Donald Trump opened the debate on his best behavior, making sure Hillary Clinton didn’t mind being called “Secretary Clinton” and insisting he wanted her to be happy with the way he treated her.
As Mr. Trump criticized the Democratic nominee for being slow to oppose trade deals that undermine U.S. jobs, he double checked with her about how he addressed her.
“In all fairness to Secretary Clinton,” he said, stopping to turn to his rival. “Yes? is that OK?”
When she nodded approval, the New York billionaire said: “Good, I want you to be very happy. It’s very important to me.”
It was all downhill from there.
“But in all fairness to Secretary Clinton, when she started talking about this is was really very recently. She’s been doing this for 30 years and why hasn’t she made the agreements better. The NAFTA agreement is defective,” he said, referring to the trade deal President Bill Clinton signed in 1993.
Mr. Trump repeatedly questioned why Mrs. Clinton hadn’t offered solutions for the 30 years she’s been in politics.
The former first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of state said that she has been looking for solutions.
“I have thought about this about this,” she said.
“Yes for 30 years,” interjected Mr. Trump.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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