After much “expert” punditry and nervous handwringing by just about everyone plugged in to this wacky campaign season, the first face-to-face debate finally arrived last night between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. And though the liberal prognosticators are out in force insisting that their girl won the first head-to-head wrangle of the 2016 election hands down, that’s not what every viewer is saying. So without further ado—and with the caveat that Trump was always my 17^th choice—here are the five reasons why I think Trump (kinda) won, or at least met the low bar, their first go ’round:

1. Though through much of the debate Trump was clearly on the defensive and failed to smack Clinton with the freebies she handed to him on a silver platter, he tried to stay on message, and managed not to utter the words “Crooked Hillary” or pound her on her own bullying of the victims of Bill Clinton’s sexual predation following her predictable playing of the “sexist” card.

On the core issues: While oft-smug Hillary promised a continuance of Barack Obama’s tax and spend policies (she calls them “investments,” of course), green energy boondoggle, and feckless foreign policy, Trump proposed significant tax cuts, tapping into the energy we have here at home, and taking a tougher stance on ISIS that will once and for all eradicate them. He repeatedly hit her on her culpability for the rise of ISIS:

2. Trump reminded voters that law enforcement and border patrol, having spent nearly eight years hamstrung by an open borders ideologue, have endorsed his candidacy:

Natl #ICE Council membership vote #Trump in 1st ever prez endorsement… #Clinton got only 5% of vote due to her RADICAL #Immigration plan pic.twitter.com/quuAy3iZoA

— Ann Kennedy (@AK_TWEET) September 26, 2016

3. He reminded America just who’s run our inner cities into the ground, and stolen opportunity from our communities of color:

@HillaryClinton https://t.co/yVFk3BJzPl

Blacks are flocking to Trump! We dont want a welfare check, we want a paycheck!

— Russ.HackerLil Trump (@USAneedsTRUMP) September 27, 2016

4. He got in a few sound-bite zingers:

Trump: "I will release my tax returns… when she releases her 33,000 emails that have been deleted." #debatenight #debates #Debates2016 pic.twitter.com/dJhXzbw8vN

— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 27, 2016

Game on! Your move, Smirky Hill.

5. And he issued a reminder of just which candidate is the epitome of the establishment status quo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Aq9Ehs7KJU

Three decades. And she’s implemented precisely zero solutions. In fact, everything she touches turns to kak. And by the way:

Uh yeah don't feel bad you had to spend hours in front of a Congressional committee. Seriously don't complain about that.

— Ericka Andersen (@ErickaAndersen) September 27, 2016

Not now. Not ever. Four men are dead because Hillary Clinton hung up on their 3 a.m. phone call.

I know, I know, it was basically a wash, and hardly a knock-out punch to a woman who deserves far more, but overall, Trump presented what he’d do differently as Commander-in-Chief, and racist and sexist card-playing Hillary reminded us she’s running for Barack Obama’s third term.

Right, because according to @HillaryClinton, she's had a lot of accomplishments as Secretary of State #Debates2016 pic.twitter.com/bG7smE37hg

— GOP (@GOP) September 27, 2016

In a nutshell.

So while the fangirling media will continue covering for their gilded candidate handpicked before primary season ever began, the voters aren’t buying what they, and she, are selling. At least as of last night, we see it in the tightening of the polls, including in states like liberal Colorado, and even deep-blue Pennsylvania. That said, this is one debate; the candidates have two more chances to convince us why we should pull the lever for either of them. I’m firmly in the Never Hillary camp, so she could promise me a tax-free private island with a permanent wait-staff and a lifetime supply of chocolate-covered macadamia nuts and a hammock and I’d still give her the bloody stink eye and a double-bird salute. According to polls, most of us are in that camp, solidly behind whomever we’ve chosen as the “lesser (insert noun)” of these two. And while one of them, in my oh-so-humble opinion, is less than a desirable choice, the other is evil incarnate. Here’s hoping America figures out which is which come November eighth.