Well. This is it. The first presidential debate. God help us all.

The debate began at 6:00 P.M., and I barely survived it to the end mark at 8:00. When it ended, all that ran through my mind was this:

I survived. I don’t believe it. I’m still alive.

On the NBC post-debate show, one of the correspondents stated that the only loser of the debate was the American public, and I am inclined to agree with him. In a race between the two most unpopular presidential candidates in history, the biggest loser tends to be the populace at large.

The debate started off with a video showcasing debates past, after which Lester Holt of NBC News introduced the candidates and told us the rules. Unfortunately, of these things, only the candidates remained constant – there was almost a constant ignorance of the moderator and the rules of the debate.

Then it began.

Surprisingly enough, the debate began civilly. Trump and Clinton greeted each other respectfully, and the first few exchanges seemed, amazingly enough, sane. Clinton opened strongly, detailing exactly how she would improve jobs in America and stated her emphasis on the people of America. Trump then responded with the kind of rhetoric he has been famous for – speaking about how he would bring stolen American jobs back to our country and detailing his planned tax hike.

However, soon after the calm and reasonable opening the debate melted down. The meltdown probably began due to Trump getting angry over Clinton bringing up his infamous 2012 tweet about climate change being a Chinese hoax – he interrupted her and spoke over the moderator as he attempted to downplay the incident.

The debate from here followed this pattern until it concluded: Holt would ask a question, to which one of the candidates would respond. They would go over their time limit, and then their opponent would respond, and then the cycle would repeat itself again. The differences in their responses were what really made the debate.

Clinton continually addressed her planned policy, and highlighted how her choices were for the people of America. She stressed how the election was about “the future we want,” and that neither of the candidates should be its focal point. Also, she made sure to state why her policies were better than Trump’s – she invited the audience to fact check her and her opponent numerous times throughout the debate, emphasizing the dangerous nature of Trump’s policies as opposed to hers.

Trump’s responses tended to center around himself more. He tended to bring whatever issue he was talking about back to Clinton or to how the U.S. is being walked all over by China and Mexico, as opposed to answering the questions. Where he really stumbled was in remaining professional – he constantly interrupted Clinton, saying “Nope” or “That’s a lie” or something in that flavor whenever she brought up a negative point about him. Clinton did interrupt a bit, to be fair, but it wasn’t near enough to be noticeable next to Trump, who shouted over her and poor Lester Holt repeatedly.

I took three pages of notes on this debate, trying my best to focus on each candidates’ policies and to really take notice if they said anything of substance (and in an election of sound bites, that wasn’t easy to do). Prior to my viewing of this debate, I truly had no idea of either candidates’ position on national matters, mostly because the candidates themselves have been the focus over their policy. If the goal of this debate was to inform the American public about policy and for each candidate to sell themselves as a better president than the other, then I can say easily who won.

Clinton came prepared, needing a strong performance after a series of stumbles that have many questioning whether or not she could be president. She certainly lived up to expectations, even in spite of several awkward responses pertaining to her email scandals. She was the portrait of a presidential candidate, appearing cool, calm and collected even when Trump interrupted her and spoke over the moderator. Clinton looked like a grown up, while Trump brought up the image of a small, angry baby in my mind more than once. During this debate, at least, Clinton was the more presidential of the two.

However, there are still two debates left – and Trump still has an opportunity to put this weak performance behind him. For now, however, Clinton will be riding a strong wave generated by this debate.

I look over my three pages of notes – they’re sloppy and get increasingly tired as they advance towards the end of the debate. I thought I was done with the debate at 8:00, but a cold realization has washed over me: we are nowhere near done with these two. I have two more debates to watch, and countless more hours of blurred campaigning. After that, I have 4 years of one of them in the Oval Office. This realization brings another thought to me, one that’s more certain than any thought that I got from a mentally crushing debate:

George Washington is rolling in his grave.