Presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton will face each other in the 2016’s first presidential debate.
The hour-and-a-half uninterrupted special will have the first female presidential nominee of a major party and one of America’s most relevant personalities of business and reality television in a time where voting polls appear to be tighter than ever. The debate will air at 9 p.m. Eastern Time on CNN, you can watch it live on CNN.com. Both candidates will meet at Hofstra University in New York.
National polls cannot provide a clear statement on the United States’ voting sentiment at the time, although most appear to give Clinton the leading percentages.
Trump vs. Clinton
This will be Donald Trump’s trial by fire, as Clinton has proven to be a coherent presidential nominee by being faced with situations that require a cold head and a quick trigger. Hillary Clinton was one of the Iraq War advocates, even if she now regrets so; she also supported providing weapons to Syrian rebels and the bombing of Libya, but without an intention to deploying ground troops in the Middle East unless the situation worsens considerably.
Trump has not made any binding decisions on foreign policy as he has never held public office. Trump is recognized for liking Vladimir Putin, an authoritarian strong man in politics. He has also called for better relations with other countries to improve their own national security. But Trump’s intentions on military actions abroad are not clear, as he said that he would deploy at least 30,000 troops to fight the Islamic State on the front lines.
Donald Trump has gained recognition for his flamboyant approach on immigration, as he plans to deport over 11 million illegal immigrants from the U.S., although nobody knows how he will achieve this. He also plans to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico, even when Mexican President Peña Nieto has already refused to pay for its construction.
On a related matter there’s the refugee crisis, as the U.S. has admitted tens of thousands of refugees since 2014, and there are plans to admit even more. Trump assures that the U.S. is openly exposed to terrorist threats even if the refugees undergo strict screenings, and they do not know which nation are they heading to when they reach out to the UNHCR.
Hillary Clinton has promised to keep working on Obama’s policies on immigration and accepting refugees fleeing conflict in the Middle East. The Obama administration has allowed the nationalization of undocumented immigrants as most have proven to be hard-working individuals that look for an opportunity to have a better life.
Immigration policies under Hillary Clinton’s rule will soften so undocumented immigrants can eventually apply for residency and citizenship if the conditions are right. The key factors that will decide which nominee will take the presidency are those with the broadest global repercussions, such as immigration, foreign policy, and global warming.
Climate change will be in the spotlight
Global warming has always been a delicate topic in American politics, as Republicans do not hesitate to deny that humanmade global warming is nothing but a hoax. This has been refuted severely as global organizations. The U.N., among which the United States is one of the leading members, has pledged to work on reducing the effects of climate change.
Recently, the Paris Agreements reached one of its critical starting points, which is to have at least 55 signing countries ratify the resolution, among which is barring the increase of global temperature at a 1.5 °C. The other point is to be ratified by countries that represent a 55 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
A global commitment to reduce global warming is a major step in the conservation of the only habitable planet that humans can live in, but Donald Trump assured that, if he were to win, the U.S. would be out of the agreements.
This measure would set back climate conservation efforts by decades, as the U.S. is one of the world’s greatest greenhouse gas emitters. If the U.S. would just leave the resolutions that it has fought so hard to rally other countries to follow, then it would cause a loss in incentive and international leadership, plunging the U.S. into an isolationist chapter in its history with severe implications for foreign and domestic policy.
The Democratic presidential nominee, on the other hand, has pledged to bring America’s clean energy production to the next level, making it one of the key global players in the industry. She would start a Clean Energy Challenge while also reducing subsidies for oil and gas. Clinton has acknowledged climate change as an important matter in the future of the United States.
Donald Trump has not made any commitment regarding clean energy nor climate conservation. Perhaps this will change in tonight’s debate, as climate change appears to be Hillary Clinton’s ace under the sleeve to catch the Republican business mogul off-handed.
Source: NY Post