Trump was surprisingly sedate to start out, which was probably important for him, but it didn’t last long. Clinton looked robotic on opening statement. Trump was very good at keeping on his themes of exporting jobs and being specific and really focused on China, Mexico and trade. Hillary put in the knife a bit contrasting Trump’s wealth with her allegedly middle class environment. Got Trump to respond out of irritation and pique, which is not a good look for him. Trump did add some nice specifics about a VAT and Mexico. Trump does a nice job of hitting Clinton as a “johnny-come-lately” on trade. Trump has generally done a nice job of showing respect to Hillary by calling her ”Secretary Clinton” and not getting a rise out of her calling him Donald.

Hillary just looks very robotic. Trump is just better on TV even though Hillary is better on facts. Trump continues to pound on trade. Trump looks disgusted when Hillary talks. Trump has started to really go after Hillary– interested whether the gender politics in that will work for him. Hillary’s contempt for Trump is beginning to really show.

Trump had a nice moment vis-a-vis ISIS and Clinton and Douglas Macarthur that drew the first laugh of the night. He stumbled a bit on the audit question at first but then did some nice linkage to Hillary’s emails.