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Monday at 8 p.m., the long-awaited first presidential debate will take place at Hofstra University. Millions of American eyes will watch as the two front-runners wade into a war of mud-slinging, platform disagreements and NBC’s Lester Holt.
Both Trump and Hillary have seen fascinatingly large ups and downs during their campaign trail. Due to these complications, American voters have considered many of the two candidates’ actions to be distasteful or brash. According to a Gallup poll conducted in July, Clinton and Trump shared the exact same low favorability rating. With the debate forthcoming, the presidential hopefuls may be able to sway voters by explaining their tactics and full platforms. For better or worse, here are some of the crucial issues and opinions that Hillary and Trump might be debating on Monday.
Immigration
Immigration has been a consistently controversial subject in this election season. Americans have voiced feelings of both fear and acceptance towards incoming foreigners. Predictably, the candidates have matched the current ideological division with their view of the subject.
Hillary Clinton on Immigration: According to her website, Clinton wishes to introduce comprehensive immigration reform, end 3-10 year bars, continue to support DACA and DAPA, enforce immigration laws humanely and expand the Affordable Care Act to immigrants of all statuses. In short, Clinton wants to keep immigrant families together by creating a vetting system that is faster and allows leniency for previously illegal aliens, while treating immigrant families like any other working Americans.
Donald Trump on immigration: According to Donald Trump’s website, his immigration policy is supported by three “core principles.” Those principles being: A nation without borders is not a nation, a nation without laws is not a nation and a nation that does not serve its own citizens is not a nation. Trump, as most know, plans to build a wall across the southern border of the United States and Mexico. He also wants to enforce immigration laws more strictly and require all immigrants to improve the “jobs, wages and security” for Americans.
Combating ISIS
From the recent Paris attacks to the constant threat of national security, ISIS has proved itself to be one the most prevalent issues in our society. Politicians from all over the country have a vastly different view on the way to destroy not only a terrorist organization but an ideology. Is a war on terror in future plans for our leading candidates?
Hillary Clinton on Combating ISIS: Hillary explained that she will deal with the threat of ISIS by following three crucial steps: Take out ISIS’s stronghold in Iraq and Syria, work closely with our foreign allies to effectively neutralize the threat and correctly arm U.S. law enforcement measures. Clinton’s plan revolves around the resolution of the Syrian civil war and strategizing with our allies to install a coalition against radical Jihadism.
Donald Trump on Combating ISIS: Trump wishes to put more funding into our military. His vision is to have a massive military that is so intimidating and large that “no one will mess with us.” With the further building of our military and its funding, Trump states that we will “get rid of ISIS.”
Economy
Trump’s history in real estate and multi-million dollar businesses around the world may give him an edge in the economic spectrum of our government; however, Clinton did serve as the Secretary of State under the Obama administration for four years, providing her with more direct experience within our political system. Both of these candidates believe in reducing taxes for the middle class, but they do not see eye-to-eye on practically any other economic plank.
Hillary Clinton on Economy: Clinton believes in forcing millionaires and major American companies to pay their “fair share” in taxes by making sure that the 1 percent does not pay a lower tax rate than middle class. She plans to cut out tax loopholes used by Wall Street and corporate business in an attempt to prevent large business from having an incentive to move overseas. Clinton also wants to encourage more lower and middle class individuals to use resources like etoro to invest in stocks and shares. She hopes this will help reduce the growing class divide and provide more healthy competition for Wall Street. She wishes to cut taxes for small businesses and families, as well as working towards debt-free college. She wants to convert America to a “clean energy superpower” by investing in renewable energy and solar panels. Finally, her plan explains that she will institute a large investment in infrastructure jobs during her first 100 days in office.
Donald Trump on Economy: First and foremost, Trump wants to lower taxes for every American. He also plans to simplify taxation while streamlining deductions. Another important element to his economic vision is the significant restriction on business taxation. If elected, Trump says he will limit taxes on business income to 15 percent or less. In addition, he believes in the exclusion of child expenses from any form of taxation. Trump wishes to stop current regulation of American businesses and review the existing ones, due to the expenses they cause small businesses. To accomplish these feats, Trump will enact a renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement and an official withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
For more information on the political positions of Trump or Hillary, visit donaldjtrump.com or hillaryclinton.com.
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To contact News Editors Amanda Freuler or Brinley Hineman, email newseditor@mtsusidelines.com.
