Analysis: Trump needed debate reset, instead riles GOP
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is greeted by his family on stage after the third presidential debate at UNLV in Las Vegas.
WASHINGTON >> Donald Trump needed a game changer. Instead, he landed a jaw dropper.
When the Republican nominee for president refused to say he would accept the results of the election, he rattled American democracy and openly flirted with the notion of a contested transition of power. He overshadowed an otherwise improved debate performance. And, with an almost-flip, five-word sentence, he created a headache for every Republican running for re-election who will be asked again and again to either defend or reject their nominee.
“I’ll keep you in suspense,” Trump said, when asked at Wednesday night’s third and final debate if he would vow to accept the results.
It was a moment that could have been expected but was stunning nonetheless. Trump has been railing for weeks about a “rigged” system tilted to favor Democrat Hillary Clinton. As he slips further behind Clinton in the polls, Trump has alternately blamed, with no evidence, a corrupt media, fraud at the polls and government officials trying to protect his rival.
The rhetoric has vexed a GOP already riven by his candidacy and fretting about its future. Before the debate, Trump’s vice presidential running mate, his campaign manager and his daughter all had said he would accept the election results. His effort to stir doubts about the outcome drew condemnation from President Barack Obama, who called it “unprecedented.”
But under the bright lights of prime time, Trump showed he will not be clipped by criticism or convention from any corner. As he has throughout the campaign, Trump chose to channel the sort of loose talk and frustration of disaffected Americans, consequences aside.
“She shouldn’t be allowed to run. It’s crooked — she’s guilty of a very, very serious crime. She should not be allowed to run,” Trump said, of his rival, pointing to no crime.
Clinton called Trump’s response “horrifying.”
“That is not the way our democracy works. We’ve been around for 240 years,” she said. “We’ve had free and fair elections. We’ve accepted the outcomes when we may not have liked them. And that is what must be expected of anyone standing on a debate stage during a general election.”
Trump’s campaign and allies quickly tried to cast his comments as no different than Vice President Al Gore waiting to concede his defeat in the 2000 election until December, after a Supreme Court decision and the recount in Florida. But Trump made no exception for such extraordinary circumstances.
Other Republicans quickly bemoaned the comment: “He should have said he would accept the results of the election. There is no other option unless we’re in a recount again,” tweeted conservative commentator Laura Ingraham.
Barring an unexpected implosion, Clinton walked into the debate on track to win 270 electoral votes — and then some. Trump arrived needing a performance that would stabilize his campaign — if not for his own prospects, but for the good of his party.
In recent weeks, Senate races in Nevada, Florida, New Hampshire and Missouri appear to have tightened. Republican incumbents in Pennsylvania and North Carolina are fighting for their political lives in states where Clinton appears to be pulling ahead.
Republicans hoped he would prove he was serious about trying to win as many votes as possible in the most important places — and not, as some of his rhetoric about the “rigged” election indicates, merely trying to spin his impending loss.
For roughly an hour, Trump showed he was serious. He and Clinton conducted largely substantive and focused policy debate on issues that have received short shrift in previous face offs, including abortion, gun control and immigration.
The Republican businessman effectively branded Clinton with 30 years of “bad experience” and raised, for the first time in a debate, the hacked emails that have illustrated a gap between her private and public positions, particularly on Wall Street banks and trade.
But Clinton’s preparation and skill at the podium also showed through. She effectively managed to dodge a question about her support for free trade, instead drawing Trump into sharp exchange over Russia’s role in the hack and alleged meddling in the election.
When moderator Chris Wallace asked the candidates about allegations of sexual harassment and assault — in Clinton’s case, allegations against her husband — Clinton used the moment to stand up for women, voters Trump has struggled to win, while ignoring the question of Bill Clinton’s infidelities.
“Donald thinks belittling women makes him bigger. He goes after their dignity, their self-worth, and I don’t think there is a woman anywhere who doesn’t know what that feels like,” she said.
The reemergence of sexual assault and misconduct allegations proved to be turning point in the night. Trump continued to issue flat, broad denials, but from that moment on became increasingly agitated as the conversation moved on to issues like Social Security.
“Such a nasty woman,” he blurted, in a remark that on any other night may have stood out for its caustic tone.
But on Wednesday it was only the second most memorable comment of the night.
