USA TODAY International Edition
FIERCE DEBATE CAPS BRUTAL SERIES
Trump refuses to say whether he’ll accept election results
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump began their final debate by contrasting their visions for the future of the Supreme Court, then clashing on immigration policy and abortion before Trump suggested he might not accept the outcome of the election Nov. 8.
Asked whether he would respect the results of the election, Trump said, “I will tell you at the time. I will keep you in suspense.” Clinton pounced, saying the comments are “horrifying,” given that the nation’s democratic system is built upon a peaceful transfer of power.
“Every time things aren’t going in Donald’s direction, he claims it is rigged against him,” Clinton said, citing his insistence that the Republican primary was rigged after he lost Iowa and Wisconsin, that the courts were rigged when Trump University was sued for fraud and even that the Emmys were rigged when he didn’t receive one. “It’s funny, but it is also really troubling,” she said.
Trump has crisscrossed the country saying the election is “rigged” as a series of national polls show Clinton with a wide lead at the national level and in critical battlegrounds, including Pennsylvania.
On the Supreme Court, Clinton said she would appoint members who would “stand up” for average people and not just the
“powerful,” and Trump said he would nominate justices with “a conservative bent.”
Clinton said the court “raises the central issue in this election” and should protect women’s rights and marriage equality, as well as reverse the Citizens United decision that has “undermined” the electoral system. “I have major disagreements with my opponent about these issues and others,” she said.
Trump said, “The Supreme Court is what it’s all about.” He contended that the Second Amendment right to bear arms “is under absolute siege,” and he warned that if Clinton is elected, “it will be a very very small replica of what it is now.”
Clinton reiterated her respect for the Second Amendment and said it is not incompatible with “reasonable regulation” to keep guns away from “people who shouldn’t have guns.”
The candidates’ final debate was their last opportunity to reach an audience of millions of voters. They had far different goals as they presented their closing arguments to America.
On abortion, Clinton made clear she will defend a woman’s right to choose. Trump berated her for backing late- term abor- tions. Clinton noted that she supports late- term abortion in cases to defend the life of the mother. “I do not think the United States government should be stepping in and making those most personal of decisions,” she said.
Trump called it “terrible if you go with what Hillary is saying,” because it would allow a doctor to “rip the baby out of the womb of the mother” in the ninth month. “It’s not OK with me,” he said. Clinton said Trump misrepresented the circumstances of most late- term abortions: “That is not what happens in these cases, and using that kind of scare rhetoric is terribly unfortunate,” she said.
On immigration, Clinton argued that Trump’s deportation plan is tantamount to a national effort to round up people and put them on trains and buses to get them out of the country. “That is an idea that is not in keeping with who we are as a nation” and “would rip our country apart.”
She called for an immigration policy that includes border security and took aim at Trump’s proposal to build a wall along the border with Mexico. Trump stressed that he would force all undocumented immigrants to return to their home country: “We have some bad hombres here, and we’re gonna get em out,” he said.
Clinton called it a “rank mis- characterization” that she is for totally open borders before accusing Russia is hacking her campaign emails. The hacks are coming “from the highest levels of the Kremlin,” she said.
Trump refused to accept U. S. intelligence reports that Russia is behind the cyberattacks that exposed emails from Clinton campaign manager John Podesta. “That was a great pivot off the fact that she wants open borders,” Trump said before getting into a tussle with Clinton about which one of them is a “puppet” for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A gloves- off tone was apparent from the beginning as the families and candidates bypassed the customary handshake.
Real estate billionaire Trump has been the underdog in nearly every single national poll conducted in the past week, a deficit that could translate into a crushing defeat in the Electoral College. Surveys showed traditionally Republican states such as Arizona in play.
Clinton looks to maximize her appeal to independent and soft Republican voters. If polls are accurate that she’s the prohibitive winner, her next challenge will be to unify the country behind her, which looks increasingly difficult in an election among the nastiest and most personal.