Well, I have to hope that Trump is richer than I am, maybe he is smarter, too. Maybe he figured tonight was sort of a “reconnaissance in force” and he would just hang back and let her tip her hand. Let her get all her best stuff out and get a sense of what she has and how she uses it without revealing too much of what he has. Maybe that explains it. He has two more to put her away. He is supposed to be America’s best closer. Pray in the future he realizes the audience, voters he wants, is out here, not there in front of him or across the stage. He needs to close the deal with that audience. Not defend himself against her slander. Drive three or four answers into EVERY response. The debt, reduce inner city crime with jobs, create jobs with competitive taxes. Just hammer those three into the moderator’s skull and let Hillary slander him all she wants.
I remember watching Reagan do just that. It worked. His only response to Hillary’s slander should be more like, “you can say whatever slanderous things about me you care to, I am not here to defend myself I am here to defend America.”. Now that is a phrase he might want to write on the back of his hand.
This is a good learning opportunity for Trump to get a feel for her arguments. She used up all the talking points tonight (or a good part of them anyway). He and his team have a good feel for how these are going to go, and he can be adequately prepared next time.
That’s a great line about defending America, though.