Trump goes off on a tangent in first debate

US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton waves as she arrives for a meeting with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a hotel in New York, US September 25, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

The first TV debate between the two US presidential candidates, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, was held at Hofstra University on Long Island, New York, on Monday. Beijing News analyzes their performances:

Who won the debate? According to a CNN opinion poll, 62 percent of the respondents said Clinton and 27 percent, Trump. The poll result may be debatable, but Trump did commit mistakes. First, he confused the debate, even the election in November, with the Republican nomination race. In that race, he faced his own party's leaders, the majority of whom shared his class, education and political stance. That's why he could say almost whatever he wanted to against them, including raking up their private lives.

However, in the presidential debate with Clinton, his audience cut across party and social divides－Republicans and Democrats, rich and poor. He persisted with his earlier strategy of "shooting from the hip" instead of speaking through his mind, which didn't appeal to many people.

The other mistake he made is to mistaken "winning an argument" for "winning a debate" or "winning the election". He interrupted Clinton 25 times in the first 26 minutes of the debate, which was rather impolite. When Clinton asked him about his tax records, he responded by raising her email issue. He might have gained the upper hand in the argument, but he lost the debate and the trust of the audience.

If Trump continues in the same vein in the other debates, he might lose the election, because people won't trust him. His approach is not the way US presidents have won elections. As Clinton said, she felt she was "going to be blamed for everything", yet she came to the debate to run for the US presidency. And Trump proved her right.

The US presidential election is still six weeks away and no one knows who will win. But if Trump loses the election, he will live to rue his performance on Monday.