--- title: How Social Media Reacted to the Second Presidential Debate description: Social media lit up on Sunday night as Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump faced off in the second presidential debate. canonical: https://time.com/4524525/social-media-presidential-debate-clinton-trump-st-louis/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-10T05:27:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T06:50:10.559Z article:section: Politics og:title: How Social Media Reacted to the Second Presidential Debate og:description: Syria, women and Clinton's past got Internet users riled up og:url: https://time.com/4524525/social-media-presidential-debate-clinton-trump-st-louis/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5e6d495e1cb04056/6988a94fe20a873528a92b71/gettyimages-613703098.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3601 og:image:height: 2026 og:image:alt: Candidates Hillary Clinton And Donald Trump Hold Second Presidential Debate At Washington University og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Social Media Reacted to the Second Presidential Debate twitter:description: Syria, women and Clinton's past got Internet users riled up twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5e6d495e1cb04056/6988a94fe20a873528a92b71/gettyimages-613703098.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's How Social Media Reacted to the Second Presidential Debate > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=a5062df6-4db1-41a4-8cfd-228c15ca390c&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Biggest Moments from the Second Presidential Debate [Watch (HLS stream): The Biggest Moments from the Second Presidential Debate](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/0oFylqsH.m3u8) (3:19)  _Published 2016-10-10. The two candidates face off in the second of three presidential debates._ by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Oct 10, 2016 5:27 AM UTC The two candidates face off in the second of three presidential debates. by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Oct 10, 2016 5:27 AM UTC Social media lit up on Sunday night as Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump [faced off ](http://time.com/4523324/second-presidential-debate-donald-trump-town-hall/)in the second [presidential debate.](http://time.com/4523325/read-the-transcript-of-the-second-presidential-debate/) The gloves came off in the town-hall showdown at Washington University in St. Louis, and the Internet responded with fervor. Clinton aimed to[ seize the moment](http://time.com/4524409/watch-hillary-clinton-criticize-donald-trump-debate/) as Trump staggered from the[ fallout of a tape](http://time.com/4524010/donald-trumps-lewd-comments-leave-the-gop-scrambling/) released on Saturday exposing him making [degrading comments](http://time.com/4523851/donald-trump-apology-access-hollywood/?xid=homepage) about women, which some people have said amount to an admission of [sexual assault](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/10/09/anderson-cooper-told-trump-that-is-sexual-assault-the-justice-department-agrees/). Trump [dismissed](http://time.com/4524406/presidential-debate-donald-trump-locker-room-talk-video/) the remarks as “locker room talk.” Sunday’s debate was the most tweeted ever, with more than 17 million debate-related tweets sent, Twitter[ said. ](https://twitter.com/twitter/status/785322512280276992) > [](https://twitter.com/jes%5Fchastain/status/785309189367226369) > [](https://twitter.com/bayoumimoustafa/status/785293447141924865) > [](https://twitter.com/BrentBozell/status/785309405667622912) > [](https://twitter.com/TimSClark/status/785308716849442818) > [](https://twitter.com/MerriamWebster/status/785304775315300352) > [](https://twitter.com/larrywilmore/status/785296485428539393) Vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine was confident that Clinton had the win, while his opponent, Mike Pence on the Republican ticket, was equally sure of Trump’s victory. > [](https://twitter.com/timkaine/status/785308394085347328) > [](https://twitter.com/mike%5Fpence/status/785310165327151104) Internet users were especially responsive to talk about Trump’s [disagreement with running mate](http://time.com/4524449/presidential-debate-donald-trump-mike-pence-syria/) Pence on the United States’ policy in Syria, referring to himself as a “gentleman” and his suggestion that Clinton should be “locked up”. > [](https://twitter.com/gov/status/785309872829104129) > [](https://twitter.com/BMcCarthy32/status/785301267866267649) > [](https://twitter.com/chelseahandler/status/785301834755735553) > [](https://twitter.com/unfoRETTAble/status/785291628303028224) > [](https://twitter.com/AriFleischer/status/785311793853952000) > [](https://twitter.com/johnwoodRTR/status/785317154488881154) [Alicia Machado](http://time.com/4509243/donald-trump-miss-universe-alicia-machado-piggy-housekeeping/), the former Miss Universe who accused Trump of “fat-shaming” tuned in on Sunday. > [](https://twitter.com/machadooficial/status/785303493779283968) Some viewers weren’t satisfied with the substance of the debate, saying they wanting to see the candidates take on issues of race and law enforcement in America. > [](https://twitter.com/AntonioFrench/status/785309865644134400) The verdict is still out on this one. Until the