LAS VEGAS — In their final debate, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton clashed sharply over long-standing issues like immigration and abortion as well as extraordinarily unique flashpoints like foreign interference in this election and allegations of sexual assault, with the Republican presidential nominee remarkably refusing to say he’d accept the results of an election now less than three weeks away.
While Trump began the 90-minute affair at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas in a relatively subdued and disciplined fashion, his patience appeared to wear thin over time, as he increasingly became cantankerous and interrupted his opponent more frequently. He allowed himself to unravel in the final moments when he snapped, dubbing Clinton “a nasty woman.”
The Democratic nominee prosecuted a consistent substantive case against Trump on an array of issues, but did not need a knockout punch like he did. Sitting on a polling lead, Clinton picked her moments to execute, but just as often took the safe tact to grin and bear through Trump’s most blistering comments.
When moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News pressed Trump on whether he would accept the result of an election in which he is currently trailing, the New York City mogul declined.
“I will look at it at the time,” he said, breaking with his running mate Mike Pence and campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, both who have claimed the Republican ticket would honor Nov. 8 vote tallies.
Instead, Trump eviscerated a “dishonest” media that has “poisoned the minds of voters,” and claimed that Clinton should have never been allowed to run for the presidency due to the scandals that still dog her.
When Wallace persisted on his original question, Trump would not give in.
“I’ll tell you at the time, I’ll keep you in suspense,” he said.
Clinton characterized that answer as horrifying, saying, “He is denigrating, he is talking down our democracy.”
Early on, Clinton pressured Trump to condemn Russian interference in their campaign, referencing the unprecedented release of thousands of private Clinton campaign emails by Wikileaks. Trump denied that there was any proof Russian forces were responsible for the hacking, providing Clinton with the opportunity to dub him a “puppet” of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
For her part, Clinton curiously attempted to explain away a comment made in a private setting that she favored “open borders” by saying, “I was talking about energy,” not immigration. She then quickly moved to prosecute Trump’s coziness with Putin.
“That was a great pivot off the fact that she wants open borders,” Trump quipped, in one of his wittiest responses during the debate.
Trump was also placed on defense when asked about the group of women that have come forward and accused him of sexually assaulting them in various venues years ago. Trump denied the explosive accusations that have rocked the final month of his campaign and accused Clinton of orchestrating the episode.
“I didn’t even apologize to my wife, because I didn’t do anything,” he said.
Seeking to change the subject, he then referenced video recently published by a conservative provocateur seemingly showing Democratic operatives attempting to incite violence at Trump campaign events. While the Democrats on tape don’t have an official tie to the Clinton campaign, Trump drew the connection regardless: “She’s the one and [President Barack] Obama that caused the violence.”
The debate also focused on a heap of substantive issues, with Clinton and Trump outlining broad disagreements on how they would govern the country.
Trump pitched his plan to build a wall on the Mexican border and implement a deportation force to remove undocumented workers his government would deem as troubling.
“We have some bad hombres here and we’re going to get them out,” he said.
While Clinton claimed she was for robust border enforcement, she fiercely opposed Trump’s plan to “rip families apart,” painting a picture of law enforcement agents going door-to-door to round up Trump’s targets. She even needled Trump for failing to bring up his radical plan in his summer meeting with the Mexican president.
“He choked,” she said.
Trump undercut Clinton’s claims on effectiveness by noting that the immigration reforms she has signed onto as a senator never became law.
“She never gets anything done so naturally the wall wasn’t built,” he charged.
RECAP: [The Final 2016 Presidential Debate]
On abortion, a highly charged topic that has received little attention during this campaign, Trump declined to say he wanted to overturn current law that grants a woman the right to terminate a pregnancy. He said he would appoint conservative justices to the Supreme Court and that a ruling would send the decision “back to the states and the states will then make a determination.”
Clinton defended the landmark Roe v. Wade case and, in a more delicate moment, stood up for a woman who chooses to have a late-term abortion — “one of the worst possible choices any woman has to make,” which Trump described in graphic terms.
“You can take the baby and rip the baby out of the womb in the ninth month,” he said. “It’s not OK with me.”
Throughout the debate, Clinton’s answers were tailored to bring moderate Republicans into her coalition, as evidenced by her response on guns, when she countered Trump’s attack that she’s a threat to Second Amendment rights.
Clinton cited her time in Arkansas and representing upstate New York in the Senate to convey her relatability to those who cherish the right to bear arms. But she also felt comfortable labeling Trump as the candidate of the National Rifle Association and pushed her proposals for comprehensive background checks and closing gun show loopholes in order to stem the 33,000 lives lost each year to gun violence.
“I see no conflict between saving people’s lives and defending the Second Amendment,” she said.
The two also turned in winning moments for themselves on the area of experience.
Like he did on immigration, Trump lacerated Clinton for failing to change the tax code during her Senate tenure after she described his plans as a giveaway to the top earners.
“Why the hell haven’t you done it over the last 15 years?” he asked. “The one thing you have over me is experience, but it’s bad experience. You talk, but you don’t get anything done, Hillary.”
READ: [What the WikiLeaks Podesta Emails Could’ve Been]
Clinton came back by rattling off her long career in public service and noted that while Trump was hosting his NBC reality show, “Celebrity Apprentice,” she was in the Situation Room helping capture Osama bin Laden.
In their last face-off before tens of millions of Americans begin voting, Trump and Clinton punched home many of the lines of attack that have defined their epic battle.
In Trump’s mind, Clinton has been around too long with little progress to show for it and an abundance of baggage corroding her credibility. In Clinton’s mind, Trump is simply too big a risk on qualifications and temperament, and too divisive to bring the country together.
But Trump did not likely fundamentally change the arc of the race in this third debate, which has been breaking towards Clinton since their first debate three weeks ago. He needed a clear win and at best he got a draw.
This event capped weeks of acrimonious exchanges between two larger-than-life candidates who clearly detest each other.
When they walked on stage in Las Vegas at the start, they did not shake each other’s hands as customarily expected. And when it was over, they avoided eye contact altogether, walking in opposite directions and looking at the audience as the cameras finally peeled away.
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Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Clash Strongly in Final Debate originally appeared on usnews.com
