Trump's 3 Skeeviest Debate Moments

Monday night was the first of three grueling face-offs between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton on the slow and torturous road to the White House. Women everywhere were contorting with full-body eyerolls in what can only be described as the peak mansplaining moment in American history.

It was expected that Clinton would keep her cool and come out the victor as a well-seasoned debater and policy expert, but Trump has been the nation’s most embarrassing and dangerous wildcard since his campaign announcement. Known for his wacky debate antics including calling his rivals demeaning nicknames like Lil Marco and Crooked Hillary (dope stage names tho), making fun of bathroom breaks, and assuring viewers of his penis size, the former reality star interrupted Clinton a whopping 51 times in 90 minutes.

Like Trump’s "long record of racist behavior," the billionaire also has a history of coming off like a total creep. He's basically said he'd bang his daughter, took shots at Heidi Cruz's (rival Ted Cruz's wife) looks, and said some really messed up things about women, but Trump took the cake last night by treating Clinton like a simultaneously incompetent yet intimidating baby woman.

Here is a short list of Trump’s skeeviest moments from Monday night’s debate:

1. When he talked down to her

One of the defining qualities of a creep is the paradox of treating someone like they have the knowledge and sensibility of a newborn baby yet the emotional spectrum of a full-grown woman. Monday night brought many instances in which Trump spoke to Clinton like a giant idiot despite being equals on the presidential stage, like gesturing he knew better than the woman who literally wrote the book.

In an effort to evade Clinton’s very legitimate claims that Trump committed tax evasion, he acted as if she couldn’t possibly understand how taxes (which everyone has to do) work. 

“That makes me smart,” the literally sniveling man said when Clinton said he paid zero taxes. “You don’t learn that much from tax returns.”

When Clinton noted Trump's characteristic move to take financial advantage of the housing crisis instead of working to implement policies helping those in need, Trump quipped, "That's called business, by the way."

2. When he diminished her accomplishments

One of sexism’s most insidious manifestations is erasing a woman’s accomplishments to keep her from succeeding. Despite Clinton’s impressive political résumé where he has none, Trump tried to reduce Clinton’s achievements—including implementing the Children's Health Insurance Program and helping 9/11 first responders and members of the National Guard get health care—by blaming her for not single-handedly defeating the global problem of extremist terrorism.

“No wonder you’ve been fighting ISIS your entire adult life,” said Trump, who apparently can’t do simple math (ISIS emerged in the late '90s but didn't gain traction until 2003, according to TPM—and Clinton is 68 years old).

When moderator Lester Holt confronted Trump about his comment that Clinton didn’t have the “presidential look,” the billionaire tried to pivot his misogynistic remark by saying she didn’t have the “stamina.”

"She doesn't have the look. She doesn't have the stamina," he backtracked. "I said she doesn't have the stamina. And I don't believe she does have the stamina. To be president of this country, you need tremendous stamina." Trump even explicitly called Clinton devoid of “basic ability.”

"We need heart. We need a lot of things," he said. "But you have to have some basic ability. And sadly, she doesn't have that."

3. When he treated her like an emotional time bomb

Early in the debate, Trump told Clinton, “I want you to be very happy. It's very important to me,​” in a bizarre bid to look like an empathetic human that just made viewers cringe with its insincerity. But it’s not just the baby/woman paradox that inspires Trump to treat Clinton like she’s a catty middle schooler instead of a presidential nominee ready to argue the nuts and bolts of running a country—it’s straight up sexism. Relying on the “she listens to her emotions, not logic” argument is a classic diversion tactic to keep people from the truth, and the susequent blame that would fall right in Trump's lap.

The billionaire brought up Clinton’s ads targeting his sexist comments, saying, “It's not nice and I don't deserve that. And certainly, it's not a nice thing that she's done." As if her ads—which featured clips of his actual voice saying his very real quotes—were less nice than the things he said and the toxic behaviors they perpetuate.

In his most memorable farewell to reality, the noted hothead and former reality star argued that he had a more presidential temperament than the former first lady and current secretary of state.

"My strongest asset, maybe by far, is my winning temperament,” he said. “I know how to win."