it was at times difficult to watch, but donald trump scored a desperately needed victory in sunday night<u+2019>s presidential debate in st. louis. he addressed crude comments he made 11 years ago and bested hillary clinton on issues such as health care and the economy. your humble correspondent would not have recommended mr. trump<u+2019>s approach of delving into the mistreatment of women at the hands of bill and hillary clinton. but mr. trump was clear and coherent in contrasting his own words to clinton actions. click here to receive this daily opinion summary via email. after the candidates spent the early part of the debate trading ethical charges, the evening was surprisingly substantive. this was in large part because this time the gop candidate had done his homework. <u+201c>on the issues mr. trump was much better prepared on sunday, and he kept mrs. clinton on the defensive on taxes, obamacare and her own ethical problems with her private email server,<u+201d> writes the editorial board . mr. trump made a strong case for tax reform to revive economic growth, and correctly noted that his plan would bring one of the world<u+2019>s highest tax rates on corporate income down to a level that would be among the most competitive. combined with a commitment to reduce the regulatory burden and appoint supreme court justices who will follow the constitution<u+2014>including the second amendment<u+2014>he gave republican voters ample reason to stay on board his controversial campaign. while mr. trump<u+2019>s arguments on foreign policy were at times hard to follow, mrs. clinton also struck out when discussing the middle east. the democrat described various parts of the process of conducting foreign policy in the region but never offered a clear strategy. more generally, mr. trump keeps asking where the results are from her decades in public life and last night voters saw that hillary clinton still has no good answer to this question. the principal achievement she claims for herself is a deal on children<u+2019>s health insurance cut by sen. orrin hatch (r., utah) and the late sen. ted kennedy (d., mass.) while she was first lady in the 1990s. <u+201c>with her, it<u+2019>s all talk and no action,<u+201d> said mr. trump. the line of the night occurred after mrs. clinton compared herself to abraham lincoln in attempting to explain away her comment to a crowd of bankers that politicians sometimes needed to have a public position and a private position on an issue. <u+201c>honest abe never lied<u+201d> responded mr. trump. <u+201c>that<u+2019>s the big difference between abraham lincoln and you.<u+201d> mrs. clinton also failed in her principal mission of persuading voters that mr. trump is unacceptable and unfit to lead. this was brought home in the last comments of the evening, when a member of the debate audience asked each candidate to say something nice about the other. both answered graciously, and the final impression was of two people who really aren<u+2019>t all that bad. election day is still nearly a month away, so it<u+2019>s too early to say mr. trump saved his campaign<u+2014>or even the republican congress<u+2014>with his performance in st. louis. but it was a start.
trump<u+2019>s night - wsj
james freeman