There was a lot of noise in Professor Thom’s, a bar in Manhattan’s East Village, during Monday night’s debate.
Much of that noise was coming from two women called Molly Gyllenhaal and Sarah Minisquero.
“We’re doing a drinking game,” Minisquero said. “We’re deep into it.”
It was 9.14pm and the debate had been running for about five minutes. “I don’t think we’re drunk,” said Minisquero, who works in a theater. “I still think we can make logical, sound arguments.”
The game involved drinking every time Trump said “the wall”, “China”, or “believe me”. The pair were drinking Coors Light, because “someone was giving it out for free”.
Professor Thom’s is better known as a sports bar, and Minisquero and Gyllenhaal had got there early to watch a hockey game between the Boston Bruins and the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Minisquero said she had been a Bernie Sanders supporter during the Democratic primary, but had warmed to Clinton. “I like that she’s been able to negotiate through the glass ceiling,” she said. “And she’s the most logical, the most clear, of anyone about what’s been happening.”
About 50 people had packed into Professor Thom’s, which had a sign outside promising that it would show the debate “with sound”. There was a private debate watching party taking place above the bar, which the Guardian was not allowed into.
Downstairs most people seemed to be Clinton supporters. Clinton’s statements were punctuated by cheers, Trump’s were admonished with lusty boos.
Jim Vroman, who was sitting at the opposite end of the bar from Minisquero and Gyllenhaal, wasn’t booing though. He appeared to be the sole Trump supporter in Professor Thom’s.
He said his support for Trump was linked to his disdain for Clinton. “Anybody but Hillary. She can’t tell the truth about anything,” said Vroman, 41. The Guardian pointed out that Trump is not known for his truthfulness.
“There’s a difference between being a braggart and being boastful and just being deceptive,” Vroman said. He believed Clinton fit into the latter camp.
As the debate continued, Vroman admitted to being a little disappointed with his man. “I was hoping he’d dominate it,” he said. “He hasn’t really given a big knockout punch yet and Hillary is holding her own so far.”
As we watched, Clinton delivered something approaching a knockout punch of her own.
“Wow, OK,” Clinton said, after Trump finished a convoluted explanation of why he had the most presidential temperament.
“That’s my girl!” came a familiar-sounding shout from the end of the bar. It came from a woman wearing a Boston Bruins hoodie. It was Gyllenhaal.
The Guardian asked how the drinking game was going. “I’m still on the same beer as the last time you were here. I’ve slowed down a lot,” said Gylenhaal. “It was fun in the first 10 minutes but it’s not fun any more. Also the Bruins lost, so I’m pissed.”
Minisquero wasn’t happy, either. “He’s embarrassingly immature and idiotic,” she said. She was referring to Trump. “He just can’t express himself very well.”
Nearer to the doorway Liz McMillan, 46, was presiding over a plate of chicken wings. She was among the majority in the bar who were unimpressed with Trump.
“The African American community is not decimated with violence,” she said, after Trump had referred to Chicago as a “war zone”.
“A lot of people are doctors and lawyers, like my family. If you listened to him you would think all black people live in poverty. That is not true. That is not true at all.”
McMillan was also taking part in a drinking game, and broke off to down a shot of Jameson’s whiskey after Trump used the phrase: “Make America great again.”
With the whiskey polished off, McMillan delivered her assessment of Clinton.
“I just feel bad for her,” she said. “She’s debating an idiot. And that has got to hurt. This is a historic moment. She could be the first female president. I would really wish my first debate was with someone where I can show I am smart. She used maybe 60% of her brain.”
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