Well folks, the big news about a debate.

100 million people supposedly watched Hillary Clinton

and Donald Trump square off.

Some of the nastiest things back and forth.

And I tell you, I run a university,

and I think I would have flunked them.

I'd have given them a D minus on content.

It really was so puerile.

It just was.

And they talk about a big debate.

Well, I'm not sure.

We'll talk to David Brody about it later on this program.

Well, they both came out swinging at this big debate.

And I mean, unsurprisingly, the debate

was pretty rough at times.

People expected that I guess.

Clinton saying that Trump isn't qualified to be president,

Trump calling Clinton a typical politician who hasn't

gotten things done in 30 years.

And as Pat said, not a lot of content beyond.

Well, CBN's David Brody and Jenna Browder

have our team coverage from Hofstra University in New York.

DAVID BRODY: The debate for the ages turned

into one full of arguing.

Trump played aggressor from the start,

portraying Clinton as a long-term failed politician.

You've been doing this for 30 years.

Why are you just thinking about these solutions right now?

Well, actually, I have thought about this quite a bit.

DONALD TRUMP: Yeah, for 30 years.

Mr. Trump, we're talk--

Typical politician-- all talk, no action.

DAVID BRODY: On the controversial Trans-Pacific

Partnership trade deal, Trump lowered the boom

on Clinton switching positions.

You called it the gold standard of trade deals.

And you know what--

You said it's the finest deal you've ever seen.

No--

And then you heard what I said about it,

and all of a sudden you were against it.

Well, Donald, I know you live in your own reality,

but that is not the facts.

I have a feeling that by the end of this evening

I'm going to be blamed for everything

that's ever happened.

Why not?

Why not?

Yeah, why not?

Just joined the debate by saying more crazy things.

DONALD TRUMP: All night, policy took a backseat

to the hostilities building between these two

the past few months.

Clinton continued questioning why Trump

won't release his tax returns.

Or maybe he doesn't want the American people--

all of you watching tonight-- to know that he's paid nothing

in federal taxes.

I will release my tax returns against my lawyers' wishes

when she releases her 33,000 emails that have been deleted.

As soon as she releases them, I will release.

DONALD TRUMP: As the debate moved on,

Trump had to play defense on a number of topics,

like the birther issue.

He has really started his political activity

based on this racist lie.

DONALD TRUMP: Later, it got even more personal,

as Trump repeated one of his most provocative comments.

She doesn't have the look.

She doesn't have the stamina.

I said she doesn't have the stamina.

And I don't believe she does have the stamina

to be president of this country.

DONALD TRUMP: That led Clinton to point out

Trump's past statements against women.

But this is a man who has called women pigs, slobs,

and dogs.

There is always so much to sift through

after a huge debate like this, and it all starts afterwards

in the spin room.

And that is where we find my colleague Jenna Browder.

Jenna.

Thanks, David.

Well, after a debate like this one, everyone has an opinion.

But whose will get the most traction?

I thought it was a great night for Donald Trump.

He stood toe-to-toe with Secretary Clinton,

who is nothing but trying to come up with one zinger

after the next.

And I think he toed the line.

He showed the American people that he

was ready to be president.

I think that tonight Secretary Clinton

was able to lay out her plans.

And she showed that she came prepared to talk

about the difficult challenges facing

this country, with solutions that I

think will enable all Americans to believe

that she is prepared to lead us in the 21st century.

JENNA BROWDER: Two sides, two stories,

the Clinton camp pushing the narrative

that Donald Trump came unhinged.

I don't think he presented a coherent vision for where

he wants to take the country.

I think he got dragged down into defending himself.

I think he's so narcissistic that for him,

when he's challenged on a misstatement or wrong position,

he's taken in the past.

He just dwells on trying to convince

people of his all-knowingness.

JENNA BROWDER: Trump surrogates, meantime,

say the businessman held his own.

I'd say the clear matchup on the economy,

the clear matchup on trade.

I think those were very clear contrasts.

And I think also that Mr. Trump spoke forthrightly with people

and spoke with clarity and conviction.

JENNA BROWDER: The next debate is less than two weeks

from now in St. Louis.

And to give you an idea of just how important these debates

are, a new poll shows they will help roughly half of all voters

make up their minds.

In New York, Jenna Browder, CBN News.

Well, David Brody is with us now from New York.

David, what was Trump's campaign plan going into this thing?

Well, they wanted to do a couple things here, Pat.

I mean, I think they definitely wanted to get on Clinton

and really be aggressive, and we saw that at the start.

But the problem here for Donald Trump

is that he was great-- in quotes, if you will--

for 20 minutes of the debate.

The problem is the debate lasted 90 minutes.

And so while those first 20 minutes he was aggressively

prosecuting Hillary Clinton and bringing up things that,

quite frankly, a lot of those 17 other GOP candidates

that he defeated probably wouldn't have done it

in quite that matter.

He then tended to lose focus later on,

and I think it really became more about "I" word.

In other words, we heard about him defending himself

and talking about, well, I did this, and I had this venture,

and I had that venture.

And he was very much put on the defensive,

and he didn't really talk about we the people.

He didn't kind of bring it back to that "Make America Great

Again" campaign slogan.

And Pat, I got to tell you, if you listen to the times

that he said the words "make America great again," one time.

It was at the end, about 90 minutes in.

That is not good for Donald Trump,

because that's what he needed to do.

David, apparently he didn't do any debate prep or almost

minimal debate prep.

You know, you have to rehearse some of those lines.

You have to know the attack is coming at you

and be prepared to parry it.

He spent about eight minutes on that birther nonsense.

Yeah, it hurt him.

