Monday brought the first debate of the presidential season, but it often felt like two separate debates. One, from Hillary Clinton, was wonky, crisp, and polished; if not always inspiring, it was professional and careful. The other, from Donald Trump, was freewheeling, aggressive, and meandering, occasionally landing a hard blow but often substance-less and hard to follow. But the two debates intersected at times, sometimes raucously, as Trump repeatedly broke in to interrupt Clinton. 
 
 It was a commanding performance from the Democratic nominee. Clinton delivered a series of detailed answers on subjects ranging from race to the Middle East to tax policy. Meanwhile, she delivered a string of attacks on Trump, assailing him for stiffing contractors, refusing to release his tax returns, fomenting birtherism, and caricaturing black America. She stumbled only occasionally, but left few openings for Trump. She remained calm and often smiling as Trump repeatedly attacked her and interrupted her answers—doing it so often that moderator Lester Holt, often a spectral presence at the debate, finally cut in twice in short order to chide him. (Vox counted 40 instances; Clinton made some of her own interruptions, but fewer.) Clinton displayed a sort of swagger perhaps not seen since her hearing before Congress on Benghazi. 
 
 The Republican, on the other hand, was erratic, vague, and frequently appeared rude. Where Clinton offered sometimes dull policy prescriptions, Trump stuck to description, diagnosing problems—offshoring of jobs, violence in Chicago, the decay of American infrastructure—but providing nearly nothing in the way of solutions to them, even when pressed by Holt. He cut into Clinton’s answers, interruptions that she seemed almost to welcome because of the contrast they helped draw. Trump seldom stuck to one topic in an answer. A question about why he hadn’t released his tax returns somehow ended with a diatribe about the quality of American airports. (That support for infrastructure improvement was one of the few moments that won the praise of progressive commentators.) He yelled, he scowled, and, somewhat peculiarly, he sniffled through the 90-minute contretemps. 
 
 Trump seemed early on to be trying to be solicitous. “Secretary Clinton—is that OK? Yes? Good. I want you to be happy, it’s very important to me,” he said, with a faint smirk. But soon he couldn’t resist cutting in. Clinton assailed Trump for cheering on a housing bust, saying that 9 million Americans lost their jobs. Rather than deny it, Trump boasted, “It’s called business!” As the debate went on, Trump seemed to get more and more peevish. Ahead of the debate, Trump advisers told reporters that he was not preparing extensively, and while there was some speculation that they might simply be depressing expectations, it showed. By the end of the night, he looked as shell-shocked as Barack Obama at the end of the first 2012 debate against Mitt Romney. 
 
 That isn’t to say that Trump didn’t get a few good licks in. Employing the improvisatory, pugilistic style that served him well in the GOP primaries, he jabbed at her on several favorite topics. He worked hard to tie Clinton to NAFTA, the 1990s free-trade agreement overseen by President Bill Clinton. It’s a major topic for Trump, who has found it resonates well with white-working-class voters in the Rust Belt. Having connected her with that, Trump argued that Clinton was dissembling in her opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership and would reverse her stance once in office. 
 
 He also assailed Clinton for her use of a private email server while secretary of state, and mentioned her invocation of the term “superpredator” during 1990s crime discussions, a term advocates have called racially coded and for which Clinton has apologized. 
 
 But the night was Clinton’s. Her jabs landed time and again. (A few flat one-liners were a different matter.) As the debate ended, for example, she told the story of Alicia Machado, a former Miss Universe who says she became a citizen to vote against Trump. Trump tried to cut in, asking where she got the story. She also worked at length to tie Trump to the idea of trickle-down economics, a connection he readily accepted. “The wealthy are going to create tremendous jobs,” he said. 
 
 She also pressed hard on why Trump had not released his tax returns. “First, maybe he’s not as rich as he says he is. Second, maybe he’s not as charitable as he claims to be,” she said, and added that he might be heavily leveraged. Then she added, “Maybe he doesn’t want all of you to know that he’s paid nothing in federal taxes.” It was bold speculation, but Trump did little to rebut it. He said that he could not release his taxes until an IRS audit was complete, although the IRS has said he is free to release his returns at any time. 
 
