Donald Trump had plenty of moments on Monday night that would have disqualified any other candidate in a presidential debate: bragging about getting through a discrimination investigation "with no admission of guilt"; saying he had not "given lots of thought" to NATO; noting that he often took advantage of laws; taking pride in having paid no taxes some years; and referring to the man in the White House as "your president."
But you could have compiled a similar list in nearly any fortnight of the Trump campaign, and he is still competitive with Hillary Clinton in the polls. We've become inured to Trump.
He was better at getting his message across than she was, because his message was simpler. We need more law and order, he said; we need to respect police even as we reform them, she parried. Our allies are taking advantage of us, he kept saying; she talked about the value of alliances without responding to the point. He said that she had been in politics too long; she let it go. Even on trade, where the positions they articulated were pretty similar — they both want tougher enforcement of trade laws, say they are free traders, and reject the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership — she sounded more like someone who wanted to be on all sides of the issue at once.