The recent election has undoubtedly been the most interesting in our nation’s history. It’s been filled with colorful comments, Twitter beef and personal attacks. The most recent debate that took place at Washington University just a day ago disappointed many Americans including myself and showed the immaturity of both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

The debate was aired at 8 p.m. central time on PBS and started off bitterly with both candidates refusing to shake hands. Within minutes both candidates had managed to show their inability to work with each other. How do we expect them to unite our divided nation if they can’t even perform a simple gesture of respect? It’s especially disappointing when the office they are both running for requires collaboration with other parties and compromising with different ideas.

After only a few questions, it quickly escalated into an attack on both candidate’s personal traits and past actions. Clinton attacked Trump and his degrading comments toward women and labeled him racist among many other insults. Trump fired back bringing up Bill Clinton’s past with females, Clinton’s mishandling of classified emails and her hypocrisy. Thirty minutes into the debate the American public had heard a lot of talking from both participants but received very little on what either candidate wanted to do to better the United States.

The debate got better as time went on but both candidates struggled to stay on topic and slid in jibes against each other at every opportunity they were offered. Both candidates showed disrespect for the moderators by talking over them and often interrupted each other. The debate did however end on a high note when each candidate was asked to comment on a positive quality in the other.

The next debate is slated for Oct. 19, in Las Vegas. I hope both candidates can pull themselves together, respect each others opinions and have a civil debate benefiting and educating the American public on their plans for office.