Clinton, Trump trade barbs in first presidential debate

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) – Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump opened this year's presidential debates on a series of confrontational spats Monday night as the challengers demonstrated the wide disparities in their approaches to just about every policy issue.

Trump placed such a litany of grievances against Clinton that at one point she exasperatedly exclaimed, “I have a feeling that by the end of this evening, I am going to be blamed for everything that’s ever happened.”

His response: "Why not?"

"Why not? Yeah, why not,” Clinton said during the Hofstra University-hosted debate. “You know, just join the debate by saying more crazy things.”

The candidates find themselves in the midst of an incredibly tight race for the White House with most polls showing them divided by only one or two points.

On the economy, Trump again reiterated his plan to increase jobs by renegotiating international trade deals and cutting taxes on the rich as Clinton emphasized the need to bolster America's middle class.

Trump took aim at the former secretary of state's previous support for the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), linking it to her husband's, former President Bill Clinton's, support for the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he called "the single worst trade deal ever approved."

Trump said Clinton called the TPP "the gold standard of trade deals," and that if she is elected in November she would approve it despite earlier backing down from her support.

She responded by saying, "Donald, I know you live in your own reality, but that is not the facts."

Turning to race in America, Trump called for a "law and order" approach to reducing violent crime in minority neighborhoods and continued to defend the controversial "stop and frisk" policing tactic.

"We have to stop the violence, we have to bring back law and order," he said, adding that Hispanics and blacks are "living in hell" because of the crime in their neighborhoods.

Clinton, however, took issue with Trump's reliance on a "law and order" approach, saying that what is needed is a larger effort to reform the criminal justice system and "restore trust" between the police and the communities they serve.

“Race remains a significant challenge in our country," she said. "Unfortunately race still determines too much.”

And on Islam, Clinton lambasted her rival who previously advocated for a full ban on Muslim migration to the U.S.

"Donald has consistently insulted Muslims abroad, Muslims at home when we need to be cooperating with Muslim nations and with the American Muslim community," she said. "They’re on the front lines, they can provide information to us that we might not get anywhere else."

Trump responded by saying, "we’ve been working with them for many years and we have the greatest mess anyone’s ever seen."

Trump and Clinton did agree on one thing: individuals on no-fly lists or government watch lists should be prevented from purchasing a firearm.

The real estate mogul and former top diplomat will next square off Oct. 9 at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.