Hillary Clinton’s biggest debate victory was in showing she does have stamina and is completely healthy (no sniffling or even a drink of water). She also seemed well prepared, even though her branding innovations fell flat. But she was too smug, didn’t have control over her smile, and failed in her effort to dismiss Trump as crazy. She was needlessly disrespectful by calling him Donald, whereas he was the gentleman by comparison by saying “Secretary Clinton” considerably more often than “Hillary.”

Her second biggest victory was in deflecting attention away from her various scandals.

Her third biggest victory was in branding Trump as both a racist and a misogynist. She was fairly demagogic, but Trump didn’t respond effectively.

I guess she won, maybe easily, on points. We saw almost no Crooked Hillary. Nobody walked away thinking Trump had better judgment.

Remember, though: Everyone was saying before the debate that all Trump had to do is not choke. And he didn’t. A significant group of undecided voters is those who just can’t support Trump because he’s completely unfit to serve. It’s possible he helped himself with those voters. He didn’t seem unbalanced or hugely unreasonable. He did seem too angry, sometimes too much so to think clearly on the spot.

Because we southerners always want to help the underdog and the amateur, even when he is serving or just is a very questionable cause, I want to call attention to issues Trump could easily fix in his next performance.

Most obviously: Instead of allowing the focus to be on his employees and his taxes, he should have countered with more on the e-mails and the Clinton Foundation and her secret speeches to Goldman Sachs. He should have said, for instance, “Secretary Clinton, you have no right to be talking about cyber-security, because . . . ” He shouldn’t allow her to set the agenda, he should pivot, as she did by not addressing the issue of her Blumenthal as the original Obama birther. He still lets the grudges get the better of him, and so he spent too much time on the defensive.

And Trump should have displayed some populism through his support of the existing entitlements, maybe unions, as a balance to his tax cuts. Clinton tried, with some success, to brand him as a typical oligarchic Republican. But he really isn’t. Maybe he should also say more about how family-friendly his family leave policy really is, including tax breaks for families where women choose to be stay-at-home moms. This policy may not be conservative and all that, but it is popular.

I also keep hoping that Trump will develop his “a country is a country” insight by developing a narrative of shared American citizenship to defend the dignity of ordinary people against elitist indifference and manipulation — both corporate and “politically correct.”

Most important, Trump needs to develop his insight that the main national-defense issue has to do with arming up, in the broad sense. That means lots of modernization, beginning with our nuclear weapons and our nuclear doctrine in a world where the use of military weapons will become more likely. It also means restoring morale to our armed forces. That begins with not saddling our forces with missions so stupidly politicized that success is impossible. Instead of arguing over who is supported by this or that general, he might point out that Clinton has virtually no support among the active-duty military considered as a whole. This could be his Reagan moment in overcoming the contemporary equivalent of the Vietnam syndrome.

I hasten to add that I still think the idea of President Trump is both ridiculous and pointlessly flirting with hugely risky business. Clinton scored big by forcing viewers to think about his finger on the button. And she seemed “more presidential.”

There’s a lot more, but the takeaway: The debate was far from a game-changer, and it was not enjoyable viewing.