The final presidential debate was actually a debate.
The main reason was that moderator Chris Wallace was excellent. He had near total control of the room. We had more substance out of this one debate than in all the previous debates combined.
The other reason it was a debate was that Donald Trump actually prepared for one. Trump was a completely different candidate for the first half of the debate. Had he acted like this over the last several months, this might be a closer presidential race.
On the substance, however, Hillary Clinton won most exchanges. She was more prepared and far more presidential. But she was not perfect and Trump exposed several of her weaknesses. Clinton had trouble on her support of “open borders,” on the Clinton Foundation’s conflicts of interest and on her ties to Wall Street.
But the third debate was really about comparing the two people who could be the next president.
Clinton started the evening cautiously, but as it went on she methodically started poking Trump. Her first dig was saying he “choked” in his meeting with the Mexican president.
Trump didn’t address the remark, which wasn’t like him at all.
Clinton next challenged Trump on his relationship with Russia and he nearly went ballistic. “You’re the puppet,” he yelled repeatedly. It’s worth noting that Trump refused to condemn Russia or Vladimir Putin. He even said he didn’t believe U.S. intelligence reports that Russia was behind hacking intended to influence the presidential election.
Trump’s reaction should scare every American. It’s not unreasonable to suspect that we have a presidential candidate who is beholden to a foreign power.
When Clinton repeated things Trump said about women who accused him of sexual assault and unwanted advances, Trump denied saying things we all heard him say.
When Clinton said Trump mocked a disabled reporter, he blurted out, “Wrong!” Of course, we’ve all seen the video many times.
Clinton was methodical in her approach, but she showed that Trump lies very easily and has major flaws as a person. He took her bait nearly every time. He even called Clinton “such a nasty woman.” By the end of the debate, Trump had collapsed into his basket of flaws.
But the scariest part of the night was Trump refusing to say he would abide by the election results, saying, “I will look at it at the time.”
Trump refused to commit to the peaceful transfer of power following an election. It was appalling and a massive political mistake.
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