Steve Deace's Thought on the Final Presidential Debate

Source: Steve Deace | October 19, 2016 | Steve Deace

My thoughts on the final debate.

I thought it was both a more substantive/dignified version of the first debate, and also a microcosm of the race as a whole. Let’s start with the latter.

This election is like a murder trial where everyone knows the defendant did it. The DNA evidence says he did it. Eyewitnesses say he did it. They have him dead to rights.

However, the district attorney is a womanizing drunk, who’s also been known to throw white collar cases for bribes. Therefore, since all the defense has to do is produce a “reasonable doubt” in the prosecution’s case, the lack of personal moral character of the prosecutor gives the defense its opening to focus on the DA’s peccadilloes. Manipulating a blue collar jury to hate the DA because he’s the very symbol of every bureaucrat who’s ever screwed them over. Thus allowing a murderer to walk away a free man.

This is how this debate played out. Like when Trump hammers Hillary for her foundation, producing maybe his best line of the night — “will you give the money back” from nations that hate women. She responds by mocking his own corrupt foundation and gets the crowd to laugh at her dig on the statue to himself.

This is what happened in the debate as a whole, too.

Just as Trump started strongly in the first debate, and then imploded when he got baited on his taxes, he was even stronger the first 45 minutes or so of this debate and had her on her heels on meaningful policy debates. Frankly, he held his own on issues I care about better than anticipated (though admittedly my expectations are pretty low).

But from the moment the topic diverted to Putin she pummeled him from there.

The last half of the debate was nearly as bad as the first debate. Several things he said will help him suffer the largest gender gap in modern political times:

–His refusal to accept the results of the election, which plays to the issue driving this campaign — is Donald Trump sane? Seriously, that is the election in one question. The whole election is a referendum on Trump’s sanity. These comments reinforced the Left’s narrative, and create the uncertainty that turns off female voters.

–The worst optics of the night came when Trump said “nobody respects women more than me” and the guffaws from the audience were noticeable.

–Trump saying about Hillary “she’s a nasty woman.” That’s a killer. Plays right to their whole narrative about how he demeans women and talks down to them.

Whatever points Trump scored in the first half will be null and void by this time tomorrow, because these moments will drive the post-debate narrative. Yes, that will be the media creating a pro-Clinton echo chamber. But it was Trump is the one who loaded the chamber and handed them a loaded weapon.

Finally, the fact someone as uninformed and unpresidential as Trump is still able to best Hillary on an exchange over real policy shows just how indefensible her resume/views really are. Frankly, how indefensible many of the Left’s views really are when they’re forced to debate them on merit and not emotion, which Chris Wallace did a fabulous job of making so.

What a wasted opportunity this was, then, that someone capable of such a conversation without the systemic character flaws that allows the Left to play rope-a-dope wasn’t nominated. Sure, blame Fox News for becoming Trump’s primary Super PAC and blame the mainstream media for all the free air time they gave Trump to catapult him.

But also blame about 40% of GOP primary voters, who proved they’re not anymore capable of self-government than Obama’s low-information brigade we used to mock.

20 years ago, Bob Dole suffered the worst presidential loss thought possible with our current polarized political climate. Getting barely 40% of the popular vote and only 159 Electoral College votes. I think it’s realistic Trump will perform even worse on November 8th.

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