 Clinton was aided, at times, by Holt, who asked Trump several pointed questions. He forced the Republican to defend his espousal of the “birther” lie against Barack Obama, attempting to falsely blame Clinton and claiming that he’d been satisfied once Obama released his long-form birth certificate in 2011. (In fact, Trump continued to push birther theories for years afterward, only disavowing them earlier this month.) Later, when Trump tried to claim that he had opposed the war in Iraq, Holt repeatedly contradicted him. (Trump called the oft-proven fact “a mainstream media nonsense.”) On balance, Holt asked Trump more pointed questions that he did Clinton, though Trump also, to be blunt, has more to answer for. The crowd, instructed to be quiet, mostly sat on its hands for the debate, but as the end approached, members got into the act, too, loudly cheering Clinton on a couple of occasions. 
 
 But Clinton was also aided by Trump. In one of the more confusing moments of the evening, he said that Clinton had “been fighting ISIS your entire adult life.” The group dates back to 1999 by the most liberal definition. When Holt asked about race and policing in America, Trump delivered a version of a spiel from his stump speech, describing the squalor of inner-city crime and suggesting that stop-and-frisk could help. Clinton criticized the answer, saying Trump failed to understand the vibrancy of black communities, eliciting a noisy “ugh.” He also raised eyebrows by referring to Obama as “your president.” At the end, when asked whether he’d support Clinton if she won, Trump gave a meandering answer, complaining that Clinton’s ads were unfair to him and he didn’t “deserve” it, and saying he’d considered a harsh attack on her family but opted against it. The spiel was strange; Trump seemed to be taken aback by the pressures on a presidential candidate. Only under duress from Holt did Trump say he would support a President Hillary Clinton. 
 
 Historically, debates have tended to have little effect on the ultimate result of the election, and little lasting effect on polls. But this was precisely the performance Clinton had wanted. With polls showing a dead heat, Democrats have been beginning to panic, with the pitch increasing ahead of the debate, as supporters wondered whether Clinton could perform, and whether Trump would shoot himself in the foot or manage to appear presidential. It’s also tough to predict the response of voters to a debate, and while Trump performances during the GOP primary were often mediocre at best, he still scored high marks with his supporters. 
 
 But Clinton’s delight was barely hidden by the end of the night. When Trump concluded an increasingly angry spiel directed at her—"I have a winning temperament. I know how to win"—the Democrat paused for a brief moment, smiled at the camera, said, “Woo! Okay!” and did a little shimmy before answering. It was the happiest she had looked in public in the last 20 months. 
 
 —David A. Graham ||||| Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images 
 
 What introduction to this spectacle do you need? Just buckle yourself up 
 
 for the first liveblog of the four presidential and vice-presidential 
 
 debates. 
 
 
 
 If you want to send me your thoughts as the events proceed, email me at 
 
 sully@nymag.com (if you’re a recovering dishhead, you can also always 
 
 use the old email address). Please refresh to update. 
 
 10:45 p.m. 
 
 My dog Roscoe just rendered his verdict on this debate. Seriously, this just happened, in front of the TV. America, you're welcome. pic.twitter.com/sIPwHTiemN — Rod Dreher (@roddreher) September 27, 2016 
 
 10:39 p.m. What can one say? I was afraid that Trump’s charisma and stage presence and salesmanship might outshine Hillary Clinton’s usually tepid and wonkish instincts. I feared that the facts wouldn’t matter; that a debate would not take place. And it is to Clinton’s great credit that she prepared, and he didn’t, and that she let him hang himself. 
 
 His utter lack of preparation; his doubling down on transparent lies; his foreign-policy recklessness; his racial animosity; his clear discomfort with the kind of exchange of views that is integral to liberal democracy; his instinctual belligerence — all these suggest someone who has long lived in a deferential bubble that has become filled with his own reality. 
 
 Clinton was not great at times; her language was occasionally stilted; she missed some obvious moments to go in for the kill; but she was solid and reassuring and composed. I started tonight believing she needed a game-changer to alter the trajectory of this race. I may, of course, be wrong, trapped in my own confirmation bias and bubble — but I thought she did just that. 
 
 I’ve been a nervous wreck these past two weeks; my nerves are calmed now. 
 
