We don’t need to Pokemon Go into the grim history of the Clinton/Kaine ticket’s contrived attempts to create viral debate zinger phrases such as “Trumped-up trickle-down.” They’ve been, to use a technical term, super mega-lame. But at Wednesday night’s debate in Las Vegas, her jabs have been sharper and more to the point. First, Clinton mentioned in passing that Trump had “choked” by not bringing up his famous promise to make Mexico pay for a border wall during his meeting with Mexico’s president. Later, she casually asserted that Vladimir Putin is probably happy with Trump’s candidacy because Trump would be Putin’s “puppet.” The latter remark in particular seems to have shaken him, as he replied with the “jerk store just called”-level retort “You’re the puppet.” Video above. Here’s the transcript:
TRUMP: Putin, from everything I see, has no respect for this person.
CLINTON: Well, that’s because he would rather have a puppet as president.
TRUMP: No puppet, no puppet.
CLINTON: It’s clear.
TRUMP: You’re the puppet.
CLINTON: It’s pretty clear you won’t admit …
TRUMP: You’re the puppet.
No puppet!
