Live Blog: NBC “Commander-in-Chief Forum”
Posted: September 7, 2016 Filed under: 2016 elections, Foreign Affairs, Live Blog, U.S. Military | Tags: Commander in Chief Forum 112 Comments
Tonight, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will respond to questions by Matt Lauer and an audience of Iraq/Afghanistan War Vets and their families. Clinton will be up first in
NBC’s Commander-in-Chief Forum. The Forum will be broadcast live from New York. It will provide an opportunity to see the candidates back-to-back in their first somewhat joint event.
On Wednesday, September 7, NBC News and the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America present a historic event: The Commander-in-Chief Forum live from New York City.
During this one-hour forum, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will be on stage back-to-back taking questions on national security, military affairs and veterans issues from NBC News and an audience comprised mainly of military veterans and active service members.
The event will air live on MSNBC at 8 p.m. ET and will be simulcast live on NBC in most markets. Check listings if you live in the Mountain and Pacific time zones. The event will also air on NBC in its entirety at 8 p.m. PT and 9 p.m. MT. The broadcast will also be streamed live at NBCNews.com.Forum at 8 p.m. ET.
Here are a few links to prepare for possible and needed questions.
From Charles P. Pierce writing for Esquire Magazine:
“Here’s What NBC Should Ask at Tonight’s ‘Commander-in-Chief Forum’
It’s a question all presidents should ask themselves.”
Over the almost 15 years since the attacks of September 11, 2001, almost everything about our politics, our culture, and ourselves has been heavily militarized. (It is not insignificant that most of the reaction against Colin Kaepernick’s gesture of protest has centered on his disrespect “for the troops.”) This includes almost any debate over foreign policy, which is too often tangled up in debates about military policy. (The current debate over trade policy is a welcome relief.) And most of my qualms are centered on the iconization of the term, commander-in-chief, which is now dangerously close to defining the office of president itself, which is, at the moment, a civilian job.
Time Magazine and Mark Thompson ask:
“Are military endorsements worth as much as the candidates think?”
So why should voters listen to ex-generals? In part, it’s because Americans hold their military in high esteem. The latest Gallup poll shows it’s the U.S. institution that citizens hold in highest regard (73%), with the presidency, at 36%, and Congress, at 9%, far below. The generals’ endorsements are sought not because of whom they are, or how many wars they’ve won, frankly, but because they bask in the glow given to GI Joe and Jane since 9/11. There’s a profound sense of gratitude (and, absent a draft, guilt) among Americans toward troops willing to salute and carry out the nation’s orders.
While Trump exasperates many former military leaders, he polls well among the troops, at least according to a non-scientific survey conducted by the independent Military Times newspapers. A CNN poll releasedTuesday highlights the fluidity of the race when it comes to national security: he does better when it comes to combating terrorism (51-45%), while she gets the edge when it comes to serving as commander-in-chief (50-45%).
The nation’s most-recently retired top military officer doesn’t like his former comrades choosing sides. “Politicians should take the advice of senior military leaders but keep them off the stage,” Martin Dempsey, an Army four-star general who retired as chairman of the Joint Chiefs from 2011 to 2015, said after a pair of retired generals appeared at the recent political conventions, one backing Clinton and the other backing Trump. “They have just made the task of their successors—who continue to serve in uniform and are accountable for our security—more complicated. It was a mistake for them to participate as they did. It was a mistake for our presidential candidates to ask them to do so.”
Yet not all who have worn the uniform agree. “Who should speak on security affairs to our nation? Professors? Anti-war activists? Pot-bellied defense lobbyists grubbing for blood-money? Think-tank creeps with narrow shoulders and massive egos?” asks Ralph Peters, a retired Army lieutenant colonel. “Shouldn’t we also lend an ear to those who have actual and lengthy military experience?”
Retired Army colonel Andrew Bacevich, who has criticized the nation’s post-9/11 wars, also doesn’t find rolling out military brass like so many artillery pieces particularly disturbing, so long as their opinions are given proper weight: “A retired general is no more competent to comment on presidential politics than is a retired dentist or a retired ballet dancer.”