51 responses to “Analysis: Trump needed debate reset, instead riles GOP”
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The liberal left wing media has betrayed Americans. It’s easy to see why Trump wouldn’t say he would accept the results. Day before yesterday we learned dmc operatives boast4d about the number of illegals they cold register and have vote in (2) different states. The DNC is completely dishonest. We saw it with Debbie Wasserman, and now with Donna Brazil. Hopefully, Americans will tell the liberal media to fo, that they don’t believe their propaganda bs, and they will toss the Clintons to the curb where they belong.
Ah geez.
I hope you’re right peanut. The Clintons need to be consigned to the dustbin of history. The problem is that the democrats have been indoctrinating the populace via public schools and higher education for decades. The mantra is that dependence on government is good and self reliance is bad. Sadly, many have bought into it and look to government to guide their lives from cradle to grave. The formerly incorruptible media has been corrupted beyond redemption as evidenced by the junior varsity Star Advertiser and non-stop attacks on Trump while running interference for Waldo Clinton.
lol, the peanut right? That will be the day. It should be obvious to everyone that we will fortunately have sweet Hillary as our next president. While I have some concerns about her hawkish beliefs, she is at least qualified to be president. The Donald blew it by not saying he would accept the results of the election. BAD MOVE DONALD.
As for looking to government to guide their lives from cradle to grave, that description goes to republicans who need government to tell them what to do. A pity the republicans no longer can think for themselves but need government to tell them exactly what to do. Goldwater must be spinning.
HiLIARy is proof that crime pays. Lock her up.
Al Gore, Al Gore, Al Gore, Al Gore ………
What about Al Gore dontbelieve? He accepted the results when he shouldn’t have. The Donald though is on the verge of a total wipe out. Won’t be anything to dispute.
What if Al Gore and George Bush had “accepted” the election results… remember the Florida recount and the hanging chads??? No, let’s all keep our options open.
“She’s a NASTY woman!”
Do you have a link for “dmc operatives boast4d about the number of illegals they cold register and have vote in (2) different states”? I missed it. lol
The DNC may be dishonest but not nearly as much as The Donald. Face it, the Donald has no business running for President. He just does not have the temperament not to mention the experience to be President. He can’t even debate for longer than 30 minutes. Talk about Stamina, he has none.
You know they don’t. All of these claims come from the fever swamps of alt-right blogs and looney tunes sites, like the Drudge Report, Infowars and News Max. Trump was even making bizarre Breitbart claims during the debate last night that, no doubt, left most viewers puzzled. The Republican Party is becoming a white nationalist cult that has its own internal memes, which nobody living outside of their alternate universe can understand.
Trump is a sore loser and just won’t admit it. Reminds me of those spoiled kids who were born with a silver spoon in their mouths and was never spanked as a kid.
He’s a doofus. It’s sad that he’s the best the wingnuts have to offer. They’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel. Hopefully, the real Republicans can rid the party of the Alex Jones-conspiracy theory, racists, mysoginist, anti-immigrant, teabagger faction and get back to being a normal party like they once were before 2008.
I don’t think the republican party has been normal since Eisenhower. lol
It just seems they keep getting wackier and wackier. Will they ever learn that Voodoo just won’t work?
“…Clinton’s preparation and skill at the podium also showed through.”
And that’s why we need to get used to saying Madam President.
To some, the performance represented what’s gone awry with the Trump campaign. After exhibiting moments of discipline early on, he squandered it later — with his remarks on the election, with his refusal to criticize Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, and with his comment that Hillary Clinton is a “nasty woman.”
That Trump would go so far as to criticize Ronald Reagan — an almost universally beloved figure in conservative circles — on trade policy, left some Republicans aghast. “It’s hard to understand,” said Al Cardenas, a former Florida Republican Party chairman.
“This is microcosm of the general election campaign,” said Mike DuHaime, a former Republican National Committee political director who helped to guide Chris Christie’s presidential bid. “Trump does well at times but can’t sustain it for the entire time and makes unnecessary mistakes.”
In the short term, it will be up to Trump to limit whatever long-term damage the debate may cause – something he failed to do after the first debate at Hofstra University, when he was dragged into a series of back-and-forths over his treatment of a former beauty pageant contestant.
“If Trump hopes to change things around, he can’t repeat that act,” said Eric Fehrnstrom, a top strategist on Mitt Romney’s 2012 bid. “He needs to show the kind of discipline that has mostly eluded him so far.”
Yet the debate could have longer-term repercussions, potentially increasing the urgency with which down-ballot Republicans begin presenting themselves as a “check and balance” to a Clinton presidency. In doing so, they would all but concede that Trump is destined to fall short.
It’s an option that GOP strategists have been discussing, but have yet to put into motion in a widespread fashion.
