Forum puts focus on how Clinton is judged compared to Trump
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — For months, Hillary Clinton’s supporters have griped that she’s held to a higher, harder standard than Donald Trump. After Wednesday night’s forum on national security, those complaints became a rallying cry.
In the opening segment of the made-for-TV event, moderator Matt Lauer interrupted Clinton’s answer to his first question, about what it takes to be commander in chief, to set up 10 minutes of questions about her use of a private email system and her vote for the Iraq war.
Trump seemed to skate by a half hour later as he repeated — unchallenged — the false claim that he was against the war, even though he voiced support for it in a 2002 interview. When Lauer introduced a question about how the Republican nominee is boning up on issues, he told Trump, “nobody would expect you” to have delved deeply into foreign policy.
The forum underscored a debate that’s rapidly becoming a focal point in the race: Is the first female presidential nominee of a major U.S. party being judged fairly? Clinton’s answer, unsurprisingly, is no.