Was Trump Too Close to Hillary?

I don't know what his deal was. I wondered both if he was trying to be intentionally creepy and intimidating (like she would ever be intimidated by they likes of him), or if he was just trying to get as much camera time as possible.

I think Jackie makes a good point. I don't like either candidate but would this question even be asked if Trump was up against another man? Either gender doesn't matter so Hillary should be able to hold her own against someone trying to intimidate her or she needs to be treated specially because she's female. If it's the latter, people should be able to discriminate based on gender...

Even if there were rules about personal space, Trump wouldn't abide by them. He doesn't care about rules. He was showing himself to be the alpha male the way he was acting.

Funny how she's called a liar in this thread, when hardly ANYTHING Trump says is true. But you have a different standard for a man who doesn't pay his bills, has been sued over 3000 times for not paying his bills, brags about sexually assaulting women shortly after he's married his 3rd wife, incites people at his rallies to violence, and says stuff about minorities and the disabled that your own kids would get in trouble for at school if they talked that way. Linguists have rated his speeches as being at FOURTH GRADE LEVEL. But Hillary is the "liar". That's just rich...

I am finding some of the answers below hilarious.

I kept thinking "if she takes a step back, she's going to bump into him!" Theatrically, (as in,what I learned in theater classes) his is a 'dominance' pose. I didn't see a line down the center of the stage, by the way. I mean, they aren't siblings who need a tape line down the middle-- they should both be able to move freely. She wanted to address people in the round, as they created this debate, and should be able to do so freely.

Interestingly, sitting down when someone else is speaking is actually an act of consideration for the speaker and to the audience, that one is not trying to compete for attention. This is why, when one goes to an open-mike or spoken word show, most of the other poets in front sit down. This is called common courtesy. I don't see a feeble female, I see a strong woman who is comfortable letting her opponent speak and have his turn. Hovering over someone, however, is an oppressors/dominant position. C'mon, we've all done it as a parent a time or two if we are honest. He had the choice of sitting down as well, being considerate and ceding the floor to her during her time. He chose not to. I don't want to make it into more than it is. He's a bully who doesn't understand personal space and so this is to be expected.

I should add: I am a fan of neither candidate, just an independent observer to the mess before us.

OH MY GOD! Are you kidding me? That's ALL you got out of that debate?!

Girl you need to focus on the problems our country has. It's a sad fact that a liar and murderer like Hillary is running for President. It's sad that Trump is there too. However, the people have spoken and this is what we got.

You should be more concerned about what they are going to do about the $20T in debt.
You should be more concerned about the refugees that Hillary wants to allow into our country. Have you seen what they have to done Europe?
You should be more concerned that Hillary does NOT know a classified document.
You should be more concerned that Hillary said her health prevented her from knowing something and then said her health was fine.
You should be more concerned about Hillary enabling a serial rapist.
You should be more concerned about Hillary and her supposedly being for women when she's destroyed women's lives in the last 40 years.
You should be more concerned about a person who used bleach bit to destroy e-mails.
You should be more concerned about a person who had her staff hammer cell phones.
You should be more concerned about a person who LIED about landing under sniper fire.
You should be more concerned about a person who LIED about her daughter running around the World Trade Center on 9/11.
You should be more concerned about a person who conspires to rig an election. Bernie supporters got screwed.

All of these can be verified if you take the time to research it.

Trump can be a pig. Oh well. He hasn't gotten any Americans killed like Hillary has.
Trump DOES pay his taxes. Hillary uses her underwear as a tax write off.

Are they two children who need a line in the middle of the stage? NO. They are adults. Hillary walked over to Trump's side MORE then he did. She couldn't even stand for the entire debate. They walk out on the stage and she sits her butt down.

You should be more concerned about the liberal bias in the media. After Trump scored some points on her, the liberal putz' told the audience to shut up. They allowed the audience to go on after Hillary said something. They allowed Hillary to interrupt him. And you're worried about personal space?

I'm more worried about our troops. Thank God Tyler is now retired and isn't going back to the Middle East. I'm worried about when they scream for back-up and help, if Hillary is President, they won't get it.

Neither one of them discussed these issues. Trump tried to talk about Hillary's e-mails and was shut down each time.

It's sad to see the number of people that support Hillary.

umm HilLIARy didn't have the STAMINA to stand throughout the whole thing. She's sick. And not just mentally unstable - she's got something seriously wrong with her.

There's only so much space on a stage. He wasn't on top of her nor was he close.

I found it interesting that the (liberal) moderators wanted the audience to shut up and NOT clap after Trump spoke, but were okay with the audience going on after HilLIARy.

Hell - even the FLY knew S**T when it smelled it. WHO did it land on? Yep. HilLIARy.

Small space and camera angles. If you noticed she decided to give him room when he talked and she basically plastered herself against the wall to be able to do it. Watching Donald was like watching a kid ... fidget fidget fidget. Virtually kicking the back of the seat mentally saying are we there yet? are we there yet? are we there yet?

