“This debate is causing me physical and psychological pain. Cringeworthy. #StopTrump2016.” That’s what Anna Sentell ’17 had to say on Facebook during the first general election debate on Sept. 26.

Saint Anselm students tend to have strong opinions on politics – the college is known as a political hot spot in one of the most important primary states. Having seen and heard some of the feedback after Monday’s much-anticipated debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, it seems that this election season is no different.

During and after the debate, which featured topics like “achieving prosperity”, “racial healing”, and cyber security, students and recent graduates had a lot to say, and none of it was good.

Sammy Kennedy ’18 told the Crier, “last night my nana called Hillary Clinton ‘a puke.’”

Garrett Meyer ’18 said, “Donald Trump’s goal was to be presidential. Instead, he barely stopped short of cussing out the moderator.”

Heather Tagg ’17 was a little more neutral, lamenting that the candidates “were more concerned about jabbing knives at each other.”

An abundance of evidence to support Heather’s claim could be seen on almost any major news network during the debate – when asked how they would prevent homegrown terror attacks, both candidates successfully avoided answering the question. When discussing ISIS, Trump accused Clinton of having 30 years to figure out solutions that have not materialized, but he has not specified his own plan for their demise.

Chris Valente ‘17 was “very frustrated” because he could see “contradictions on both sides,” many of which Hillary Clinton’s campaign attempted to address on her website’s fact-checker, which she vigorously promoted during the debate.

She also found time to accuse Trump of hiding something in the tax returns he refuses to release. Trump shot back by declaring he would release his tax returns when she releases the 33,000 emails she deleted from her private server.

By the end of the debate, Hillary was claiming Trump called a Latina beauty pageant contestant “Miss Piggy” and “Miss Housekeeping” and Trump was claiming Hillary created ISIS.

Students and alumni alike were unimpressed with the increasingly personal track the debate took and moderator Lester Holt’s inability or unwillingness to redirect the candidates as time wore on.

Luke Robins ’16 wrote on Twitter, “Lester has been reduced to the kid in class asking the teacher if he can go to the bathroom.”

Eamon Dawes ’16 was busy on Twitter as well, writing, “Hillary Clinton says ‘Donald it’s good to be with you. #EamonFact rates this as Pants on Fire.”

Meanwhile, Clinton fretted over Trump’s “cavalier attitude” toward nuclear weapons and claimed that “implicit bias” against blacks “is a problem for everyone, not just police.” Soon after that when she started scolding Trump, he made sure to point out that “when you try to act holier than thou, it really doesn’t work.”

David Parker ’19 told the Crier he was hoping that “the stage would suddenly fill with smoke” and third-party candidate Gary Johnson would appear “to save us all.”

Students and alumni were not the only ones with something to say. Chris Galdieri, assistant professor in the Department of Politics, wrote on Twitter, “not sure one candidate has ever before stopped to reassure allies mid-debate after other speaks.”

Galdieri specializes in presidential nomination politics, campaigns and elections, and political media.

Although this was the first time voters had a chance to see Trump and Clinton face off in the general election, alumnus Luke Robins ’16 seemed to capture the general feeling with a later tweet that read: “DT imploded in a screaming, sniffling wreck. Hillary slayed but appeared rehearsed. Lester didn’t do the reading for class.”