Donald Trump should have expressed more remorse if he hoped to win the second presidential debate on Sunday evening after a tape surfaced online on Friday that captured him making predatory comments about women eleven years ago, said US policy expert Dr Sarah Graham.
“He needed to seem contrite, he needed to connect with the questioners in the Town Hall format and show a bit of empathy,” Dr Graham from the United States Studies Centre told SBS.
“Instead he kind of came out with this really robust set of attacks on Hillary Clinton, on her temperament, on her integrity, on her honesty, on her record as a lawmaker and her record of representing the American people.”
That, Dr Graham said, put him on the back foot in the debate against Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
The behaviour of the candidates in the first debate was immediately called into question and both candidates sought to blame the other for the acrimony.
“I have heard from many teachers and parents about some of their concerns are about some of the things that are being said and done in this campaign," Clinton answered first.
"I want us to heal our country and bring it together. That is the best way for us to get the future that our children and grandchildren deserve."
Trump said he agreed with everything Clinton had said.
"I began this campaign because I was so tired of seeing such foolish things happen to our country," he said.
"I am not proud of it and I apologise to my family and to the American people.”
The debate then inevitably turned to the controversial Trump tapes that showed Trump bragging about his power to sexually assault women.
He did not back down from his previous dismissal of his behaviour as “locker room talk”.
"I am not proud of it and I apologise to my family and to the American people,” he said.
“Certainly I am not proud of it but this is locker room talk."
Clinton used the tapes to reassert her argument that Trump was the first candidate in which she had ever questioned their fitness to lead.
"I said starting back in June, that he was not fit to be and commander-in-chief," she said.
"What we all saw and heard on Friday was Donald talking about women, what he thinks about women, what he does to women and he has said that the video does not represent who he is.
"But I think it's clear to anyone who heard it that it represents exactly who he is. We have seen this throughout the campaign."
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump listens to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton during the second presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis, Sunday, Oct. 9, 2016. (AP Photo/John Locher) Source: AAP
Dr Graham also believed Trump had taken the wrong path in attacking Clinton this way, given the Republican Party was focusing on the senate and congressional races that are also in play.
“They are going to have to reckon with Trump’s record on women here and the implications of this recording.
“To the extent that I think they were hoping Trump would seem genuinely sorry and try and account for this in some fashion, but we didn’t see Trump doing that.”
'It's just words'
Clinton also harked back to previous scandals in which Trump had "targeted immigrants, African-Americans, Latinos, people with disabilities, POWs, Muslims and so many others".
Trump dismissed Clinton's criticism saying "It's just words".
He attempted to turn the debate to former President Bill Clinton’s behaviour when in office, then to Clinton’s emails.
While Clinton did respond to a question about her use of private emails, Moderator Anderson Cooper soon moved on, prompting Trump to complain the subject was not finished.
The candidates clashed on several topics including health care, Clinton’s refusal to release the transcripts of speeches she had been paid to give, Supreme Court justices and on energy policy.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump reacts to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's answer to a question during the debate (AAP) Source: AP
The topic of Trump’s taxes was also raised and Trump refused to apologise for using tax loopholes to minimise his tax bill, instead blaming Clinton for not closing those loopholes.
"She complains that Donald Trump took advantage of the tax code," he said.
"Donald always takes care of Donald"
"Why didn't she change that? Why didn't you change when you are a senator? The reason you didn't is because all your friends take the same event is that I do.
"And I will tell you, Hillary Clinton is raising your taxes, she is raising your taxes, really high, and what that is going to do is a disaster for the country. But she is raising your taxes and I am lowering your taxes."
Clinton said "Donald always takes care of Donald".
"It is sort of amusing to hear somebody who has not paid federal income taxes in maybe 20 years talking about what he is going to do," she said.
"I have said nobody who makes less than $250,000 a year, and that is the vast majority of Americans, as you know, will have their taxes raised.
"Because I think we have got to go whether money is, and the money is with people had taken advantage of every single break in the tax code. And guess when I was a senator I did vote to close corporate loopholes.
Trump struggled to answer questions about his policy in relation to the conflict and humanitarian crises in Syria, instead saying ISIS needed to be defeated in Mosul when asked to detail his Syrian strategy.
"We have to worry about ISIS before we can get too much more," he said.
"[Aleppo] basically has fallen. Look at Mosul. They think many of the ISIS leaders are in Mosul.
"We have now is as saying that they will be taking Mosul in three or four weeks. All of these bad leaders from ISIS are leaving Mosul."
Clinton said using American ground troops in Syria "would be a very serious mistake".
"I hope but the time I am president we will have pushed ISIS out of Iraq," she said.
"I think there is a good chance that we can take Mosul and, you know, Donald says he knows more about ISIS than the generals.
"No, he does not. There are many very important planning going on and some of it is to signal to the Sunni Muslims in the area as well as Kurdish fighters that we all need to be in this and that takes a lot of planning and preparation."
Clinton said Trump was not fit to lead and had encouraged increased bullying and fear within the community.
Trump said Clinton “has tremendous hate in her heart”.
The only light moment came with the last question of the debate, in which an audience member challenged both candidates to nominate something they respected about each other.
Clinton nominated Trump's children.
"His children are able and devoted and I think that says a lot about Donald," she said.
"She does not quit, she does not give up. I respect that"
"I don't agree with nearly anything else he says or does but I do respect that. I think that is something that as a mother and a grandmother is very important to me.
"I believe that this election has become, in part, so conflict-filled and intense because there is a lot at stake. This is not an ordinary time and this is not an ordinary election."
Trump said he welcomed her compliment to his children and nominated her determination as something he respected.
"She does not quit, she does not give up. I respect that," he said.
"She is a fighter. I disagree with much of what she is fighting for, I do disagree with her judgement in many cases but she does fight hard and she does not quit and she does not give up. I consider that to be a very good trait."
