Chris Cillizza: Winners and losers from the final presidential debate
Washington Post columnist Chris Cillizza watched the final presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. He tweeted, took some notes and picked some winners and losers. Here are his choices.
Winners
Hillary Clinton: This was Hillary Clinton’s best debate performance. She finally figured the right calibration of ignoring and engaging Trump. Given her considerable edge in the electoral map, Clinton didn’t need a moment in this debate, she simply needed to survive. But she had a moment anyway – with a stirring answer in response to Trump’s comments about women. Clinton, borrowing from Michelle Obama’s speech on the same subject, was deeply human and relatable in that moment.
Throughout the rest of the debate, she did what we know she knows how to do well: She deftly dropped a series of opposition research hits and attempts to goad Trump into mistakes. She came across as calm and composed in the face of his, at times, tough to watch interruptions. Her performance wasn’t perfect; she struggled to defend the Clinton Foundation, for example, but Trump managed to throw her an opening to talk about his own foundation’s issues. All in all, Clinton won – a clean sweep of the three debates.
Chris Wallace: Wallace was the best moderator of the four debates – three presidential, one vice presidential. Poised and confident, he sought to steer the conversation without dominating it. He allowed the candidates to debate issues back and forth but, when they veered off course and didn’t answer his questions, he made sure to let them know about it. And, as was the case in other Fox-sponsored debates in the primary season, Wallace ’s questions were top notch. He asked blunt questions that demanded straight answers.
Vladimir Putin: The Russian leader had to be thrilled about the amount of airtime he and his country received in the debate. And Trump, while insisting that he and the Russian president are not, in fact, friends, repeatedly insisted he knew for a fact that Putin had no respect for Clinton. Any air time for Putin in a debate with tens of millions of Americans watching probably makes him very, very happy.
Puppets: There hasn’t been this much conversation about puppets in a presidential debate since, well, ever.
Losers
Donald Trump: Top to bottom, this was Trump’s most consistent and best debate. But, it wasn’t a good debate for him. His signature moment came when he refused to say he would concede if the elections results showed he had lost. Trump’s smarmy answer will be the only thing people are talking about coming out of the debate.
Trump wasn’t all bad in this debate. His first 30 minutes were quite good. But, as has so often been the case in this campaign, Trump simply couldn’t stick to his plan. As the debate wore on, he became more and more short-tempered and curt; it culminated with his sarcastic praise for Clinton regarding ISIS and his “such a nasty woman” interruption. Trump’s task in this debate – to fundamentally re-jigger its course – was always a bridge too far. But, it’s hard to see how he even made incremental progress toward that goal on Wednesday night.
Downballot Republicans: For an hour or so, the likes of Pat Toomey (Pennsylvania), Richard Burr (North Carolina) and Kelly Ayotte (New Hampshire) had to be, generally speaking, happy with Trump’s performance. But then came the question of whether he would respect the election results if he lost. It’s hard for me to see how Republicans in close downballot races can afford to keep sticking by a candidate who has broken with centuries of tradition. And, you can expect every Republican to be asked whether they agree with Trump’s view on the rigged nature of the election. Not exactly a closing message any of them would choose.