With less than three weeks left until Election Day, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump went head-to-head in the third and final presidential debate that aired on Wednesday night. It gradually developed into a series of heated exchanges over issues and personal attacks.

Moderated by Fox News journalist Chris Wallace in Las Vegas, the debate had numerous tumultuous moments throughout. When Wallace asked Trump to clarify his claims that the election is rigged and whether he would concede if he were to lose the election, Trump said he will “look at it at the time” and refused to answer the question. Clinton called his remark “horrifying.”

Trump also revealed that if he were to be elected as president, he would nominate judges in the Supreme Court and hinted the 1973 Supreme Court Roe vs. Wade decision that protects women’s right to abortion could be overturned. Trump, describing himself as pro-life, criticized Clinton for her stance on abortion, saying she permits people to “rip the baby out of the womb” near birth. Clinton responded with expressing her support to the Supreme Court decision and women’s decisions in their health care and reproductive rights.

About 30 minutes into the debate, the candidates began to interrupt each other, including at one point when Trump called Clinton a puppet and “such a nasty woman” while Clinton made fun of Trump for building a hotel using steel from China while he accuses the country of stealing jobs from the United States. Both candidates also insulted each other’s experience.

Trump told Clinton the one thing she has over him is experience but called it “bad experience.”

“She’s been doing this for 30 years. Why the hell didn’t you do it over the last 15, 20 years?” Trump said.

Clinton responded, “I’m happy to compare my 30 years of experience, what I’ve done for this country … with your 30 years.”

The debate had tense moments as immigration was introduced as a subject. Trump repeated his idea of erecting a wall on the southern border and called for strong border security. He also accused Clinton of giving amnesty to undocumented citizens, which he described as “a disaster” and “very unfair” to people waiting legally to obtain citizenship.

“We have some bad hombres here and we’re gonna get them out,” Trump said.

Clinton fought back Trump’s remarks, saying she will deport individuals who need to be deported and strengthen the border. At the same time, she said she does not want to “rip families apart” and accused Trump of hiring undocumented people in his company.

“I want to get everybody out of the shadows and make sure they aren’t being taken advantage of,” Clinton said.

When Wallace brought up sexual assault allegations against Trump, he denied them and said accounts of the accusers are “largely debunked.”

“I didn’t even apologize to my wife, who’s sitting right here, because I didn’t do anything,” Trump said.

Clinton responded by saying, “Donald thinks belittling women makes him bigger.”

On economy, Trump brought up his proposed tax cuts and his plans to bring back jobs to the country. Trump also said he will renegotiate or terminate NAFTA, a trade deal formed among the U.S., Mexico and Canada under former President Bill Clinton in the 1990s. Clinton said her plan raises taxes on the wealthy to fund programs such as social security, as she demanded the upper class to pay its fair share. In addition, she said she wants to make college debt-free if the plan Clinton and her primary rival Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) were to be implemented.

The poll taken by Quinnipiac University between Monday and Tuesday surveying 1,007 likely voters shows Clinton leading Trump by six points — 50 to 44 percent, with a 3.9 percentage point margin of error.

Published on October 20, 2016 at 12:29 am

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