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Donald Trump loves an audience.
But during his first debate with Hillary Clinton, he didn’t have one that could audibly respond to what he was saying — and the strain of trying to play to a mostly silent room quickly set him spinning.
“Donald was one of the people who rooted for the housing crisis,” Clinton said early in the night, as the candidates dove into their plans for encouraging financial prosperity. “He said back in 2006, ‘Gee, I hope it does collapse, because then I can go in and buy some and make some money.’ Well, it did collapse.”
Trump, leaning down to his microphone, didn’t wait for his turn to defend himself: “That's called business, by the way.”
During the Republican primary debates, this self-promoting interruption likely would have earned some amused claps.
For the first presidential debate, during which the audience was forbidden from reacting, it died on the vine — and so, too, did many of the unscripted moments Trump tried throughout the night, the kinds of moments he has relied on throughout this campaign to keep the spotlight.
Trump loves a loud, applauding audience
Throughout an increasingly bizarre election, Trump’s affection for validation has been one of the few constants — and a predictable one at that.
After all, Trump’s blustering public persona was formed in the school of reality television. After investing his time, energy, and money into the bombastic parade that is the Miss Universe pageant, Trump made himself a star on The Apprentice, a show that claimed to celebrate sharp business acumen but mostly just celebrated the guy sitting across the boardroom table, chopping down potential employees, one by one.
And as we’ve seen frequently, Trump’s rise to become the Republican nominee for president of the United States is almost entirely thanks to his ability to keep the spotlight squarely on himself, no matter the subject, no matter who’s talking, no matter if he has anything of significance to say.
The Republican debates started with a dozen candidates dismissing the idea that Trump could be a contender — but they ended with a handful scrambling to throw insults back in Trump’s face as the crowd cheered him on with wild applause.
My colleague Libby Nelson performed an exhaustive study of Trump’s winning techniques throughout those Republican primary debates, and it should surprise no one that they’re all textbook reality show staples.
Trump speaks in catchy slogans. He deflects hard questions to tell stories that make him look good, no matter how relevant. He baits opponents into taking the low road, then takes the opportunity to slam them into the dirt. He makes winking references to behind-the-scenes preparations, to give people at home the feeling that he’s being realer than anyone else onscreen.
When all else fails, Trump talks until someone succeeds in cutting him off, exhausted, preferring to give up on getting an answer to the question they asked Trump, rather than keep listening to him hedge around the point.
Basically, every single trick Donald Trump used to win the Republican primary debates is a trick any Real Housewife worth her salt knows inside and out.
But on September 26, Trump had a significantly different task from any he’s had to tackle throughout his campaign: He had to play to a room that wasn’t allowed to applaud.
Trump slowly lost his way as the night went on without applause
To be sure, it’s not as if this rule entirely mattered, much to moderator Lester Holt’s frustration. A few cheers still slipped through the cracks, notably when Trump insisted that he’d release his tax returns once Clinton released her deleted emails (and the IRS was done auditing him). But for the most part, the audience was silent as requested, with only the occasional snickers cropping up throughout the debate.
Trump’s demeanor was immediately different once he had to face this new set of less-than-friendly circumstances. He’s used to commanding rooms that openly embrace his bluster, from the Republican primary debates to the halls he’s filled across the country — and whose audiences he’s curated by making sure protesters get kicked out.
But in the first presidential debate against Clinton, Trump had very little energy to work with from the audience. While he stuck to the same set of dependable lines in the debate’s opening section on the economy — most particularly lines about jobs leaving the country and the ongoing financial inequality in Michigan and Ohio — he quickly veered off during Clinton’s responses to interrupt her in sporadic jabs:
“Wrong.”
“Lie.”
“Wrong.”
“Why not?”
In front of an audience that could respond, these asides might have gotten bigger responses. But standing in front of people who (mostly) honored the request to remain quiet, Trump’s go-to strategies didn’t work. He’d spit them out, and they’d hang there, waiting for a response, before fading into the ether.
Trump eventually tried to compensate for the lack of reaction with more aggressive interruptions, and, yes, a couple of those interruptions finally got traction toward the very end, as the audience lost patience with the rule and cheered. Many times, though, an attack from Clinton would send Trump into overcompensation, like when he responded to the accusation that he hadn’t paid an architect for one of his golf clubhouses with, “Maybe he didn’t do a good job.”