Jeff Stein writing for VOX suggests “how to watch Trump, Clinton online, TV.”
The forum will begin at 8 pm Eastern at the the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City. NBC’s Matt Lauer, host of the Today Show, gets to ask the questions.
How to watch
TV: The event will be simulcast on both NBC and MSNBC.
Streaming: The event will be live-streamed here.
You can also just ignore the visuals and listen to the forum on MSNBC’s radio channel.
What to expect
This could be a good night for Clinton.
The back-and-forth of the debates reward masters in the theater of campaigning. Trump excelled at that during the Republican primaries, in part with put-downs of his rivals and his sense of humor.
The forums are different. The candidates will have to sit for extended interviews that test the range of their expertise, making it much more difficult to provide a punchy one-line answer or turn the tables on their opponents to prove a point.
“A well-prepared moderator can have an easier time pinning down a candidate and following up on the audience’s questions,” writes Gary Legum in Salon. “It requires a candidate to move around the stage, maintain eye contact with questioners and show empathy and relatability to members of the audience. This is not exactly Trump’s strong suit.”
PolitiFact will be Fact-Checking the Forum.
I’m personally don’t have faith in Matt Lauer asking any tough questions given he’s basically a news reader and on air personality for fluffy morning news. I am hoping the vets and their families will have tough questions.
I want to hear what Trump says about his comments about John McCain not being a real hero and see if he will apologize to the Khans, frankly for his outrageous comments about the gold star family. Basically, this Hillary internet ad says it all to me. How do you compare the service and sacrifice of service members to your blowing through you Daddy’s trustfund to build fugly buildings?
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
ecocatwoman
mablue2
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
Thank you Dak……………here’s to the first Secretary of State to become the President of the United States!
She’s got on a great looking red blazercand black slacks. She’s ready to go first I’m sure!
Hi all. I’m here. Giddyup.
I’m getting tired of Lauer cutting her off.
He’s an ass. Why are we reliving same right wing crap?
Thank goodness he didn’t get around to asking her “why does everyone hate you?”
I am just livid with the way this is being carried out so unjust rules for hillary and ones for trump
……….
this was a witch hunt as far as I’m concerned
Not only cutting her off but letting trump go on and on about nothing. DOUBLE STANDARD this is so unjust. Laure had Hillary on her heals right from the start and continued for 15 minutes. For Trump with the bar on the ground he was able to slam Obama and Clinton constantly. Horrible Horrible disgusting event
One set of rules for her and another for trump………….disgusting
Matt Lauer???? really bad!!!!!!!!!!!! Let trump get away with everything and nailed hillary on everything……………….I’m livid
She’s not taking any shit off of anybody. I love her.
Why is she called a hawk? I don’t get this meme at all.
Do we have to keep beating this Iraq dead horse?
And the email dead horse! Jesus.
They have her mic set too sensitive so she sounds like she’s shouting.
I thought they’d each get an hour. This is stupid. WTF can anyone say in the amount of time they gave her? This benefits Trump because he has nothing to say.
All I can say is that Lauer better ask Trump some hard questions.
This is a POOR platform for what they are doing……….this needs to go right to the debates. I thought that Matt was spending far too much time, over, and over, and over for the republicans in dealing with Hillary Clinton’s emails, when she has not been convicted. I thought he was trying his hardest to cut her off.
In regards to VA, I think they should put it under medicare, but you know the republicans would have a fucking cow.
Let’s see how Matt treats Trump.
He just tried to correct Trump on a misstatement on Hillary and Trump shut him down.
And he did nothing, said nothing, didn’t phase him, just move on.
matt lauer was in over his head. He did well bullying hillary then sat back and let trump take over
trump was obviously in command and Lauer failed failed failed I can’t believe it
Lauer had her on her heals right from the start and wouldn’t let her talk about what her plan was. As you said she was not convicted but still he kept talking over her. You could see it in her face that she was shocked as to how this whole thing was tanking right in front of her.
Sandy , I didn’t think ” She was on her Heels”. I thought Lauer should have stuck to the subject of the night. I actually thought she dismissed Lauer’s interrupting and got out her answers. I just don’t understand the heels comment.