The whole locker room talk thing was just stupid. My hubby has been in many locker rooms and guys who are pigs talk like that. To say that's the norm is insulting to men. The funny part of it is that people are shocked by this? Like you didn't think Trump was like that?

Camera angle

Okay pro Hillary guys, he was always behind her, her back, ya know? Usually more than six feet behind her. That is not intimidating to anyone, if it is then see a therapist because that level of insecurity is not healthy. They were both told they need to look at the active camera, that is what he did. They didn't do it in reverse because you can see her behind him so she was always off to the side on the camera they used, to see her.

What I would love to understand is why everyone is trying to act like the other guy is the devil walking on earth. They both suck, they are both soulless humans. No one is voting for them because they are good people so why do we keep focusing on how awful they are? We are doing nothing more than giving them a bye on the real issues, issues I don't think either have a clue how to fix. Who knows, they just get to keep attacking each other personally and we want to call it a debate and then talk about camera angles. No wonder our country is at this point.

I didn't particularly notice him standing too close, however I did feel he was pacing around on the stage with an air of barely-suppressed rage and seemed kind of menacing. Obviously the situation wasn't friendly and all, however the feel from him was beyond that.

Just to clear the air before I answer, they are both shameful candidates. But I mentioned to my husband that she kept going over to his side. I'm sure it was to appear she was connecting with the audience. And he stood the whole time to appear to be the picture of health. And he is a lot taller than she is. I walk around all the time when I am on the phone, or doing some thinking. It gets the juices flowing. This whole looming thing is really one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard.

Can America have a do over on this whole election??!!??

Yeah, it was the camera angle that sometimes made it look that way.
The analysts say his pacing was suppose to be an alpha male thing showing he dominated the room.
To me - it made him look nervous or he had to keep moving to prevent leg cramps.

I'd like a whole lot less posturing/mud slinging and a whole lot more info about exactly how both of them plan to revitalize inner cities and actually do all the things they want to accomplish.

I still think Trump running for president and winning it might not be his ultimate goal.
He's not stupid but I think he's got some other reason he's doing it - another tax write off maybe?
I just don't know.
His 'locker room talk' makes him sound like a pig - but that would be giving pigs a bad name.

Hillary is no angel either and I have no doubts she's got bigger skeletons in her closet but she's better at hiding them.

If THIS is the 'best government' money can buy, there's a whole lot of campaign donators who simply don't know where to shop.
Maybe we SHOULD off shore/out source our government positions.
We seem to have no one home grown who's up to the task.

I didn't notice it in that perspective. It was a small stage space (with 14 ? people on it). He moved around. A few times he stood behind his stool. Unless he was just sitting on his stool while she was talking, there weren't a lot of options really, because off to either side would have blocked the other people on the stage (in the wings almost, but ON stage with them) from being able to see her.

I didn't read anything menacing into it. He just didn't want to sit. Probably felt it looked *weak* to be sitting. So he stood, and moved around sort of in the back when she had her turn to speak. If you didn't come at it with any sort of bias it could even be seen as stepping back to give her the stage. I'm not saying that that was his intent. Only that it seems to be an equal stretch to say he was "on top of her" or that he was trying to be menacing.

The whole thing is a sad, unfunny joke. They are probably both the worst candidates for either party ever.

It appeared that he was looming over her, but when the camera would switch to show the entire stage it was clear that he was standing near his chair. I think it was mostly a camera angle thing dictated by where the various "undecideds" asking the questions were seated. It was definitely a weird effect.

She couldn't even stand during the debate and you're worried about the camera angle? Seriously? Let's not worry about the issues though, because those aren't important at all.

At first, I thought so. But with the different camera angles, he is quite a few feet back and there really isn't that much room there. However, his facial expression to me says it all. I could not tell if his eyes were open. I have never liked him, always thought he was very arrogant and self righteous.

That being said, I did not watch the actual debate but watched clips after the fact. I have 5 children at home I can watch and referee. Michele Obama said we need an adult in the White House. I wish one would run for the office. Quite honestly, the future is scary.

She was on his side of the stage. She got into his personal space.

I didn't watch the debate. Too much drama. I really wish that the candidates would focus on issues and stop throwing mud. This is a circus.

Anyway, I don't know if there is a rule about personal space. I think that sitting at a table or standing at a podium controls how space is used. The format changes may be political. Being able to walk around did allow Trump to graphically show his personality.

I've watched Trump's speeches, seen the press coverage about him over the years, and watched portions of the debates.

It is the same Trump every time: bullying, threatening, name calling, finger wagging and attempting to intimidate.

I can't imagine what Trump would have done in World War 2,the Cold War, the Cuban missile crisis, the Viet Nam war, etc. A President is also Commander in Chief.

oh S.. that's what you're wondering about?

I was wondering when a political question would be asked on here. We used to have them all the time..

Trump is throwing it so Hilary can win.

That's been the plan all along, sadly.

Elections have not been about 'the people' for a long time.