Having just finished watching the final debate, I will once again go through a stream of consciousness on what I thought.
Stylistically, I thought Donald Trump was much more disciplined and prepared for this debate than the other two. He did not interrupt Hillary as much as he did in the previous debates. Trump was far more restrained than he was in the first debate. He sounded like a president. He was also much more articulate and to the point in his answers. Hillary Clinton was her usual self, although she was on the defensive far more in this debate than the previous two. I think Trump showed a better arc over the course of the debates by improving over time, while Hillary did not change and even regressed last night.
Chris Wallace was the best moderator out all of the moderators in the three debates. He asked both of them thought questions and did not show any bias towards either candidate. The previous moderators asked questions that favored Hillary. Wallace was willing to challenge their stances and their responses. I think last night provided good exposure to people on both sides of the isle to hear each candidate’s arguments.
On the issue of the Supreme Court, Donald Trump gave the same answer he gave in the previous debates and in speeches in the past. He was going to appoint justices from the list of 20 people that he had compiled. Trump also said that they would interpret the constitution the way that the Founding Father’s intended. He did not believe the constitution is a “living document,” just like Antonin Scalia did not. Hillary said that she would appoint justices who defend Roe vs. Wade and look to overturn Citizens United, which she thought kept “dark, unaccountable money” in politics. She would certainly know about “dark, unaccountable money” given how she received millions for giving speeches to big banks and millions from foreign governments.
I was glad that Trump mentioned how the Clinton Foundation has received millions of dollars from Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Hillary claims to be a supporter of women and gays, but took money from governments that press both groups. He asked her to return the money on principle. Hillary did not deign to reply to that point.
On the issue of abortion, I think Clinton did come off strong for her base in defending Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood. It is so great to see a Democrat trust people with making their own decisions. Clinton did not give a clear answer about where she would draw the line when it comes to abortion. She said that it is the most “painful” decision a woman must make and bureaucrats should not be involved. This position would clearly allow for later term and partial birth abortions. Trump gave a visual of what would happen in those situations saying that it would allow for 9-month-old babies to be ripped out of the womb.
With regards to gun rights, Hillary will most likely overturn the Heller decision with the justices that she appoints.
On the issue of immigration, Hillary immediately made an emotional appeal by mentioning a girl named Carla who was scared of her parents being deported. This appeal is meant to get voters to forget about the rule of law and make a purely emotional decision. She said that she supported a pathway to citizenship, which is another way of saying amnesty. Hillary also tried to scare the American public with Donald Trump’s “deportation force” that will be rounding people up. We already have a deportation force, and it is called Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Donald Trump has consistently said that he wants to uphold the rule of law and deport people who entered the country illegally. I am especially glad that he mentioned how unfair amnesty is to people who are waiting in line and following the rules to enter this country. This is a point that I have made, as my family followed the law when entering America. Carla’s parents were irresponsible to put their family in jeopardy by entering the country illegally. Carla is also an anchor-baby, by Hillary’s own admission. Her family is probably signed up for many, many government services, especially on Carla’s behalf. Illegal immigrants are a huge net drain on the country in spite of all the taxes that Hillary says that they pay. Carla’s parents are concerned that the gravy train is coming to an end. I have no sympathy for this.
Where is Hillary’s sympathy for all the families in the Middle East that have been destroyed by her foreign policy decisions? What about the families in Iraq and Libya who destroyed in the wars that she supported? Is she sad about the children affected by the migrant crisis? I cannot believe her when she says she has sympathy for families after seeing her record as Secretary of State.
On the issue of taxes, I find it shocking how economists are able to predict what the national debt with accuracy. How will they know what the tax receipts will be? How will they know the demographics of the country? How can they predict the exact of effects of deporting or giving amnesty to illegal immigrants? If they are so good at predicting the future, why don’t they predict stock prices in the future? If they could do that, they would become fabulously wealthy. Donald Trump mentioned how his policies could potentially create economic growth, which is what our country needs to help pay down the debt. Hillary Clinton wants to enact more of same policies that Obama enacted, in terms of increasing government spending. Everyone who is productive in this country will see more of their money being wasted on ineffective programs.
When Hillary was asked about a speech she gave where she said she was in favor of open borders, she pivoted to Russia. There is no conclusive evidence that Russia was involved in hacking those emails. Wikileaks has actually released information in the past that is not complimentary of Russia. She wanted to deflect from the fact that she is favor of open borders. Trump has advocated for negotiations with Russia to improve our relationship with them. This would be practical given that the Cold War ended and Russia is no longer the Soviet Union. Russia is preparing for war with America in the event that Hillary gets elected. What is worse, Trump’s words about Putin or the possibility of war with Russia? Even Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate, said that Hillary’s election will lead to war with Russia. Hillary has advocated for a no-fly zone in Syria. Russia has aircraft in the area. Russian airplanes will have to be shot down in order to enforce the no-fly zone. That is an act of war, and it will escalate very quickly. Stein went on to say that Trump is the peace candidate. To all military age men in this country, take this into consideration when voting. If a war starts with Russia, you will be drafted to fight. Not the women who vote for Clinton.
As expected, Chris Wallace eventually brought up the sexual assault allegations made against Donald Trump. The allegations have been debunked. Stefan Molyneux has done a video on the accusers and demonstrates how their stories did not make sense and that the people around them said that they were not true. I was glad that Trump then mentioned the Project Veritas video that showed how Hillary Clinton’s campaign coordinated with Democratic operatives to incite violence at Trump rallies. Hillary did not even deny this when Trump brought it up at the debate. She just went on with how Trump supposedly insulted those accusers at his rallies. Have any news channels had sit down interviews with Bill Clinton’s accusers?
I was very happy that Donald Trump had the courage to call the Clinton Foundation a criminal enterprise on the debate stage. He also repeatedly pointed out how foolishly our government has acted under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Trump pointed out the Hillary voted in favor of the war in Iraq (and he did not). She also took part in removing our forces in a way that allowed for a power vacuum that let ISIS thrive. As Trump said, she has had a lot of “bad experience.”
After the debate, everyone was astonished with how Donald Trump said that he would “keep you suspense” about accepting the results of the election. CNN analysts said that it was the most shocking moment in presidential debate history and it destroyed his candidacy. That was supposed to be a gotcha question. I don’t see the gotcha. Do they honestly expect Trump to organize a coup d’etat? Is he going to get his supporters to cause civil unrest? He has the right to say that he does not like the results of the election, or even reject the results. There will still be a peaceful transition of power. Donald Trump does not have the guns of the state at his disposal to disrupt that. It is funny that the CNN analysts had no problem with Al Gore not accepting the results of the 2000 presidential election. Gore took a case to the Supreme Court and held things up for a month. The CNN analysts even mentioned how Gore won the popular vote, which goes to show that they are still bitter about that election. However, Donald Trump cannot question or say anything about the results.
It is also hard for Trump to say he accepts the results when Project Veritas videos show high level democrats conspiring to commit massive voter fraud. How about getting the 4 million dead people who are registered to vote off the registry? Furthermore, the DNC also worked actively to stop Bernie Sanders from becoming the nominee. Trump would have to evaluate the circumstances of the election to say whether or not he accepts the result.
I think Donald Trump won last night’s debate handily. He showed the country how disciplined and restrained he could be. He also made better arguments on policy and had Hillary on the defensive for most of the debate. CNN’s analysts was scrambling afterwards to paint his performance in a negative light, which only goes to show how good it was. I think Trump’s performance would have helped him amongst undecided voters who may not have been exposed to his ideas without the media’s filter. I think we will see Trump’s support rise again as we head towards election day.