There was more discussion of policy in tonight’s debate than there has been in this entire election season to date, but that’s not what the headlines will lead with tomorrow. Tough questions on hot-button issues like abortion rights and gun laws as well as more wonkish topics like the national debt and entitlement reform will soon be forgotten in the wake of the most disturbing moment for the presidential race so far: when Donald Trump refused to commit to accepting the results of this election.
This is a real pity for Trump, who up until that point was doing surprisingly well. He started strong, with a firm conservative position on appointing Justices to the Supreme Court, staying focussed and promising to defend the Second Amendment. On immigration, he held his line, and resisted the temptation to hit back at Hillary Clinton when she brought up his use of undocumented workers and illegal Chinese steel. In one of his strongest moments, he called Clinton out as she attempted to pivot unconvincingly from her past comments on open borders to Russian hackers, spoiled only slightly by his assertion that “I don’t know Putin. He said nice things about me.”
But then the focus began to fade and the old Trump started to emerge. Clinton gave cool, detailed answers while Trump badgered her with interruptions of “Wrong!” which failed to faze her. In the segment on the sexual assault allegations against him, Trump was met with audience laughter when he declared “Nobody has more respect for women than I do”. He then denied ever apologising to his wife for the scandal, despite a widely-publicised statement from Melania Trump in which she said she had accepted his apology. It wasn’t the train-wreck of the last debate, but Trump did little to reform his image as a crass chauvinist.
That said, even with Trump’s interruptions and his clear discomfort with laying out policy proposals, none of his answers in the first hour would have done much to turn off voters who are still undecided at this point. The debate was salvageable, and another half an hour of discipline would have ended the night as a draw. Then came this exchange with moderator Chris Wallace:
WALLACE: Mr. Trump, I want to ask you about one last question in this topic. You have been warning at rallies recently that this election is rigged and that Hillary Clinton is in the process of trying to steal it from you. Your running mate, Governor Pence, pledged on Sunday that he and you – his words – “will absolutely accept the result of this election.” Today your daughter, Ivanka, said the same thing. I want to ask you here on the stage tonight: Do you make the same commitment that you will absolutely – sir, that you will absolutely accept the result of this election?
TRUMP: I will look at it at the time. I’m not looking at anything now. I’ll look at it at the time.
Trump tried to immediately segue into attacking alleged voter fraud and the corrupt media, but Wallace wasn’t letting him get away with it:
WALLACE: But, sir, there is a tradition in this country – in fact, one of the prides of this country – is the peaceful transition of power and that no matter how hard-fought a campaign is, that at the end of the campaign that the loser concedes to the winner. Not saying that you’re necessarily going to be the loser or the winner, but that the loser concedes to the winner and that the country comes together in part for the good of the country. Are you saying you’re not prepared now to commit to that principle?
TRUMP: What I’m saying is that I will tell you at the time. I’ll keep you in suspense. OK?
That answer may be the thing that loses Trump the US presidential election. Not his sordid past, his atrocious business record, his propensity for personal insults, or any of the outrageous statements he has made to inflame the American people. By refusing to rule out rejecting the result of the election, Trump downgraded US democracy to the status of corrupt third world regimes, to the horror of liberals and conservatives alike.
Of course, that probably wasn’t his intention. As Clinton immediately pointed out, the list of things Trump has accused of being rigged include the FBI, the Iowa caucus, the Wisconsin primary, the US justice system, and the Emmys. Claiming the game is unfair is just Trump’s go-to response when he feels he is losing. But even with all the unprecedented rhetoric this presidential race has seen, there is a line, and by attacking the foundations of the US political apparatus, Trump irreversibly crossed it.
The final thirty minutes of the debate tackled the candidates’ plans on foreign policy, especially concerning Syria, and on the economy, but no one will remember Trump’s word-salad of an answer on Mosul, or Clinton’s attempts to convince viewers that her investment plans are fully funded. By that point, the debate had taken on a surreal air – how could anything matter when one of the candidates didn’t believe in the integrity of the bedrock of American democracy?
It should be said that Fox News presenter Chris Wallace was the most effective debate moderator so far, keeping the candidates talking on policy and preventing the night from spiralling into the madness seen previously. Clinton, as in the last debate, was nothing special – she had some strong moments, such as calling Trump a “puppet” of Putin and highlighting the murky actions of his Foundation, but her strategy was clearly to remain as calm as possible and let Trump talk himself out of the election. And it worked: despite facing more attacks on her e-mails, her senate record, and her policy flip-flopping, Clinton won tonight’s debate by demonstrating she is the candidate who does not see the election as a game.
Now, whatever the result in 20 days, Trump will always be remembered as the candidate who took being a sore loser to the presidential election.