Alright, Matt told Hillary Clinton she couldn’t use attacks. He smiles at Trump and tells him to keep it to a minimum.
That was disgusting. It also sounds like Trump was allowed to listen to Hillary’s presentation.
Yes he was…………this is bullshit, and nothing more. Matt Lauer was hired to stir the soup and nothing more.
can’t believe it…………I’m stunned at how one sided this was. Needless to say with how trump took over…….he will most likely be the winner.
I can’t understand how when you go for a job interview, they hire the best qualified. Why is there absolutely no qualifications for running for the most important job in this nation. This man is illiterate when it comes to government. He has no clue….how was he allowed to run without knowing eff all????
Matt……you’re fired!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Matt Lauer should be fired!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Apparently, everything’s a disaster according to Trump.
He never answered Matt’s question, what credentials do you have to be president? He couldn’t answer it.
Still waiting for his plan after he defeats ISIS. What in the hell is he talking about, take the oil.
He’s a fool, and the world knows it.
He didn’t answer a single question and he never said what he would do about any of the problems people asked about.
He sure hell didn’t.
Stealing oil from people we bombed into the stone age? What are we? Mongolian hordes?
this was a big farce!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hillary Clinton never once mentioned Trump’s name………..how many times has he mentioned her name, and President Obama, often in the same sentence.
He refuses to answer the question……….you said you know more about ISIS than the Generals………he skirted around it, and Matt went around the roses with him.
He referred to her as “she” not by her name.
Let’s fine out how many time he mentioned her name. Trump said our generals have been reduced to rubble, but I have 88 generals supporting me.
OMG I think I’m in the twilight zone!!!!!!!!!!!!1
How you going to take the oil?…………….Hey fucker, what would the Iraqi people without the oil?
Hell, what would they do without the oil?
This is like listening to Sarah Palin.
He has not answered one question.
He’s a fucking fool, he looks like a fool, he is a fool. I have a secret, and I can’t tell you Matt.
Somebody tell me what the hell is he doing. Repeating himself, and then getting totally out of it.
He is completely INCOHERENT. He sounds like he has an attention deficit.
And Lauer isn’t interrupting him as much as he did HRC.
That piss me off, that is why the platform for this is wrong.
Matt has allowed him to attack Hillary Clinton many, many times. And told Hillary Clinton she couldn’t attack him. Did he do this to show Americans that Trump is totally a fool, or what is going.
Matt set him up, and he took the bait, and did exactly what he does. Gives nothing, knows nothing, and doesn’t get it.
I am sorry, but what would you do in first 120 Days Trump? He can’t answer that question, but points to Obama and Clinton. What a full blown fool.
Almost all of his comment about the military are very insulting. Good lord. But let him keep talking. He is digging a hole.
I am thinking the same. He’s is good at screwing himself.
Oy. The rape problem response is awful. He just said there are not enough military courts. At least Lauer brought up the earlier comment he made about throwing women and men together and what do you expect
It was, and Thank God For Hillary Clinton, she called it out as sexual assault, and we know where she was coming from.
Dak, he doesn’t understand about he Chain of Command in the Military.
The VA is a corrupt enterprise, says Trump.
Really? The VA is a corrupt enterprise? How can this buffoon be leading with vets.
WHAT IS YOUR PLAN? He sidesteps that question every single time.
Oh good, he’s going to set up a court system within the military. I thought they had one but what do I know.
My eyes are rolling!
He’s babbling like a madman.
Well, that’s what madmen do!
And so too are the Generals who support him.
Once again dancers, Trump doesn’t know a fucking thing about the military. He’s saying that the VA is corrupt, and yet he wants to keep rape within the military court system.
He is such a dumb fucking shit.
I’m giving my campaign to my children to run………………we know ashol, we know.
Are you prepared to be president on day one……………the question is about YOU Trump! You are the subject here.
I watch the military channel all the time!
Matt allowed Trump to go after Hillary Clinton more than a dozen times. I am assuming by his response that he was able to listen to Hillary’s questions and answers. Is that fair, or am I flying off a cliff?