And I know there's criticism directed

at Lester Holt, the moderator, directed his way for even

bringing that up to begin with.

But then he rambled.

He rambled on and on about the birther issue,

and it gave Hillary Clinton a chance, obviously,

to say that that whole thing was just such a racist lie.

Those were her words.

And that was a bad moment for Donald Trump.

And so yeah, look, but if you go down the list, Pat,

I mean, where was Benghazi?

Why didn't he bring that up?

He had a chance to on foreign policy.

The Clinton emails came up briefly,

but he didn't really go there too much.

What about the deplorables, the basket of deplorables?

We never heard that at all.

So some real missed opportunities for Donald Trump.

Better shore that up next time.

He's only got two more left.

What are they going to do the next time, you think?

I mean, was there a focus?

Did this thing have a so-called focus?

Was it on foreign policy?

I couldn't quite understand what it

is they were aiming for on this one.

Well, it was a little bit loosey-goosey.

There were six 15-minute time frames, if you will,

trying to delve into six different topics.

But in essence, it was the economy and foreign policy,

and then security moving forward.

But it felt very haphazard.

The next one coming up in St. Louis will be a town hall.

That typically-- we're not quite sure exactly who that

will benefit.

I mean, Hillary Clinton isn't necessarily all that great

in a town hall, because she's not as personable a candidate.

But then again, Donald Trump isn't the most personable guy

either.

So it is going to be interesting to see what he's going to do.

But he is going to have to be on his A game.

There's no doubt he was not.

Now, Hillary Clinton, she was OK.

I mean, she smiled a lot.

She was like the Cheshire cat all night long.

Look, did you notice the grandmother reference

in the first two minutes?

She talked about being a grandmother.

The Clinton campaign wanted to project her

as someone that was not going to get angry,

was not going to get frustrated, but was also going

to litigate the case against Donald Trump.

Well, she was amazing because she had rehearsed.

Are the Trump people telling you,

have you had a chance to talk to any of them

about the strategy for the next one going forward?

Well, I have to tell you privately--

and I've talked to a few folks off the record,

privately-- they were shaking their heads, Pat.

They were a bit frustrated.

They realized that he got unfocused

towards the latter half of the debate,

and they realized that they have some work to do.

And look, they try to put a positive spin forward.

But going forward, I think they realize

that they have to hit the emails more,

they have to hit Benghazi, and they

have to hit the basket of deplorables.

Now, what he did do well-- and I know

that they felt that this was effective-- at the beginning

of the debate, you notice that he

talked about how Hillary Clinton's been around for 30

years and nothing has happened.

Nothing's gone on.

She's the typical politician.

They believe that worked well.

And quite frankly, it did.

It was probably his best part of the debate.

They will do that more.

They will make sure that Trump definitely hammers that theme

home a lot more, coming up.

Now, David, the administration right now,

Obama has put in effect without congressional approval

a basket of regulations that are stifling to American industry

and will cost probably a half a trillion or a trillion dollars,

or maybe even more.

I mean, [INAUDIBLE].

But Trump didn't mention those things.

He could have bought in out in clear detail,

but he didn't do it.

And Hillary is going to back up all those things,

not to mention Obamacare, which is a disaster.

He didn't do any of it, Pat.

You're absolutely right.

And he has told me in private conversations,

as it relates to the EPA and some other things,

he has said that, look, I am not going to be an executive order

president like this president.

In other words, yes, he's going to roll back

some of the President Obama's executive orders,

but going forward, he doesn't plan

to be this guy that takes out a pen

and starts writing executive orders left and right.

He needed to point that out to the American people,

because I think a lot of people think, oh, they hear

law and order president, uh-oh.

I'm talking about for people that

are on the fence, fence-sitting voters.

What does that mean exactly?

Is this guy going to be out of control

with the pen and the executive orders?

And he has told me that he will not

be one of those type of presidents.

Did not point that out at all.

David, I couldn't sleep last night very much.

I was up at 3:00 in the morning.

You and me.

You and me.

You and me, Pat.

I agree.

Anyhow, you know there's no joy in Mudville,

for the mighty Casey has struck out.

Well, we'll see if the mighty Casey can come back

in the second game of the series.

Well, Pat, I just want to say real quick, just one last thing

to point out, that the good news for Trump here is this.

We've heard the show "Eight is Enough," that show in the 1980s

or whatever it was.

Maybe 20 minutes is enough for Trump.

In other words, he did well for 20 minutes.

A lot of people tune out after about 20 minutes, 30 minutes.

So we will see.

If they're not listening to the mainstream media,

maybe that 20 minutes or so will be

enough to turn out not just his base, but some

of those frustrated independent voters.

But I will also say this, Pat, and very important.

This is traditional-- from a debate standard performance,

Hillary Clinton won from traditional standards.

This is not a traditional election.

So who knows?

I need to get some sleep too.

Maybe rest up for the next time.

David, thank you so much.

And you can also, ladies and gentlemen,

get David's latest political reports

and insights on "The Brody File" on CBNnews.com.

Terry, it's sad.

Well, I think what David said at the end

is very true, though.

This is not a typical election.

People are not voting for Donald Trump

because he's a genius in the debate world.

They want change, and they're fed up with the status quo.

So that doesn't change after last night.

You know, Reince Priebus is saying, well, he won.

I mean, that's the spin room.

He's got to say he won.

But everybody says that.

The people don't know who won or didn't win,

but I don't know.

Ladies and gentlemen, you'll have to see.

But I do think-- I hope my dear friend

Donald will listen to this.

Please take off from the road for two or three days

and do debate prep, and get those lines in your mind,

and get set.

You've got to do it.

If you were the super pro going to the Super Bowl,

you would still be rehearsing your plays.