--- title: Presidential Debate: Donald Trump Used Sexism to Attack description: In the second presidential debate, Hillary Clinton continued to refer to Donald Trump as “Donald,” leveling the playing field. canonical: https://time.com/4524957/presidential-debate-donald-trump-sexism/ author: Deborah Tannen article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-10T16:55:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:55:05.199Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Donald Trump Used Sexism to Attack Hillary Clinton. He Lost. og:description: 'He is failing to maintain the dominance he seeks' og:url: https://time.com/4524957/presidential-debate-donald-trump-sexism/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta275b467a5b50615/6988a9510b72e36e5c6eb4a7/debate1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3488 og:image:height: 1962 og:image:alt: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump debate during the second presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis on Oct. 9, 2016. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Used Sexism to Attack Hillary Clinton. He Lost. twitter:description: 'He is failing to maintain the dominance he seeks' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta275b467a5b50615/6988a9510b72e36e5c6eb4a7/debate1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Used Sexism to Attack Hillary Clinton. He Lost. > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Inside TIME: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Inside TIME is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories. Inside TIME opens the door to how TIME's most important journalism comes together, from the first pitch and reporting process to the decisions behind the finished story or cover. 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Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=6d6a6325-46a5-4cbd-8fc4-16a2d95ab4a2&cr=time-nl-inside-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 [Deborah Tannen](https://time.com/author/deborah-tannen/) ## Deborah Tannen Oct 10, 2016 4:55 PM UTC  Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump debate during the second presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis on Oct. 9, 2016. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump debate during the second presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis on Oct. 9, 2016. Robyn Beck—AFP/Getty Images by [Deborah Tannen](https://time.com/author/deborah-tannen/) ## Deborah Tannen Oct 10, 2016 4:55 PM UTC In the [second presidential debate](http://time.com/4523325/read-the-transcript-of-the-second-presidential-debate/), Hillary Clinton continued to refer to Donald Trump as “Donald,” leveling the playing field on which she is routinely referred to by her first name. For his part, Trump abandoned the resolve that he announced at the start of the first debate to call his opponent “Secretary Clinton,” and even limited the number of times he called her Hillary. His preferred term of address in Sunday night’s debate was a bare, emphatic “she.” Rather than answering the questions he was asked, he often fell back on attacking his opponent, relentlessly repeating how “she” was responsible for everything wrong in the universe, including his own promulgation of the birther lie. Trump’s visage veered from stalker, as he loomed behind her while she addressed the audience members who’d asked questions, to petulant child, whining that he was being ganged up on (“It’s nice, one on three”) and demanding, when moderator [Martha Raddatz](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/10/us/politics/anderson-cooper-martha-raddatz.html) tried to get him to answer a question he’d been asked: “Why don’t you interrupt her? You interrupt me all the time. Why don’t you interrupt her?” The answer was obvious: because Clinton did address the questions she was asked, and she didn’t talk over Trump when he had the floor. As in the first debate, interruptions went one way. Anderson Cooper chastised Trump: “Please allow her to respond; she didn’t interrupt you.” And when Trump grumbled, “She just went about 25 seconds over her time,” Raddatz corrected, “She did not.” In addition to the demeaning hiss of “she” (and an occasional “her”, with a malevolent “you” thrown in from time to time), Trump lobbed variations of the word “lie” at Clinton, even as fact-checking websites exposed his own statements as untruths, while she accurately and decorously labeled what he said “not true” and “absolutely false.” She smiled; he scowled. She remained composed; he paced and prowled. The primatologist [Jane Goodall told _The Atlantic_’s James Fallows](http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/10/who-will-win/497561/) that “In many ways the performances of Donald Trump remind me of male chimpanzees and their dominance rituals. In order to impress rivals, males seeking to rise in the dominance hierarchy perform spectacular displays: stamping, slapping the ground, dragging branches, throwing rocks. The more vigorous and imaginative the display, the faster the individual is likely to rise in the hierarchy, and the longer he is likely to maintain that position.” Trump’s behavior may be vigorous, but it is far from imaginative. And evidence shows that he is failing to maintain the dominance he seeks. The specter hovering over the debate, much as Trump hovered over Clinton as she spoke, was the 2005 video in which he boasted that, thanks to his celebrity, he