 10:38 p.m. A reader writes: 
 
 A blinking, huffing manifestation of incoherent 21st century white male rage. He is offended by the temerity of his public servant opponent while incredulous that he is clearly in the presence of a sane person who is in possession of facts and reason. Cheap country club vulgarity. The only question is – is America seeing that too? 
 
 10:33 p.m. Trump attacks Clinton for not having the stamina to be president. That’s such a coda for bald sexism. If Clinton doesn’t have stamina, no one has. And notice how he refused to answer the question about her “look.” And he finishes by whining about tough ads against him. 
 
 10:33 p.m. 
 
 Trump in one sentence says no first strike using nuclear weapons, in next sentence says he can't take anything off the table — Jason Seher (@jhseher) September 27, 2016 
 
 10:31 p.m. Clinton became the grown-up and the president in this last statement reassuring our allies. If Americans cannot see that at this point, there is, sadly, no real choice in this election. I say that as someone who is no fan of Hillary Clinton. There is simply no choice. 
 
 10:30 p.m. 
 
 If that meltdown ending with "I have the greatest temperment" hasn't convinced the idiot undecideds to vote Clinton, nothing can. #debates — Bill Maher (@billmaher) September 27, 2016 
 
 10:29 p.m. 
 
 Trump is admitting here that he would open fire on Iranian ships and then see what happens. — Jeffrey Goldberg (@JeffreyGoldberg) September 27, 2016 
 
 10:28 p.m. Trump’s insistence that NATO is a protection racket is also an entirely new phenomenon in postwar American foreign policy. 
 
 10:27 p.m. 
 
 I still don't think Trump knows what temperament means. He always equates it with winning. — Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) September 27, 2016 
 
 10:26 p.m. Clinton is devastating him on NATO, Iran, and nuclear weapons. 
 
 10:22 p.m. 
 
 We are experiencing technical difficulties on our website. Sorry! — FactCheck.org (@factcheckdotorg) September 27, 2016 
 
 10:19 p.m. Now he’s just ranting like a drunk uncle — and shouting over the moderator. Again, his insistence on lying repeatedly about something in the public record is something I have never seen before. His only defense is that Sean Hannity will back him up. 
 
 10:17 p.m. “I haven’t given lots of thought to NATO.” This is such an embarrassment. 
 
 10:15 p.m. He’s actually doubling down on the war crime of “taking the oil.” Again: No American presidential candidate has ever advocated plunder as a goal in foreign policy. No Western leader has supported such a thing in modern times. The fact that he is still repeating the need for such a war crime is all by itself disqualifying for a Western leader. 
 
 10:14 p.m. 
 
 To sum up. America’s leading Birther just cribbed Black Lives Matter to attack Hillary. Now he credits the birther thing to Sid Blumenthal — Eli Lake (@EliLake) September 27, 2016 
 
 10:11 p.m. A small note about Trump’s insistence that “stop-and-frisk” was not unconstitutional. He believes it is constitutional because the judge was a “very against police judge.” He is a threat to the independent judiciary. I know of no American presidential candidate who has ever given an answer like that. 
 
 10:09 p.m. Someone “on that bed weighing 400 pounds”? Is he now hallucinating? Or just excusing Putin again? 
 
 10:08 p.m. A reader dissents: 
 
 Trump is being Trump and talking like regular folks. And Hillary is spewing forth wonkish liberal bullshit which many people hate. Not much new tonight. We have a choice in November. 
 
 10:07 p.m. The NYPD pushes back against Trump’s lies: 
 
 Stop question & frisk has decreased nearly 97% in NYC since '11. Crime, murder, & shootings have decreased significantly during same period — J. Peter Donald (@JPeterDonald) September 27, 2016 
 
 10:03 p.m. Clinton’s explanation of Trump’s foul racism — back from his days discriminating against African-Americans — was very powerful. She held him to account. I wonder why she doesn’t bring up the Central Park Five — another plainly racist emanation from Trump’s id. 
 
 10:00 p.m. Trump is now doubling down on his rancid racist attempt to delegitimize the first African-American president. And then to blame Sidney Blumenthal. He’s flailing. He’s foul. He’s shouting over the moderator. He is unfit for the presidency. 
 