I don’t think Hills said his name. She mentioned the Khans but I don’t THINK she said Trump.
He said Hillary or Obama dozens of times.
Matt Lauer is a dishonest milquetoast
Now the talking heads pretend he did not sound like a fool.
Yup
When I come up with a plan….not when I reveal my plan that already exists.
Freudian slip, he has no plan and he just telegraphed it.
I caught that too Ron.
Trump doesn’t even understand his own party’s platform when it comes to Veterans. He mentions how they must wait to see a doctor (welcome to the world, I waited 2 1/2 months to see a doctor). So Trump say they should have a choice. Good idea, except that the republicans will not allow them to go outside the VA, if they do, they are made to pay out of their own pockets.
Anybody but the rich with “concierge medicine” arrangements has to wait. Most vets love their VA care.
There already is the “Choice” plan, where veterans can get non-VA care paid for if they live more than a certain distance away from a VA and/or can’t be seen within 30 days. It’s basically a pay the private sector rather than hire enough staff for the VA gimick. Not a good use of taxpayer $$$ IMO — it’d be cheaper to fully staff the VA with the needed providers than go outside to a 3rd party. Plus in most places the wait is just as long or longer for private-sector care, and they spend a lot less time with the veterans.
I had to turn Rachel off. Learning nothing from that either.
One thing that came to my mind, was Hillary Clinton talked about what she has done for veterans over the many years, and all I heard Trump do was place blame on her and Obama.
Hillary Clinton did mention that troops were on the ground in Iraq, and she didn’t go into detail, but the republican general Rachel is interviewing is twisting this bullshit.
The experts are already saying that Trump was lying when he said that Obama did not take advice from the Intelligence experts.
I truy hope they call him out.
It’s up to us SKYDANCERS to do that!
I swear, just listened to about 10 minutes or less of the commentary onAnderson Cooper and I had to turn it off. Fucking hell!
Wasn’t that a weird comment? Especially the part about body language?
Trump is, without any shadow of a doubt, THE STUPIDEST PERSON TO EVER RUN FOR POTUS. He screwed, blued and tattooed himself. The only way a person could vote for Trump is if he/she is IGNORANT. Trump stunk it up so bad when it was over I wanted to open my windows to air out my house, then go take a shower.
I just saw the clip with trump talking about Putin. Wow.
He’s dumb, dumb, dumb.
He loves Putin, and I personally think it falls under the category of sexual abuse, don’t you?
It is some homoerotic shit going on there if ya ask me.
Probably something Left over from his stint at a military school…
Jonathan Chait:
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/09/lauers-pathetic-interview-made-me-think-trump-can-win.html?mid=fb-share-di
“I had not taken seriously the possibility that Donald Trump could win the presidency until I saw Matt Lauer host an hour-long interview with the two major party candidates. Lauer’s performance was not merely a failure, it was horrifying and shocking. The shock, for me, was the realization that most Americans inhabit a very different news environment than professional journalists. I not only consume a lot of news, since it’s my job, I also tend to focus on elite print news sources. Most voters, and all the more so undecided voters, subsist on a news diet supplied by the likes of Matt Lauer. And the reality transmitted to them from Lauer matches the reality of the polls, which is a world in which Clinton and Trump are equivalently flawed.”
Scary.
Damn the MSM.
It hit me earlier today that Trump could actually win. It was during a speech he was making. I thought, “The guy’s a master snake-oil salesman and people are going to buy it.”
Thank you for the insightful comments about the forum, Sky Dancers. I had an event to attend and couldn’t watch.
I did see a few clips after it was over. Hillary appeared smart and strong. Trump appeared dumb and dumb equals dangerous in presidential politics. On “the optics”, Trump looked as red-faced as W.C. Fields after a long weekend. More importantly, weren’t Trump’s comments about the CIA a violation of the confidentiality of those briefings? If the media would do its job, that would be the big story coming out of this forum.
On a related note, I predict one day soon Andrea Mitchell will be carted off to a very expensive loony bin muttering non-stop about Hillary’s emails.