next round. > [](https://twitter.com/RyanGOP/status/785308107706687488) ## Transcript [00:00] [ APPLAUSE ] [00:03] Hello. [00:06] Hello. [00:09] Certainly, I'm not proud of it. But this is lock- a- room [00:12] talk, you know. When we have a world. Where you have [00:14] Isis chopping off heads, where you have, and frankly [00:18] drowning people in steel cages, where you have wars [00:22] and horrible, horrible sights all over. I think it's clear to [00:25] anyone who heard it that it represents exactly who he [00:29] is, because we've seen this throughout the campaign. [00:33] We have seen him insult women. We've seen [00:37] him rate women on their appearance, ranking [00:42] them from one to ten. We've seen him embarrass [00:46] women on TV and on Twitter. It's just words folks. [00:50] It's just words. If I win, I am going to instruct [00:54] my Attorney General. To get a special prosecutor [00:59] to look into your situation. Our intelligence community [01:02] just came out and said in the last few days that the [01:07] Kremlin, meaning Putin and the Russian government, [01:10] are directing the attacks, the hacking, [01:15] on American accounts to influence our election. And [01:20] believe me, they're not doing it to get me elected. To [01:23] solve a problem, you have to be able to state what the [01:26] problem is, or at least say the name. She won't say the [01:30] name and President Obama won't say the name. But [01:33] the name is there. It's radical Islamic terror. It's [01:37] also very shortsighted and even dangerous. To be [01:41] engaging in the kind of demagogic rhetoric that Donald [01:44] has about Muslims. It is sort of amusing to hear [01:47] somebody who hasn't paid federal income taxes in [01:50] maybe 20 years talking about what he's going to do, [01:52] but I'll tell you what he's going to do. His plan will give [01:56] the wealthy and corporations The biggest tax cuts [02:00] they've ever had. Did you use that $ 960 million loss to [02:04] avoid paying personal federal income taxes for- Of [02:06] course I do! Of course I do! And so do all of her [02:09] donors, or most of her donors. I know many of her [02:11] donors, her donors took massive tax write- offs. [02:15] [ CROSSTALK ] Personal federal income tax- A lot of [02:17] my write- off was depreciation and other things that [02:19] Hillary, as a senator, allowed. Russia hasn't paid any [02:23] attention to ISIS. They're interested in keeping Assad in [02:26] power. You're two minutes is up. I don't like Assad at [02:29] all, but Assad is killing ISIS. Russia is [02:33] killing ISIS. And Iran is killing ISIS. And those [02:37] three have now lined up Because of our weak foreign [02:40] policy. Would either of you name one [02:44] positive thing that you respect in one another. [02:48] [ LAUGH ] [02:52] [ APPLAUSE ] Look, I respect his children. His children [02:57] are incredibly able And devoted, [03:01] and I think that says a lot about Donald. I will say this [03:05] about Hillary, she doesn't quit, she doesn't give up. I [03:09] respect that. [ APPLAUSE ] And that's it, the 90 minute [03:12] debate is now over. History has been made. They [03:16] ended it very, very briefly on a relatively positive note. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4524525/social-media-presidential-debate-clinton-trump-st-louis/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4524525/social-media-presidential-debate-clinton-trump-st-louis/"},"headline":"Here's How Social Media Reacted to the Second Presidential Debate","datePublished":"2016-10-10T05:27:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-07T06:50:10.559Z","description":"Sunday’s debate was the most tweeted ever","url":"https://time.com/4524525/social-media-presidential-debate-clinton-trump-st-louis/","keywords":["Debates","Newsfeed","Social Media","2016 Election","politics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5e6d495e1cb04056/6988a94fe20a873528a92b71/gettyimages-613703098.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5e6d495e1cb04056/6988a94fe20a873528a92b71/gettyimages-613703098.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Candidates Hillary Clinton And Donald Trump Hold Second Presidential Debate At Washington University","caption":"Candidates Hillary Clinton And Donald Trump Hold Second Presidential Debate At Washington University","creditText":"Win McNamee—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/debates/","name":"Debates"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4524525/social-media-presidential-debate-clinton-trump-st-louis/","name":"Here's How Social Media Reacted to the Second Presidential Debate"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Biggest Moments from the Second Presidential Debate","description":"The two candidates face off in the second of three presidential debates.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/0oFylqsH/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-10-10T04:37:57.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/0oFylqsH.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4524525/social-media-presidential-debate-clinton-trump-st-louis/","duration":"PT3M19S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4524525/social-media-presidential-debate-clinton-trump-st-louis/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```