What will be on the agenda for debate number two?

The debate has been described by observers here in Denver as a “horror,” an “embarrassment,” and a “disappointment.” Trump’s key contention was that Clinton’s long association with politics has tainted her by the tar brush of political deal making, and Clinton’s key contention was that Trump was simply not presidential material. These accussations have been slung back and forth for so long, that they merit little more than a yawn. Yet some issues are likely to come up again. Here are six to watch for-- Clinton effectively shot down Trump’s attempt to question her stamina for the job by reading off a litany of her achievements and summarising her extremely busy schedule as secretary of state, drawing cheers in the process. But it is likely that Trump will keep coming back to it. The question, among other things, is a stealthy reference to the fact that she is a woman and serves to energise his support base. His misogyny are well known and during the debate he didn’t miss the opportunity to take another swipe at Rosie O’Donnell. And Clinton will keep reminding the electorate about some of the more offensive comments he has made. Clinton has finally found a chink in Trump’s armour. She points out that since Trump’s sole claim to competence as a future president are his long years in business, he has to be more forthcoming about his dealings: hence he should release his tax returns. When Clinton accused Trump of never paying federal taxes, and therefore never contributing to federally funded institutions including the armed forces, he replied: “That makes me smart.” Every candidate for president in the last 43 years has released their tax returns to the public. No amount of bluster will help Trump on this issue, and we are likely to hear more about this in future debates. Not one to be cornered with out a fight or an attempt at bargaining, Trump aid he’d release his returns if she releases the 33,000 emails connected to emailgate. This linkage could win over the minority of millennials and undecideds who are concerned about Clinton’s “distant relationship with the truth “ as a professor of political science at the University of Colorado at Boulder put it to the Dhaka Tribune. Remember that while 41% of millennials lean towards the Democrats, many do not. Moreover, some educated Trump sympathisers are “shy Torres” meaning that they won’t divulge their sympathies publicly but may still opt for him on November 8. Race will come up repeatedly, but it is not clear if race relations and the allied subject of police brutality against African American men, will swing the vote. After a shocking series of police shootings that has caused major rallying in North Carolina and is fuelling the Black Lives Matter movement, it is clear that the problem is a major one. It is likely that voters are already divided and committed along these lines, but a deterioration of the situation could cause the electorate to select the better candidate on this issue. Finally, Trump savaged Clinton for the foreign policy dilemmas of the last several years and claimed that if she could have achieved anything, she would have by now. Clinton, in one of the most memorable lines of the debate, countered that the big secret about Trump’s secret plan to take down and defeat IS was that there was no plan. Disappointingly for most Americans, the meat and bones of the debate – about spurring the economy, tax policy and luring investment – was unconvincing from Clinton’s side and incoherent from Trump’s side. Trump has made Nafta and other trade deals and halting illegal immigration the centrepiece of his position – meaning he means to bring jobs back to the US or at least stop their migration elsewhere. Traditional big business will have some objections to that. But the best point on this was made a US government employee who asked not to be named, who said: “Wake up America! We’re not losing jobs to Mexicans and illegals, we’re losing jobs to automation.” But that is too astute an observation to be taken up at a US presidential debate.