I did not watch this. I thought it was all set up to be a hatchet job on Hillary. The forum itself was not appropriate; the audience would of course be against her; and Lauer apparently was just awful, not only not following up with Trump and badgering Hillary, but telling her not to attack Trump, while allowing him to attack her numerous times, and asking him puffball questions.
However. If I understand this accurately, Trump said that in his briefing, he could tell from the body language of the intelligence people who briefed him that they were very unhappy with the way that President Obama was prosecuting the war. He thus revealed the contents of his briefing. No, not accurately, and maybe he just made it all up. But that is not the point. He told the Amercan people and the world that he could see that the IC, CIA, military, is frustrated with Obama’s military policies. That compromises the CIA, indicts the President, drives a wedge between them, and gives key information to other countries and enemies. I don’t know what the liegal implications of this would be, but it is horrendous. If the media deigns to cover it, it could destroy Trump’s candidacy, in my opinion. If they let it go, then they are rigging the election for Trump.
The time to go after Trump was during the primaries. The media failed to do its job. I fear it may be too late now. My only hope is that the majority of voters prove to be intelligent and sane and thus support Hillary.
I often think of Anne Frank and her enduring belief in the goodness of people. Then I remember what happened to her.
Yeah, because her visa application to the US was denied. Welcome to the Trump regime.
Thanks for live-blogging this; I couldn’t watch either. Earlier today on NPR commentators were discussing this upcoming event, saying it was about who is the toughest and/or who would be the best commander-in-chief. And that Hillary seems to start out a few points less on toughness (or something like that; can’t remember exact words) “and we can discuss later if that’s due to gender” …… I yelled “Of course it is, you effin’ reporter!” I was in my car so I could yell and swear as loud as I wanted to.
….have been away for the last week+ and immersing myself in non-politics to stay reasonably sane and less morose. Gawdess it’s good to read you SkyDancers again!
One of the few media comments tonight that makes sense! It’s appalling that Trump wasn’t pinned down on his slurs against McCain and a Gold Star family.
I💗 Joy Reid!!!
Joy Reid is the only Moderator/Journalist at NBC/MSNBC with BALLS.
I couldn’t watch the whole thing. Hillary was put on the defensive immediately, and had to answer for the Irag war and her emails again on and on. It absolutely kills me that Trump was not called out on the Khans. Shameful journalism.
Still4Hill has a good take on last night’s poorly grin forum.
Poorly run forum
The Forum was terrible, too short, ridiculous questions, Lauer was weak. We could have held a better forum RIGHT HERE AT SKYDANCING
Ditto that!!!
Excellent idea, Mouse. Trump would be crying for mercy when we were done questioning him.
I didn’t see the forum. My guess is that most voters missed it as well. All they will see is the spin.
Hillary, the media and her relationship to the media is analogous to Charlie Brown, Lucy and the football.
NOTHING she ever says or does will meet with their approval. The e-mails are just the latest thing. The media will always pull the football away at the last minute.
On Morning Joke they were complaining about how she did not talk enough about ISIS, Russia and Syria, “Why doesn’t she just say ‘asked and answered’ about the e-mails and move on….”
Really? Like she was the one stuck on the e-mail server and the Iraq War vote. Like she was the one wasting everyone’s time.
These clowns are the main proponents of the e-mail obsession.
No matter what she does, if she talks about it , if she tries to move on, she is always wrong. It is always her fault, and it is always because she is fundamentally dishonest. ,
They always move the football.
So I ask, at some point, after say 30 years of this bullsh!t, is it really wrong to just go ahead and kick the sh!t out of Lucy?
When Lauer says, “Only talk about what you will do, no negative attacks…”
“Fcuk you and your double standard Matt, Trump is an idiot.”
“Iraq war vote…”
Fcuk you Matt, I gave a Republican administration the benefit of the doubt a dozen years ago and I will never hear the end of it.”
“Private e-mail server…”
“Fcuk you Matt, I apologized for that and I am done with it. That goodness the minescule amount of sensitive material that slipped through our checks and balances did not get out into the public you sniveling piece of sh!t.”
Just saying…