The first face-to-face debate with US Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump revolved around temperament and how well each candidate grasps understands details of such things as the actual workings of the US government and international relations.  Hillary Clinton appeared to be cool, clear-headed, and in command of the facts while Trump huffed and snorted through rushed and often incoherent sentences.

Trump interrupted Mrs. Clinton frequently, which kept online fact-checkers typing until their fingers were bloody.  The lies began almost immediately, with the orange clown claiming that Ford is leaving the US in favor of Mexico;  in fact, Ford Motors tweeted back that it is moving manufacturing of some small cars to Mexico and US auto plant workers would commence building different models, with no US job losses. 

The Republican standard bearer repeatedly relied on troublesome and false facts that have been debunked throughout the campaign.  He lied about his support of the Iraq War and US intervention in Libya; He lied about violent crime being on the rise, when in fact crime is down; he continued to claim that the controversial "stop and frisk" police policy reduced crime, when in fact crime rates plunged after the practice was ruled unconstitutional in New York City.  In fact, at times it seems that every sentence contained a lie.

Trump sniffled through most of his screen time inspiring the twitter hashtag #Trumpsniffles, and constantly gulped water from behind the podium.  During the first half hour of the debate, he repeatedly interrupted Mrs. Clinton with rapid fire sentences, but didn't seem to land a punch.  After the first half hour, Trump appeared to run low on energy and his shallow breathing could be heard as time wore on.  Mrs. Clinton made no mention of Trump's sniffles during the debate.

Hillary Clinton didn't break any new ground - but she drove the debate, and kept Trump on the defensive.  She projected confidence, backed up her own policy ideas with facts and figures, and brought up topics that were difficult for Trump such as his history of making sexist and bigoted comments, and his idiotic claim that global warming is a hoax invented in China.  He tried to defend his decade-old feud with comedienne Rosie O'Donnell rather than apologize for his sexist behavior.

Two TV news focus groups called Hillary Clinton the winner of the debate.