Just The Good Stuff From The Final Debate Of 2016
The last debate has come and gone, and and it was as bittersweet as we expected. Whether you're looking for the Donald's latest zinger or another flip-flop, we've got you covered with all the highlights. And if you want to check it out for yourself, you can find the full debate here.
Trump: All The Allegations Are 'Fiction'
After the last debate, a slew of women came forward to accuse Donald Trump of sexual assault. Tonight, Donald Trump called them liars, saying that they were probably organized by the Clinton campaign, highlighting the recent release of an undercover video of a Democratic contractor discussing how easy it is to antagonize Trump supporters.
Clinton responded with a solemn speech about the effects of Donald Trump "belittling women".
Trump responded, "Nobody has more respect for women than I do."
Who Has A Better Foundation?
After the required question about Trump's sexual assault scandal, Chris Wallace turned to the candidates' charities, asking Hillary Clinton if her fast-tracking of previous donor requests for consideration of contracts for Haiti relief was "pay to play".
Clinton started by singing the praises for her charity's work. Then Trump interjected, saying The Clinton Foundation is a "criminal enterprise."
Clinton stressed that the foundation puts 90% of its donations to charities, and then highlighted the shady practices of the Trump Foundation that were revealed by The Washington Post, in which he used foundation funds to purchase a portrait of himself among other things.
Trump then claimed that 100% of the money from his foundation goes to charity, which The Washington Post has proven is false. Clinton critiqued his claims, saying there's no way to know the truth because he hasn't released his tax returns, which she says would prove that he hasn't paid taxes in years. Trump responded by saying, "most of her donors have done the same thing… ."
Trump May Or May Not Still Think The Election Is Rigged
In probably the most shocking moment of the night, Trump was asked if he would accept the result of the election — after his repeated claims that it may be rigged, but his VP's and daughter's insistence that he would accept the result. Trump responded by saying, "I will look at it at the time."
Donald Trump Is Scared Of 'Bad Hombres'
When asked about immigration, Trump accused Clinton of advocating for amnesty, stressing that weaker immigration rules would open our country to more crime, saying "we have some bad hombres here and we're gonna' get 'em out.'
Clinton responded by appealing to undocumented families, saying "I don't want to rip families apart." She went on to stress the impracticalities of Trump's proposal, attacking Trump's reported inability to actually confront the Mexican president about his proposed wall. Trump's response was to emphasize Hillary's previous support for heightened border security.
Open Borders And Vladimir Putin
In the recent WikiLeaks release of John Podesta's emails, Hillary Clinton is quoted as calling for "a hemispheric common market, with open trade and open borders, some time in the future with energy that is as green and sustainable." Clinton's detractors have pressed on the suggestions of open borders. When asked at the debate, Clinton claimed the statement was about energy.
Clinton then pivoted to call for Trump to condemn Russian interference in the election, based on the assertion that the initial hack of Podesta's emails was conducted by Russia. This ignited a row in which she accused Trump of being Putin's puppet to which Trump responded "you're the puppet!"
The Most Predictable Part Of The Debate — The Supreme Court
In the most civil portion of the debate, the candidates gave their opinions on the future of the Court. Clinton began by sketching her vision of a progressive Court that expanded and protected the rights of women and LGBT folk.
Trump began rather strangely by attacking Justice Ginsberg in response to her early statements against him, but he continued to give a typical Republican response that highlighted the Second Amendment, pro-life views, and conservative positions.
Gun Debate Heats Up
Piggybacking off of Trump's Second Amendment support, moderator Chris Wallace turned to Clinton to ask her to explain her statement that "the Supreme Court is wrong on The Second Amendment." Clinton explained that while she supports The Second Amendment (as she has said before), she believes in 'common sense' restrictions on guns, some of which were struck down in the Supreme Court case DC v Heller. She portrayed the rule struck down by the Court as one intended to protect toddlers, which is debatable according to PolitiFact.
Trump responded by claiming that Clinton was "extremely angry" after the decision.
Would Trump Want The Court To Overturn Roe v Wade?
Continuing the discussion of caselaw, Chris Wallace asked Trump if he'd like the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v Wade, the decision that solidified a woman's right to an abortion. Trump dodged the question, saying that if the Court were to overturn the decision, the decision to ban abortion would go to the states.
Clinton, as she's said before, stated that she "strongly supports" Roe v Wade, and then moved on to critique Trump's recent statements against abortion rights.
Google It!
In response to a question about putting more troops in Iraq to secure the potentially soon-to-be free Mosul, Trump ranted that Hillary Clinton got us into the situation by voting for the invasion. Hillary Clinton reminded Trump once again that he also showed support at the time, and implored the audience to Google "Donald Trump Iraq." We'll let you scroll through the results and be the judge.
Trump went on to critique Clinton's decision-making by bringing up Bernie Sanders' primary questioning of her judgement.
Things Got Nasty When Talking About…Entitlements
Things got bad when talking about a very boring topic — entitlements. As Clinton was explaining her plan to raise taxes on the wealthy to increase funding for social security and medicare, she made a subtle dig at Trump, saying his taxes would increase "assuming he can't find a way to get out of it." Trump interjected, saying "such a nasty woman" into the microphone.
Where They Stood Going In
Going into the debate, the RealClearPolitics polling aggregate put Hillary Clinton at 45.3% support and Donald Trump at 39.1%. A difference of 6.2%.
