We Are for Trump, Students for Hillary spar in contentious debate
We Are for Trump, Students for Hillary spar in contentious debate
After almost exactly 24 hours since their candidates debated for the first time, the campus organizations representing the major party nominees threw jabs at each other on Monday night.
The debate was held under unusual circumstances after the Penn State Speech and Debate Society withdrew their participation on the morning of the debate following a leak of alleged messages sent between members of We Are for Trump. After both groups had a late afternoon meeting with UPUA, which is sponsoring PSU Votes Week around campus, representatives from the student government organization came on as the new moderators. No mention of the messages were made during the debate.
101 Thomas was almost full by the time the debate started at 8 p.m., and the first of two topics covered was on corporate taxation policy. Students for Hillary advocated for a higher tax rate, as well as an exit tax for companies that ship their headquarters overseas. “Secretary Clinton wants to make sure the tax code is progressive and favors fairness, as well as domestic and foreign investment in our country,” said Johnna Purcell, president of Students for Hillary.
We Are for Trump defended their nominee’s proposal of lowering the corporate tax rate from 35% to 15%, and that it will both spur innovation by keeping more money in the pockets of companies, as well as keeping large companies in the United States.
We Are for Trump representative Avery Weinrich had an example of domestic inversion when the city of Philadelphia raised taxes on luxury cars by one percent and, according to him, all luxury car dealerships moved out the Philadelphia area. “When you raise taxes, you actually lose revenue,” he said, noting that “the noble things people on the left tell you they’ll do” with the money will never come to fruition because of the lost business.
He ended by saying, “Let’s send someone that’s not a Washington elitist to make our country great again,” to strong applause from Trump supporters in the audience.
The biggest moment of the night, however, was in the audience questioning section. Members of the audience were asked to use #PSUVotesWeek on Twitter to submit their questions, and it led to some spirited answers from both sides.
We Are for Trump was regularly put on the defensive, having to answer for Trump’s refusal to release his tax returns, his rift with the gun lobby on people on the terror watch list from being able to bear arms, and hate speech. Regarding the last topic, We Are for Trump
Communications Director Chris Baker took strong exception to Purcell and Students for Hillary outreach chair Katierose Epstein’s stance on “safe spaces” and their definition of hate speech, saying “you know it when you see it.”
“We are each individuals with our own beliefs and our own mindset and that’s what makes us special and important,” Baker said. “What makes us special important aren’t safe spaces where everyone looks at you and says, ‘oh you’re so special and important,’ it is your own ability to think that for yourself!” Several Trump supporters stood up in loud, energetic applause.
When the subject moved from corporate taxes to Syrian refugees — the second topic of the night — both groups were far apart in what should be done in the ongoing humanitarian crisis.
We Are for Trump representatives said that while the United States has a humanitarian duty, the complex circumstances in the middle east and an ineffective vetting system makes it difficult to accept any significant number of Syrian refugees. The U.S. has admitted over 10,000 Syrian refugees this year, according to The White House.
Students for Hillary president Purcell mentioned that one group that has a much higher domestic terrorism rate than radicals from the middle east are white male citizens, which drew big applause from the crowd. “We’re not asking for something outrageous, we’re asking for the United States to be decent in providing refuge. Those are the fundamental values in which this country was founded,” Purcell said, adding, “let’s make America great again, why don’t we?” to cheers from some and scoffs from others in the audience.
When Students for Hillary’s Epstein asked the Trump side if they could explain why they believe refusing Syrian refugees would make America great again, Weinrich snidely replied, “I don’t know if I can because I’m a white Christian male and I was born that way, and apparently that’s a problem.”
Overall, the event ended with members from both sides hugging each other, and We Are for Trump’s Chris Baker thought he did well, especially in the question regarding freedom of speech and safe spaces. “The second that the freedom of speech question came out, I knew I had it,” he said, “I just had a dynamite response.”
One moment of contention came when Baker said ISIS are “like roaches,” and noted high numbers of disapproval of homosexuality in middle eastern countries. Several members of the audience scoffed at the roach statement, and Baker reacted by calling out an audience member, repeating what he just witnessed, “You’re scoffing that I called ISIS roaches.”
“That baffled me,” Baker said. “What [that] is telling me is that these people-that are Hillary supporters-are living in their own reality and aren’t able to face the facts.”
Baker was happy that he got to speak on an issue that he feels so passionately about.
“Being able to defend the First Amendment is an honor for me to do,” he said, “even if it’s in a crappy classroom.”