronald Reagan.”

LGBT rights did not come up in Monday’s debate, though it’s expected they will be an issue during the vice-presidential debate between Mike Pence and Tim Kaine on October 4 at 9 p.m. at Virginia’s Longwood University.