 9:59 p.m. Clinton’s line about being prepared for the debate and the presidency is the best line of the night. 
 
 9:57 p.m. The idea that “stop-and-frisk” solely brought down crime is absurd. So much of what he’s been saying is absurd. He is winging this; she is prepared. I thought he might be able to overcome that substantive disadvantage. I don’t think he has. Surely people will see that. 
 
 9:55 p.m. A reader writes: 
 
 I think he’s shouting and acting so antsy because he’s getting zero reaction from the crowd. Trump himself has said he tries to read the room at his rallies and that leads the direction of what he says and how he says it. He’s getting no feedback. Lester basically sucked all of Trumps oxygen out of the room by not allowing him the praise he so desperately needs to perform. 
 
 Another: 
 
 I’m loving this Hillary. She’s prepped and it shows. She’s not smooth, but she found an opponent that makes that part of her delivery not matter. 
 
 9:54 p.m. 
 
 Trump's vision of the America worth caring about: anywhere he has property or investments. — tad friend (@tadfriend) September 27, 2016 
 
 9:53 p.m. If Trump is a raging barfly on the race question, Clinton is a defensive blatherer. 
 
 9:50 p.m. What he has just said in a presidential debate is indistinguishable from what a drunk at a bar might say before he is thrown out. It’s incredible to me that this ranting, incoherent bigot is actually a nominee of a major party in the U.S. 
 
 9:47 p.m. Trump’s response to the racial-divide question is simply to tout his endorsement from the police union. Then he pivots to the notion that inner-city violence is caused by illegal immigrants. His answer on stop-and-frisk is an argument against the Constitution. He has contempt for the Constitution because it might actually impede him from doing what he wants. 
 
 9:46 p.m. 
 
 Did Trump just answer his charge that he didn't pay income taxes by saying "it would be squandered anyway?" — Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) September 27, 2016 
 
 Yes, he did. 
 
 9:43 p.m. It’s clear that Trump has no idea what a debate is and has never actually debated an equal. He rants and then shouts over and interrupts his debate partner. This is the performance of a tyrant, someone utterly unsuited to the give-and-take and reasoned debate that’s integral — essential — to a liberal democracy. 
 
 9:42 p.m. I have to say that Clinton’s spiel on Trump’s foul business record was effective. And what’s up with his nose? Why is he constantly sniffing? 
 
 9:40 p.m. A little fact-checking: 
 
 The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2012 
 
 9:38 p.m. He’s shouting at her directly now. 
 
 9:37 p.m. Trump has interrupted, and shouted over, Clinton repeatedly. I wonder if that will affect the views of American women. 
 
 9:35 p.m. His answers on the tax returns are bizarre. Clinton hammers it home. 
 
 9:30 p.m. He’s now full bonkers — attacking the Federal Reserve. And then repeating the absurd lie that he cannot release his tax returns because of an audit. He’s just doubling down on the bullshit. If this performance works, it’s the end of any kind of rational discourse in a liberal democracy. 
 
 9:27 p.m. I can’t quite understand what he’s talking about. And what strikes me is his insistence on shouting over her. He will not let her answer — but she has not told him to stop interrupting. 
 
 9:24 p.m. Now he’s talking and shouting over the moderator. He’s out of control. “She’s been fighting ISIS her entire adult life”? Again, what is he talking about? 
 
 9:20 p.m. Now he’s getting his mojo back. He’s shouting over her. And pounding her on her experience. 
 
 9:19 p.m. He’s now looking directly at Clinton — and cutting her off. 
 
 9:18 p.m. “Our country is losing so much in energy.” What is he talking about? 
 
 9:17 p.m. She’s pwning him right now. 
 
 9:16 p.m. Clinton is doing far better than I anticipated. And he’s flailing — and gives us the first interruption. 
 
 9:12 p.m. A terrific response from Clinton on “trumped-up trickle-down economics.” And her attempt to contrast her more modest upbringing with Trump’s astonishing privilege. Trump is responding with slogans. And suddenly it’s not “Crooked Hillary,” it’s Secretary Clinton. So he switches tactics and plays his strong card — that he is the new thing, and Clinton has been around for ever. 
 
