In first sparring match, Clinton beats Trump on points

Calling on my Marine Corps boxing experience, I used a 10-point scoring system and concluded that the first presidential debate was almost even … almost. Republican nominee Donald Trump continues to talk like a third-grader and that irritates me, considering that English is not my first language and I have worked for almost 70 years to speak English well.

If I hear him say, “believe me” or “I have to tell you” one more time …

If I have to hear him one more time tell the lie that he opposed the Iraq War from before it happened, when we know that is not true …

If we have to listen to him claim to have done something worthwhile when President Obama produced his birth certificate and that only occurred because he forced the president to produce it …

{mosads}If I have to listen to him claim that he signed a consent decree promising not to discriminate in housing against blacks and Hispanics when he was sued in one of the most massive housing discrimination case in history to that point and that his signing didn’t meaning admitting to discrimination …

Here are points Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton jabbed Trump with, the ones he left unanswered. She brought up his six business bankruptcies. His response? He “take[s] advantage of the laws of the nation,” without mentioning that he issued junk bonds to pay himself for loans he made to his casinos. He didn’t mention that people lost their jobs and he didn’t mention that banks and investors who took over the casino Trump bankrupted essentially kicked Trump out of Atlantic City.

Clinton missed a huge overhand right when Trump bragged that he had income of $694 million. In pointing out that Trump refuses to release his tax returns, she should have challenged him when he said he made $694 million with a simple question: “How much income tax did you pay on what you claim you made — $694 million?”

As to Trump’s claims that NAFTA, negotiated and initially signed by President George H.W. Bush, is “the single worst trade deal ever approved in this country,” why didn’t Clinton ask: If it’s so bad, why did the United States create 25 million jobs between its start in 1994 to 2008?

As Trump claims that he will stop companies from moving out of the United States, why didn’t Clinton ask him if he would make that blast retroactive a hundred years, since General Motors, Ford and Chrysler first started building cars in Mexico in the 1920s?

Finally, why didn’t she ask Trump exactly how will he stop private companies from going to Mexico; what laws would he use? Executive orders? Personal fiats? And how would he get around three constitutional issues: The 14th Amendment’s due process and equal protection clauses; the Fifth Amendment, which prohibits taking private property “without just compensation”; and Article I, Section 8, which reserves for the Congress the right “regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States.”

Clinton did level Trump when bringing up Trump’s claims that his father loaned him a “small” amount — $1 million; Clinton pointed out that Trump Senior actually loaned his son $14 million (as The Wall Street Journal reported).

She could have knocked him out if she had asked Trump if he joined his father in a criminal conspiracy when the elder Trump illegally loaned money to Donald’s failing casino by buying $3.3 million in casino gambling chips.

Nonetheless, despite missing out on some great opportunities, Hillary Clinton won the day on a point basis with 110 points to Donald Trump’s 90 or so. Two more debates, if Trump shows up.

Contreras formerly wrote for the New American News Service of The New York Times Syndicate.

The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the views of The Hill.