HEMPSTEAD, N.Y., Sept. 25 (UPI) — As many as 100 million viewers are expected to tune in Monday night for the first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, one that promises to be entertaining, if not blood pressure-raising.
The debate, taking place at Hoffstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., could turn out to be a watershed moment in history or just a ripping good show, NPR reported.
The last few days have been a spin factory, with cries of double standards, real-time fact-checking and more.
Trump tossed in some extra color Saturday when he tweeted that he might invite former Bill Clinton paramour Gennifer Flowers to sit in the front row, Fox New reported.
But a campaign insider said that won’t happen, that Trump will not invite any special guests to the debate to call attention to the Clintons’ family history.
The threat came after Clinton invited billiionaire Mark Cuban, a prominent Trump critic, to the debate.
On Monday, Clinton, as she has many times in the past, is likely to impress the audience. While she rarely dazzles listeners, she almost never disappoints as a debater.
Trump, who has debated a handful of times, has shown two modes, one columnist for the Washington Post said: Attack Mode and Disappearing Mode. He typically goes in to attack mode when he feels disrespected, while he’s been known to go into disappearing mode, fading in to the background as a debate drones on, said columnist Chris Cillizza.
“What’s the one thing that each candidate needs to do? Clinton needs to expose Trump as a policy lightweight and a dangerous potential president while avoiding coming across as overly prepared or sanctimonious,” Cillizza said. “Trump needs to demonstrate some command of issues and resist being goaded into the sort of personal attacks that will almost assuredly backfire against Clinton.”