 He has no answer on how to bring manufacturing jobs back. 
 
 9:09 p.m. Trump begins by denying reality — that jobs are leaving the U.S. in droves. He has almost nothing substantive to counter Clinton’s policies, except a massive tax cut. A weak start for the Donald. 
 
 9:07 p.m. A solid, crisp, substantive, policy-packed first answer from Clinton. 
 
 9:04 p.m. My basic first take is that Trump is winning this campaign handily and that Clinton needs tonight desperately to get back in the race. I wish that were not so, but it is. 
 
 9 p.m. Take a deep breath. ||||| RALEIGH, N.C. (Reuters) - Democrat Hillary Clinton sought on Tuesday to keep Republican rival Donald Trump on the defensive a day after their first U.S. presidential debate with accusations he is a sexist, racist and tax dodger, while Trump suggested he would “hit her harder” next time by bringing up her husband’s infidelity. 
 
 While the New York real estate mogul found himself in another controversy over his fresh insults about the weight of a former beauty pageant winner, Clinton tried to keep up the momentum after her forceful debate performance. 
 
 She told reporters that during the debate, Trump “was making charges and claims that were demonstrably untrue, offering opinions that I think a lot of people would find offensive and off-putting.” 
 
 For his part, Trump, speaking at a rally in the battleground state of Florida on Tuesday, said of the debate: “On issue after issue, Secretary Clinton defended the terrible status quo – while I laid out our plan to bring jobs, security and prosperity back to the American people.” 
 
 Monday night’s face-off between Clinton, with decades of experience in public life, and Trump, famous as a television personality but running for office for the first time, attracted a record audience for a U.S. presidential debate. 
 
 Nielsen data showed 84 million people watched the debate on U.S. television, topping the 80.6 million viewers for the Jimmy Carter-Ronald Reagan TV presidential debate in 1980. 
 
 Trump praised himself for not attacking Clinton during the debate about the marital infidelity of her husband, former President Bill Clinton, but said he may take up the attack line going forward. There are two more debates scheduled, on Oct. 9 in St. Louis and Oct. 19 in Las Vegas, ahead of the Nov. 8 election. 
 
 “I may hit her harder in certain ways. I really eased up because I didn’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings,” Trump said in an interview on the Fox News program “Fox & Friends.” 
 
 He added that when Clinton criticized him for his treatment of women, he held back, saying: “I was going to hit her with her husband’s women. And I decided I shouldn’t do it because her daughter was in the room.” 
 
 Clinton brushed off Trump’s vow, saying: “He can run his campaign however he chooses.” She added that “the real point is about temperament and fitness and qualification to hold the most important, hardest job in the world.” 
 
 Trump himself was still married to his first wife, Ivana Trump, when he had a high-profile affair with Marla Maples, who became his second wife. He eventually divorced Maples and married his third and current wife, Melania Trump. 
 
 In the interview with Fox News, Trump sought to deflect criticism of his debate performance, saying the debate moderator, Lester Holt of NBC News, asked him “very unfair questions” and that he was given a “very bad” microphone. 
 
 “I don’t want to believe in conspiracy theories, of course, but it was much lower than hers and it was crackling,” Trump said of the microphone. 
 
 Clinton, speaking to reporters on her campaign plane, said: “Anyone who complains about the microphone is not having a good night.” 
 
 BEAUTY QUEEN 
 
 Clinton, 68, excoriated Trump, 70, during the debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, for having called women “pigs, slobs and dogs.” But Trump leveled new and highly personal criticism on Tuesday toward Venezuelan-born beauty queen Alicia Machado, who won the 1996 Miss Universe title and is now a U.S. citizen. 
 
 U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton talks to reporters on her campaign plane in White Plains, New York, United States September 27, 2016. REUTERS/Brian Snyder 
 
 “She was the winner and she gained a massive amount of weight,” said Trump, the former owner of the Miss Universe pageants. “And it was a real problem. We had a real problem. Not only that - her attitude - and we had a real problem with her.” 
 
