By Rick Manning

For months, Hillary and her allies in the #neverTrump movement have attempted to paint Donald Trump as someone who couldn’t do the job of the presidency. Tonight, Donald Trump proved them wrong.

Trump was particularly impressive when he passionately defended the success of the “stop and frisk” policy in New York City in lowering the number of homicides. By making the crime issue about the non-criminals who live in the impacted communities and are victimized, Trump showed that this issue isn’t about arresting people, but instead about protecting the innocent. It was clear that Trump believed every word he said, speaking directly to African-American and Hispanic voters about the personal safety issue that dominates their lives with a passion that Hillary never mustered.

And it is that passion whether it is for reviving America’s manufacturing sector, negotiating better deals on the international stage or restoring order in our nation’s cities so that every American can thrive that separated Trump from his opponent. He clearly believes that he can address the ills that face the nation, while Hillary appeared to be a policy wonk detached from the impact of the policies she has supported, and hoping that no one would notice.

Donald Trump needed to show the nation he could exchange facts with the media’s chosen heir apparent to the Presidency and he did. He showed himself to be at least the equal to Hillary and in fact turned her public experience against her simply by asking why didn’t she do something about these problems when she held great power?

While Hillary was looking for partisan fact checkers to bail her out, Trump made a strong case that he is a safe choice for president, effectively ending the main attack that Hillary has launched against him for those who watched without jaded eyes.

Both benefitted from appearing to be somewhat likeable. But with Trump rising and having all the political momentum, nothing Hillary did or said should change that reality, and in fact, Trump’s brilliant handling of the race issue should create real competition in that once lock solid Democrat constituency for the first time in a generation.

If the next debates go as this one did, Donald Trump will be the next President of the United States, and it won’t really be that close.

The author is president of Americans for Limited Government.