For a showman like Trump, an audience that can’t applaud is a nightmare scenario. His campaign relies on giant statements, pointed jokes, and conspiratorial winking. None of these things work without some kind of response, and Trump had none of that as he fought off Clinton’s exhaustive fact-checking.
Even if the audience wasn’t entirely indifferent to him — and it wasn’t, judging by the eventual cheers at the end once people tired of the rule — that’s the impression silence gives. A veteran politician like Clinton, if nothing else, will know a silent audience isn’t always one that’s rejecting what you’re saying. Trump seemed more easily rattled.
If there’s one thing Trump’s never had to deal with on this campaign before, it’s indifference. Watching him try to push past the silence during this first presidential debate was like watching an improv comedian run through all his usual tricks and panic when none of them landed. Without the instant gratification of audible approval, he was awkward, stilted, and unsure of exactly where to interject.
He wasn’t, in other words, the Trump who won the Republican nomination — and if he can’t figure out how to exist outside the context of a wildly approving audience from now on, he might not be the one to win the presidential election, either.
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无论希婆，川普当总统，美国仍傲然屹立于世
2016-10-12 07:17:08
workforwal
出生于五十年代，启蒙于火红的岁月，成长于无畏的时光。见证了血与火。消失在茫然大地美丽坚！
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无论希婆还是川普当总统，美国仍傲然屹立！
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今年是美国大选年，两个候选人都先天不足，六十八岁的希婆是个老牌政客，出生贫寒，爱财如命，险皮比城墙还厚苍蝇叮在脸上都感觉不到。七十岁的川普更不简单，开赌场“妓院”出生，六十岁还三进洞房娶外国模特结婚生子，七十岁自掏腰包玩票竞选总统节节获胜。这场竞选让全世界人民大开眼界，天朝上下议论纷纷。
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孔子曰民可始知之，不可始由之。其实美国社会制度的优越性就是建筑在孔夫子千年前的智慧上的。据报导美国有百分之七十的民众甚至不知道三权分立指的是什么。美国总统收入底，从来就是二流人才热衷的职业，布什总统在大学是C学生，奥巴马，候塞因高中毕业进的是社区学院，克林顿流氓成性，把白宫当成了春宫。但是这一切并没有阻止他们成为自由世界的伟大领袖。因为美国总统招聘书上的条件只有两条：年纪三十，出生于美国本土。
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如此底的招聘条件，那么选民就竟在选什么呢？其实大家都是跟着感觉走，自己认为谁最爱国，最民粹，最能维护美国利益就选谁。
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一般来说，从美国的长远利益看，选保守的共和党入主白宫比较靠谱，从眼前利益讲，选择自由的民主党比较实际。
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美国的富強不是靠明君总统。美国拥有世界上最丰富的自然资源，但是又不靠这些资源至富，美国人靠创新，一个iPhone ，创造的财富无数。美国的富强靠的是枪杆子。美国的军费开支几乎是全世界其他国家的总和。任何人只要敢于侵犯美国的利益几乎是死无葬身之地。
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相比之下，中国人把希望寄托在明君身上，因此缅大王敢开枪开炮屠杀果敢中国人，韩国明令炮击中国渔船，印度在中国藏南竖起导弹，中国台彭金马太平岛的蔡小姐公开号召力抗中国，双十庆典请了近三百多曰本鬼子，没有一个中国人。还有几个中国人记得中国最后一道圣旨：总期人民安诸，海內乂安，仍合满，汉，蒙，回，藏五族完全领士为一大中华民国。
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圣旨到，习大大，蔡小姐统统跪下！
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jqz88 发表评论于 2016-10-15 13:43:46
写文章这人是翻墙过来的吧。奥巴马高中毕业进入哥伦比亚大学，啥时候哥伦比亚大学成了社区学院？这么简单的事都不查资料开口胡说其余的就不值一驳了。
nativew 发表评论于 2016-10-15 12:19:48
忧心美国选总统，又想着中国要如何如何。操碎了然并卵的心。
workforwal 发表评论于 2016-10-15 11:06:52
民可使知之，不可使由之？
lwei 发表评论于 2016-10-15 09:00:09
Your dream. If Hillary is elected, America is over. It will become third world country
古龙 发表评论于 2016-10-15 08:20:12
老哥，咱先查查孔子那句老话到底是怎么说的行吗？
workforwal 发表评论于 2016-10-15 07:49:30
川普各方面比红二代布什强，比希婆更有本事。川普落选，美国就一路狂奔直达欧洲社会主义社会了。
furbydvs 发表评论于 2016-10-15 07:34:48
搞不懂美国是怎么回事就不要乱琢磨了..................搏眼球的水平亟待提高呀.
