Final Presidential debate read more at here www.spinonews.com/index.php/item/1344-final-presidential-debate

 

 

The final debate was more raw and pugilistic than any of its predecessors, with Clinton particularly at her most animated to date. 

The final debate of the 2016 presidential election is behind us, the last event of its kind after two other general election debates, nine Democratic primary debates, and 12 Republican primary debates

With one last chance to make a pitch to the American public that he should be trusted with the presidency, the Republican nominee had to make efforts to expand his base of support.

He had to find a way to distance himself from the allegation that he has a history of sexual harassment.

He had to position himself as the change candidate just days after a Fox poll showed that Hillary Clinton, whose party has held the presidency for eight years, was beating him on the question of who would "change the country for the better".

Instead, after roughly half an hour of something resembling an actual policy debate about the Supreme Court, gun rights, abortion and even immigration, the old Donald Trump the one who constantly interrupted his opponent, sparred with the moderator and lashed out at enemies real and perceived - emerged.

He called Mrs Clinton a liar and a "nasty woman".

He said the women accusing him of sexual harassment bordering on assault were either attention-seekers or Clinton campaign stooges.

He said the media were "poisoning the minds" of the public. And, most notably, he refused to say whether he would accept the results of the election if he loses.

Mrs Clinton had her own moments where she was put on the defensive - on her emails, on the Clinton Foundation and on embarrassing details revealed in the Wikileaks hack.

The difference, however, is that Mrs Clinton largely kept her poise and successfully changed the topic back to subjects where she was more comfortable. It was, in fact, a master class in parry-and-strike debate strategy.

The key takeaway from this debate, however - the headline that Americans will wake up to read in the morning - will certainly be Mr Trump's refusal to back away from his "rigged" election claims.

That was what Mr Trump wanted to say, but it isn't something the American people - or American democracy - needed to hear.

Mrs Clinton's skill at deflecting attacks and baiting Mr Trump into unhelpful answers after saying she was only talking about an open energy market - an assertion that seems somewhat questionable - she tried to turn the question into a discussion of whether Mr Trump would renounce the Russian government, which US officials have said is behind the cyber-attack.

Mr Trump actually called Mrs Clinton out on her attempted "great pivot" - but then he went on to get bogged down on the Russian issue.

He said he'd never met Mr Putin although he boasted during a primary debate that he had talked with him in a television green room, and said that Mrs Clinton was a liar and the real Russian "puppet".

Mrs Clinton's next chance to pull a rhetorical switch-a-roo came during the economic portion of the debate. After a discussion of their tax proposals - and a predictable exchange of allegations over whose cutting and who's raising them too much - Mr Trump went after Mrs Clinton on her past support of trade deals.

When Mrs Clinton was speaking out for women's rights as first lady in the 1990s, Mr Trump was taunting a beauty contest winner about her weight. And when she was in the White House situation room watching the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound, Mr Trump was hosting a television reality show.

He asked her to defend the Clinton Foundation against allegations it was a pay-to-play organisation that granted insider access to the state department in exchange for big-money donations.

An exchange on the Clinton Foundation could have been - perhaps should have been - a winning moment for Mr Trump. Instead, it was another opportunity for Mrs Clinton to knock him off his stride.

he reality, however, is Republican politicians owe their positions - past, current and future - to the people's vote, and they rely on the legitimacy granted by opponents who concede when defeated.

Mr Trump has called American democracy into question - and when he shakes that particular tree, it's impossible to determine who might get crushed by falling branches.