Excerpts of commentary on Sunday’s presidential debate:

For better or worse, Trump and Clinton performed as expected. They were themselves: Trump squirming and irritated; Hillary stiff and rehearsed. So points for authenticity? But no future presidential candidate should ever replicate their styles.

First, it’s like the audience didn’t exist. And for a town hall-style debate, that’s a no-no. Sure, both candidates fielded questions from undecided voters, but Trump failed to make eye contact with the question asker and Hillary only managed to offer her normal fake smile. …

Second, last night was a study in Trump: Unleashed. You take away his podium and he’s proven he will roam that stage for better or worse. The majority of the camera shots included both Trump and Clinton when Clinton was speaking because he refused to sit down and often turned his back to her. Some might give him points for strategy — if he’s constantly in her shot, she can’t take the spotlight. But the movement was also distracting and gave us a full view of his hair … not necessarily a win.

— Beverly Hallburg

washingtonexaminer.com

What tapes?

The high spirits among the ranks of Donald Trump supporters are not because he dominated Hillary Clinton in their second debate Sunday night; he made points he wanted to make, and so did she. But he achieved something far more valuable than a textbook win, something many thought impossible. He made the tapes go away and saved his entire campaign in the process.

That damaging recording from more than a decade ago, a typical example of coarse man-talk, simply faded against a vast backdrop of actual issues. There will surely be those who seek to revisit those vulgar moments, but whether from Clinton operatives or NeverTrumpers, the floggings will not result in the serious mutiny they hope for.

The … opening moments featured a question from a real voter in the audience. She asked whether the candidates viewed themselves as positive role models for today’s youth. ….

Anderson Cooper raised the (tape) issue, giving Trump a chance to destigmatize his words as “locker room talk” rather than evidence of genuine misogyny. Clinton then replied that she was buying none of that, and that the tapes are in fact a window to his dark soul.

And that was it. Then a fairly conventional debate broke out, which seemed nearly inconceivable an hour earlier. His campaign was hanging by a thread as he took the stage in St. Louis, and 90 minutes later, the political obituaries were shelved.

— Mark Davis

Dallas Morning News

No one would have thought it possible under all the appalling circumstances, yet Republican nominee Donald Trump hit a new low a little more than 19 minutes into the second presidential debate Sunday evening.

He threatened to imprison his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, if he wins the Nov. 8 election.

Shortly after referring to her as “the devil,” Trump referenced Clinton’s ill-advised use of a private email server when she was secretary of state — a misdeed that the FBI did not consider worthy of criminal charges: “If I win,” he said, “I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation.”

Moments later Clinton replied, “It’s just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country.”

“Yeah,” Trump interrupted, “because you’d be in jail.”

… But threatening her to her face in a national debate with jail was an assault that went beyond his attacks on women, Muslims, Mexicans, the disabled, prisoners of war and Gold Star families to strike at the American democratic system itself. We don’t jail our political foes here like in tin-pot, third-world banana republics or dictatorships. We attempt to succeed them via orderly transitions of power.

— Eric Zorn

Chicago Tribune

I’m not suggesting Trump turned his campaign around. He’s behind in the polls, and he has done little to get the most “gettable” voters (college-educated Republican women) in his camp. It remains to be seen whether the public will judge Trump for invading Clinton’s space and hulking behind her.

But I think this campaign continues. And, if you were paying attention this weekend, that wasn’t necessarily a foregone conclusion. In fact, it was an act of prestidigitation that Harry Houdini might have been proud of.

Hillary Clinton also provided a good reason for wavering Republicans to actually vote for Trump. In fact, she did a better job than Trump at that. I’m referring to her answer to the question about appointing Supreme Court Justices. Rather than pretending that the court was apolitical or that she would appoint someone to interpret or defend the Constitution, Clinton ticked off a list of liberal special-interest goals ….

The two didn’t shake hands at the beginning of the debate, but Trump even ended on a nice note, saying that Hillary Clinton is a fighter who doesn’t quit. Granted, he was asked to say something nice about her, but — to my amazement — he did. It was a nice moment, which is bad news for Hillary Clinton.

— Matt K. Lewis

Roll Call