“Trump was already behind,” said Bill Kristol, a Trump critic and the editor-in-chief of the conservative publication The Weekly Standard. “He didn’t help himself tonight, indeed he hurt himself. He’s very likely to lose, and to lose badly. He’ll drag the Senate and House down with him unless Senate and House candidates can make the case they’re needed to check and balance Hillary.”
We are on the road to HRC getting 300 plus in the electoral college.
To my dear cricket crew: Winston, Thos, Les, Sarge, Kuro, Ronin, Keoni, CEI, et al, it noticeable that comments are becoming more sparse………it’s done, over, pau.
Buahahahahahahahahaah
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/republicans-trump-debate-230071#ixzz4NcsDc6K7
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FOX has Sec. Clinton at 307, other sites have her as high as 341.
http://www.270towin.com/news/2016/10/19/electoral-college-projections-october-19th_398.html#.WAjHCuDx74Y
Get used to saying Madam President.
And to the crick crew, that should be followed by an appropriate bow and their unique version of a cuckold curtesy.
More like my damn president if the female felon can lead the sheep to slaughter. Watevas
Sarge stop whining. Cry baby like the Chump.
If that’s the case, then get used to saying, “where’s all my money going?”. She’ll tax the “rich” ($250,000) to pay for her policies. That amount are all the small businesses that make up the middle class. Guess what they’ll do to make up the increase in taxes? That’s right, raise their prices. Who pays more for goods? Me and you. After that, she’ll find that taxing the “rich” won’t be enough, so again, check your smaller paycheck to see the increase in Fed taxes.
Oh you republicans. Love the fact that you have forgotten what the tax rates were like the last time a republican president balanced the budget. Nice to know though that with today’s republicans, Deficits don’t matter. lol
Boots, I am not a republican. I vote on issues. I have voted for democrats and republicans in the same election. I am not a party puppet.
Can I still call her sweet Hillary?
The funny thing is the Donald has long criticize Hillary for not having the stamina to be president, but in all 3 debates, it was the Donald who could not maintain any discipline and obviously had no stamina.
It’s not so much “stamina” as much as depth of knowledge. Clinton knows the issues inside and out. She is very much a policy wonk. She can talk policy all day long. Donald on the other hand Lacks sufficient knowledge on the issues, he tends to run out of material after about half-an-hour. So all he has left are insults for the final half-hour or so. If you look good at the debates carefully early on Donald does OK, he can talk policy but only to a limited extent. Clinton spends the early part of the debate baiting Trump comma while still articulating policy. After about 45 minutes of being baited, Trump is out of material so he basically returns to his old form of tired clichés and insults.
Very observant and insightful post! Personally, voting for Clinton means same old, same old in black and white. Chosing Trump means same old, same old in living colors.
Truth be told I’m not fond of either candidate. Worse yet I didn’t really like any of the candidates during the primaries. I keep thinking there must be better options out there, but I can’t seem to find any.
I agree with the already gelled conventional wisdom that Trump’s biggest blunder came when he said we’ll just have to wait and see whether he accepts the results of the election. Whatever arguments you want to make in defense of the response are irrelevant (and judging from the ones I’ve heard on TV, pretty pathetic). He basically gave the media carte blanche to freak out over his answer for at least a week. Don’t get me wrong, I think his answer was awful. But even if I didn’t, it was strategically stupid — unless the goal is to further alienate his core supporters from mainstream American politics in order to create a television network for the ranks of the disaffected (as part of Operation Destroy the GOP).
But where I dissent somewhat from the conventional wisdom is the notion that Trump was doing great until that one response. He lied repeatedly and shamelessly, most importantly about all of the stories of his sexual advances being debunked. They haven’t been. (I loved him saying — over and over — that “nobody” has more respect for women than he does. Nobody?) He was doing better than he has in previous debates and he was even scoring real points, but he simply wasn’t doing anything to get voters to see him in a fresh light. And when you’re this far behind, you need to add voters to your column.
He didn’t do that. He didn’t even try. And that should be unforgivable.
The uber conservative National Review, straight out repudiates Trump and says his campaign is unforgivable.
Buahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah.
Enjoy cricket crew.
Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/441240/trump-owns-his-trumpiness
Wassup SA?
this election like the two before is rigged. stalin said the most powerful man in an election is “the one who counts the votes”
the main stream media including talk radio is against trump and set booby traps along the way. remember opala said to the russian foreign minister befr the 2012 electin (tell vlad after the election i’ll have more flexibility”
he already knew he would be reelected!!
the elections are rigged! dead people voting! some voting multiple times! all democrats!
as wy hod!!!
go trump geevum!