诚信 发表评论于 2016-10-15 07:05:40
Impossible! 如果川普当总统，美国不可能仍傲然屹立！
Trump is totally unqualified, from all aspects. He proposes the problems that concern me, but offers terrible solutions, either unrealistic or even dangerous, that can only make the problems much worse. I do not want the whole world to deride us for electing an idiot president again, one even far worse than George W Bush. Especially, I do not want to watch the country and the world fall and recede. If elected, his severe incompetence certainly would cause governmental chaos, economic recession, racial confrontation, alliance departure and national vulnerability to terrorism. In short, he would dramatically debilitate USA.
Trump所有方面都完全不胜任。他提出了很多我关心的问题，但给出的解决方法却是很糟糕的，或者根本不可行或者是危险有害的，只能使得问题更严重和恶化。在总统大选的重大关头，他竟然没有能力统一和领导自己的共和党，党内同僚近一半人公开反对他，他如何能统一领导整个国家前进？ 我不想让世界人民再一次嘲笑我们美国又选了一个傻子做总统，一个比小布什在各个方面还要差劲得多的家伙。我更不想眼睁睁看着美国和世界衰落和衰退。 如果当选， Trump的严重不称职一定会导致联邦政府瘫痪，无法正常运转，经济萧条，种族对抗加剧，盟友分崩离析，无力对抗恐怖袭击等等灾难。总之，他会导致美国严重衰弱。这就是为什么有那么多美国的有识之士，包括大量共和党内的，都站出来反对Trump的根本原因。
锦西 发表评论于 2016-10-15 03:44:11
首先，中美两国没有可比性。其他的，就别说了。还是阅读少。
来源: huzi2015 于 2016-09-26 23:43:43 [档案] [博客] [旧帖] [给我悄悄话] 本文已被阅读：353 次 (3048 bytes)
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美国四年一次的总统竞选PK2016第一场晚会，结束了！
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不愧是春晚级别的，火爆老头和美艳老太一唱一和，高潮迭起。
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“WRONG，WRONG ，WRONG” 火爆老头说。
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“I WILL BE THE PRESiDENT of ALL OF THE AMERICAN”老太说，哈哈哈
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其实我想说的是，床铺先生，火爆大王，口舌可比机关枪，忍不住，急慌慌，不知道是策略还是真不懂，基本不正面回答问题，逮住喜了哩一个劲的问‘’三十年你干啥了？‘’，不停的称呼她过去官衔，嘲讽之意甚浓。
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他一直在拿中国说事，要和中国清算清算的态度暴露无疑，不过很多华人支持他，说他不会对中国强硬，所以选他，今天他说的话，是不是对华很friendly?
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他坚持拥枪，甚至呼吁都带枪参加他的共和党大会，但却说枪案频频是禁枪的错，美国还没有禁枪吧？没有实施禁枪而频频枪案，谁的错？有意思。
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喜了哩的表现咱不说了，这段时间网上已经快把她的底裤揭开了，甚至说凡是知道她底细的都被她和谐了，十足的中国上世纪二三十年代上海滩十三太保形象。
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值得注意的是她居然为电邮门道歉了，政策主张条理清晰，不喝水，不咳嗽，不摇头，不反白眼，不晕不摔，女强老太太一枚（老太太就是女的，可是“女强人”太宽泛了）！
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不少人说，装的都是装的！这也很有意思样子。
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还是有文章说的好：咱们不看这个，各人有各人的看法，但是这场辩论创造许多历史第一：美国史上最老候选人、第一次男女候选人、政界最老油条和最生瓜蛋子、收视率创造太阳系记录等等。这么说，凡是看了这场二人转春晚的人们，实在是幸运的可以，你也是最伟大收视率的创造者之一啊。
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敬请期待第二场，第三场晚会的到来，精彩的在后面呢！