Somehow, we're here this morning with #TrumpWon trending on Twitter. Everyone who thought that the debate would change minds seems to be mistaken. Despite the debate being a shitshow for Donald Trump undecided voters haven't really lost confidence in the Republican candidate. It's as if they were watching a completely different channel.
We're not really concerned with going over who won, or who had the better sound bite. Most of that's readily available anyway. The truth is, it's clear that people who were going to vote for Trump are still going to vote for him. What isn't clear however, are any of Trump's policies. He was able to point fingers like a kid in the principal's office, and unable to put forth what his correction plans for America might look like.
The debate was framed in a way where Donald Trump had to use his love for lying to paint a picture of a struggling America. This is why he literally refused to use facts. He planned to lie from the beginning.
In the first thirty minutes, Trump's plan to mock and deflect was working, but then he faltered. Hillary was cool, calm, and collected. She maintained her arguments and showed that she's an experienced politician who is ready to be president. Yet, this didn't seem to matter.
Trump used his usual tactics after the debate was over to blame his lackluster performance on moderator Lester Holt. There's conservative media feeding voters nonsense like: Trump was asked 15 questions while Hillary was asked 2. Trump even said his microphone was defective during the debate, though it certainly didn't seem that way as we all heard his sniffles just fine.
The narrative continues that there's a media bias against Trump. No shit, there is. The GOP candidate is feeding his potential voters a story of underdog struggle. That despite his implosions he's a well meaning businessman up against a nasty politician. It's bullshit.
Depending on who you ask it might seem one candidate won over the other but one thing remains clear: nothing has changed.