As Clinton-Trump showdown rages on stage, debate spills over to Twitter

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump stand next to each other before their presidential debate. PHOTO: AFP

The crunch US presidential debate on Tuesday (Sept 27) morning (Singapore time) kicked off with both candidates emerging from their corners with fists swinging, as Mrs Hillary Clinton and Mr Donald Trump aggressively pitched their cases to tens of millions of viewers.

Mrs Clinton, the Democrat, fired the first shot at her Republican rival by zeroing in on Mr Trump's "very fortunate" background.

The real estate mogul hit back by saying that the former secretary of state had for decades failed to make lives better for ordinary Americans.

In an early highlight during the debate, Mr Trump also laid down an ultimatum: He would release his tax returns if Mrs Clinton agreed to make public her 33,000 deleted e-mails.

Over on the candidates' Twitter accounts, meanwhile, the heated exchange continued as barbs were exchanged every few minutes.

Clinton appeared to hold an upper hand early on, criticising Trump's tax plan and lack of a plan to combat climate change, as well as terror group ISIS.

She also mocked Trump for living in his own reality and labelled him a "tax evader".

Not to be outdone, Mr Trump's first salvo on Twitter charged that Mrs Clinton and US President Barack Obama's policies had increased debt by US$9 trillion (S$12.3 trillion) over the last eight years.

"A Clinton economy = more taxes and more spending!" blared one tweet, while he also summed up his rival as a "typical politician - all talk, no action".

Check out what both sides are tweeting about each other below:

Tweets about from:@HillaryClinton

Tweets about from:@realDonaldTrump

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