could get away with kissing and groping women, even grabbing their genitals ([though he didn’t use that word](http://time.com/4523653/donald-trump-leaked-audio-women/)). Trump tried to dismiss the incriminating video as “locker room talk,” but the behavior he described in it had already been reported. In the tape he said, “I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait.” That’s precisely how Temple Taggart [described](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/09/us/politics/trump-women-history.html) to the New York _Times_ the way he greeted her when she was Miss Utah in 1997: “He kissed me directly on the lips. I thought, ‘Oh my gosh. Gross.” And a Florida woman, Jill Harth, [told the _Times’_ Nicholas Kristof](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/09/opinion/sunday/donald-trump-groper-in-chief.html) that in 1992, when she and her boyfriend met with Trump to discuss a business partnership, he “ran his hands up her skirt, to her crotch.” The _Times_’ extensive reporting has provided ample evidence that, as Clinton put it last night, the tape “represents exactly who he is.” There has also been ample evidence of who Clinton is: someone who bears no resemblance to the “devil”—yes, he used that word—that Trump depicted. The independent fact-checking website Politfact has found her to be the most truthful of all the 2016 presidential candidates (and Trump to be the most mendacious). And the former New York _Times_ editor Jill Abramson [wrote in _The Guardian_](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/28/hillary-clinton-honest-transparency-jill-abramson): “As an editor I’ve launched investigations into her business dealings, her fundraising, her foundation and her marriage. As a reporter my stories stretch back to Whitewater. I’m not a favorite in Hillaryland. That makes what I want to say next surprising. Hillary Clinton is fundamentally honest and trustworthy.” If Clinton even slightly resembled the person described by Trump and Republicans, someone who knows her personally would have noticed. Instead, those who have known and worked with her—including Republican senators—have declared that the Clinton they know is warm, funny and dedicated—and has a rare ability to work with others and get things done. That’s the real Hillary Clinton, just as the man revealed in the tape, in the accounts of those who experienced him firsthand and in Sunday night’s debate is the real Donald Trump. ## Transcript [ APPLAUSE ] Hello. Hello. Certainly, I'm not proud of it. But this is lock- a- room talk, you know. When we have a world. Where you have Isis chopping off heads, where you have, and frankly drowning people in steel cages, where you have wars and horrible, horrible sights all over. I think it's clear to anyone who heard it that it represents exactly who he is, because we've seen this throughout the campaign. We have seen him insult women. We've seen him rate women on their appearance, ranking them from one to ten. We've seen him embarrass women on TV and on Twitter. It's just words folks. It's just words. If I win, I am going to instruct my Attorney General. To get a special prosecutor to look into your situation. Our intelligence community just came out and said in the last few days that the Kremlin, meaning Putin and the Russian government, are directing the attacks, the hacking, on American accounts to influence our election. And believe me, they're not doing it to get me elected. To solve a problem, you have to be able to state what the problem is, or at least say the name. She won't say the name and President Obama won't say the name. But the name is there. It's radical Islamic terror. It's also very shortsighted and even dangerous. To be engaging in the kind of demagogic rhetoric that Donald has about Muslims. It is sort of amusing to hear somebody who hasn't paid federal income taxes in maybe 20 years talking about what he's going to do, but I'll tell you what he's going to do. His plan will give the wealthy and corporations The biggest tax cuts they've ever had. Did you use that $ 960 million loss to avoid paying personal federal income taxes for- Of course I do! Of course I do! And so do all of her donors, or most of her donors. I know many of her donors, her donors took massive tax write- offs. [ CROSSTALK ] Personal federal income tax- A lot of my write- off was depreciation and other things that Hillary, as a senator, allowed. Russia hasn't paid any attention to ISIS. They're interested in keeping Assad in power. You're two minutes is up. I don't like Assad at all, but Assad is killing ISIS. Russia is killing ISIS. And Iran is killing ISIS. And those three have now lined up Because of our weak foreign policy. Would either of you name one positive thing that you respect in one another. [ LAUGH ] [ APPLAUSE ] Look, I respect his children. His children are incredibly able And devoted, and I think that says a lot about Donald. I will say this about Hillary, she doesn't quit, she doesn't give up. I respect that. [ APPLAUSE ] And that's it, the 90 minute debate is now over. History has been made. They ended it very, very briefly on a relatively positive note. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4524957/presidential-debate-donald-trump-sexism/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4524957/presidential-debate-donald-trump-sexism/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Used Sexism to Attack Hillary Clinton. 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