My mother used to say for democrats to win, they have to win big as republicans will steal close elections. This has turned out to be the case in 2000 but fortunately it won’t be the case this year. Hillary will easily win because the Donald has basically self destructed. It will be interesting to see what the republicans will do after this loss. It would be nice if they go back to preaching republican values, you know, Fiscal responsibility, State and Individual rights. Sadly though they probably won’t but will instead double down on Voodoo economics.
It’s impossible to rig a national election. Good article in the Washington Post this week featuring some Republican operatives who tried to do it on a small-time scale and got caught. In interviews for the article they concluded it’s impossible, and that’s what they did for a living.
Problem is the Chump cannot control his emotions. After half an hour Hillary is like a master fisherman and she starts to chum the Chump. His face starts to contort and reddens. His starts sniffling and bingo hana pa’a.
Cheeeeeee!!!
Trump had a great opportunity for a gut shot and he blew it. When Hillary was asked about the pay to play accusation she avoided it–Trump should have jumped in and brought out the foreign donors to “the Foundation” that received special treatment at the State Department.
He is too busy wallowing in self pity.
Nah that would have opened him up to some of the stuff he did with his foundation like pay off a personal debt, then there was that donation to the Florida AG who was running for office, then there was the fact that although he claimed to make donations after 9-11, there is no evidence that he actually did. BTW even after the election the conduct of his Foundation will be a real problem for him. Some of the stuff they did was clearly inappropriate for a charitable foundation.
>>> and his daughter
I watched the video of Ivanka and she did not come out and say Donald would accept the election results. Why is this always reported as such?
She said, “…he will do the right thing.”
Maybe implied, but not directly said. (“The right thing” could be asking for vote recounts, and things of that nature. She left the door open.)
Mr. Trump knows that he’s going to lose the election, and in a particularly humiliating fashion. And since his mental illness won’t allow him to accept that, he’s determined to burn down the Republican Party for their perceived slights against him. Good for Trump. The party created that monster with its decades of racism, xenophobia and bigotry, and now they are grappling with how to put out that fire.
It looks like Mrs. Clinton will win by something in the 10 million vote range, so good luck claiming that the election was stolen. It wasn’t. Republicans nominated a spectacularly unfit person, and the result is going to be losing the White House and the Senate. Good days!
And hopefully they will lose the House Too. Republicans really need to start believing in something. Voodoo just won’t cut it.
It’s going to be close in the House. Certainly possible if Trump’s numbers keep cratering like they are today.
Thanks, Trump supporters!
ISIS fighters are burning oil reserves in Mosul as they are being forced out. It’s part of their scorched-earth behavior as they lose their stronghold. In the same vein, Donald Trump is ruining the Republican party (and now, with his refusal to agree to accept the election results, he is also ruining our country as a whole). He is doing this as he continues to plummet in the polls as if to say “If I’m going down, you’re all going down with me.”
Trump is running against the GOP establishment as well.
Donald should put on red lipstick, too.
Neither candidate appeals to me, but if given the choice of a sympathetic vote for one whom the media seems to favorably blast …….
Wizard if he would stop talking nonsense and talk of his planned policies he wouldn’t be getting slammed.
I thought Mr. Trump did pretty well for the first 30 minutes. (The WP said only 15 but I think they’re wrong.) He was focused, and on topic. More importantly, he tried to answer all the parts of multi-part questions. I had hopes that we were seeing a transformed candidate. Then, the Ritalin seemed to wear off. Perhaps his health care professionals should try Adderall, the effects of which last much longer.
Bush won the election-night vote count in Florida by 1,784 votes. The small margin produced an automatic recount under Florida state law. Once it became clear that Florida would decide the presidential election, the nation’s attention focused on the recount. – Wikipedia
That’s when crooked justice Scalia literally stole the election for Dumbya.
I think one of the more profound moments came right at the beginning, when the candidates were asked about the supreme court.
Hillary laid out a vision of the supreme court as a policy making body, which should do what she thinks is right.
In elaborating, she talked in terms of group membership.
She talked about standing up for the rights of women and members of the LGBT community.
In contrast, Donald talked about the protection of the constitution and protecting what its authors thought as right.
Above all else, the constitution protects the right of the individual, not members of selected groups.
What about the right of a male who is not gay, but is being discriminated against?
The USA was founded on individual freedom, and as flawed as he may be in other ways, Trump starts from this point.
Hillary clearly does not.