 Clinton, the first woman to win the presidential nomination of a major U.S. political party, seemed to pique Trump when she brought up during the debate how Trump had insulted women, mentioning Machado by name. Clinton said Trump called her “Miss Piggy” and also “Miss Housekeeping” because she was a Latina. 
 
 ‘GAMING THE SYSTEM’ 
 
 Clinton, a former U.S. senator and secretary of state, stepped up her criticism of Trump for refusing to release his tax returns, as presidential candidates have done for decades, and for saying during the debate that not paying federal income tax “makes me smart.” 
 
 “He actually bragged about gaming the system to get out of paying his fair share of taxes. In fact, I think there’s a strong probability he hasn’t paid federal taxes a lot of years,” she said at a campaign rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, a pivotal state in the election. 
 
 “He probably hasn’t paid a penny to support our troops or our vets or our schools or our healthcare system.” 
 
 Trump held a campaign event in Miami’s Little Havana, aiming to shore up support among Hispanic voters. His campaign said on Tuesday it had raised more than $18 million since the debate. 
 
 Trump earlier complained that issues from Clinton’s 2009-2013 tenure as secretary of state were not addressed on Monday night, including topics such as her use of a private computer server for government emails, the deadly attack in Benghazi, Libya, and the Clinton Foundation charity. 
 
 In one of their more heated exchanges, Clinton accused Trump of promulgating a “racist lie” by questioning the citizenship of Barack Obama, the first black U.S. president, saying he was not born in the United States. 
 
 Slideshow (20 Images) 
 
 Obama lent his support again to Clinton’s bid to become his successor, tweeting on Tuesday: “Couldn’t be more proud of @HillaryClinton. Her vision and command during last night’s debate showed that she’s ready to be our next @POTUS.” 
 
 The Washington Post, citing a Clinton campaign source, reported she would be endorsed by John Warner, a former Republican U.S. senator from Virginia and Navy secretary, who the newspaper said would appear at an event in Virginia on Wednesday with Clinton’s running mate, Tim Kaine. 
 
 The Arizona Republic’s editorial board also endorsed Clinton, the first time in the newspaper’s 126-year history it has backed a Democrat for president.
– The Hillary Clinton-Donald Trump showdown on Monday night was billed as the most anticipated in many years, and it did not disappoint, according to the Hill, which describes the clash as one between "the more incisive and prepared Clinton and Trump, who leaned heavily on instinct and combativeness." Five other takes on the debate, which many analysts are calling a win for Clinton: Glenn Thrush at Politico calls it a clear loss for Trump, who "became muted and pouty" toward the end. Clinton "went right for Trump's ego," and he "wilted and offered a series of meandering answers" when challenged on things like his wealth and his record of job creation, writes Thrush, who believes Trump "flat-out forgot to pursue" a line of attack on the Clinton Foundation. FiveThirtyEight kept track of the number of interruptions, and Trump comes out way ahead on that score: He had three full-fledged interruptions, where he seized the floor, compared to zero for Clinton, and 24 "fleeting interjections" while his rival kept talking, compared to five for Clinton. The biggest contrast may have been between styles, not policy positions, according to Alexander Burns at the New York Times. "He shouted, interrupted, and sniffed. She kept a level tone and wielded prefab one-liners," writes Burns, who thinks Clinton prevailed on issues of race, gender, and national security, while Trump was strongest when portraying himself as a political outsider. Paul Farhi at the Washington Post takes a look at the moderation and finds that NBC News anchor Lester Holt played a "largely passive role," declining to intervene as "Trump interrupted Clinton and made a series of questionable assertions," though he did seem "to push harder on the Republican businessman" than on Clinton. Farhi notes that Holt's questions didn't cover issues such as "Supreme Court nominations, Social Security, gun control, abortion, student loans, military affairs and health care, especially the Affordable Care Act." It was a debate that highlighted the stark choice voters face, and one where the "two contenders did, in fact, play to their strengths," decides Gerald F. Seib at the Wall Street Journal. "He to his ability to connect with voters on visceral terms, she on her ability to move smoothly from subject to subject with an air of authority." Trump, however, sometimes "seemed a bit too eager to interrupt and play the part of the bully," he writes, while Clinton "occasionally seemed on the verge of appearing smug." (Click for 12 of the debate's standout back-and-forths.)