The Great American Debate

And so it continued. He said, she said, he lied, she lied, this bitter playground squabble. Unfortunately the definition of squabble describes a noisy quarrel about something 'trivial', sadly the subject matter was anything but trivial and was carried out by candidates for the most powerful office in the world. 

Unseemly, childish, unbecoming. These are descriptions fitting childish people, has the American political system fallen to this.
I tuned in early at 1am thinking the debated started then. CNN were in full warrior mode with teams of journalists and opinion makers contending their views as to how the debate would go and the substance of the contestants.

Trump seemed to have only one ally, a young woman, very confident very savvy, willing to hold her own and row against the stream. Her analysis of the disillusioned parts of Americas great cities was spot on. Her observation that the Clintons had, along with George W Bush, and latterly Obama, presided over this state of affairs for decades, arguing that market forces should be allowed to prosper whilst the industrial heartland in the States disintegrated, along with the people who worked there.

Trump speaks for these people he talks of putting America first, of preventing immigrant labour drive down wage rates, of stopping the Chinese from dumping. These are the messages the ordinary working American wishes to hear. Enough of the liberal waffle about Americas responsibilities, of its humanitarian agenda and its security commitments. It is probably all talk, it's probably political campaigning but who cares, it hits a nerve and sounds good. There's little in their lives to cheer, so why not cheer the showman.
These people don't know and don't care. For them the global agenda which has made one percent immensely rich, has allowed the rest to languish in varying degrees of need The Clinton doesn't speak  for them the Obama's doesn't cater for their raw needs. The tired old rhetoric  that Hillary espouses, they have heard time and time again, for them nothing changes as they sink further and further behind.
And so as the debate gets under way, these two monoliths, like huge icebergs grind away at each other with little or no attempt to understand where the other comes from. All political agendas are like this. There seem to be little or no common ground. The people they are meant to serve are the  in the grist in the political wheel, the outcome of their plight is of little  insignificance to the established politician. Maybe a crass uncouth entrepreneur, untainted by years of double speak is just what the people have been waiting for.