Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has refused to say if he would accept result of the November 8 election while repeating allegations of a rigged vote – a position his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton described as troubling for American democracy.
The two candidates, who began the third and last debate in Las Vegas, Nevada, without a handshake or greeting, engaged in some testy exchanges, with Clinton at one point terming the prospect of Trump in White House as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “puppet” and the businessman calling the former secretary of state a “nasty woman.”
On several occasions during the debate, Trump sounded frustrated and angry, holding “dishonest” media responsible for turning voters against him.
When asked pointedly whether he would accept the election verdict, Trump told anchor, FOX News’ Chris Wallace, that he would keep Americans in suspense and decide about it when the time comes.
Hillary Clinton reiterated her stances on some key issues like immigration, economy, trade and Middle Eastern hot spots, and sought to sound a little bit different from the Obama Administration’s approach to Syrian conflict with suggestion of a no-fly zone.
Trump also stuck to his guns on building a wall along US border with Mexico to keep illegal immigrants out of America. He also attacked Clinton on the issue over her use of a private email account as America’s top diplomat and flatly rejected allegations of sexual advances against women.
Woman’s National Democratic Club, Washington DC
Photo: Views and News
The last of the three debates generated a lot of enthusiasm among Hillary Clinton’s supporters as the latest polls – reading American voters’ political leanings with barely three weeks from election – put her far ahead of Trump. In Washington D.C., a number of prominent women leaders addressed a lively debate watch party at Woman’s National Democratic Club, where its leader Nuchhi Currier set the stage with a speech hailing the prospect of the first ever woman to be the president of the United States.
The guests and participants included Eleanor Smeal, President and co-founder of the Feminist Majority, Eleanor LeCain, National Director of the She Wins We Win Campaign, US Ambassador to the Organization of American States Carmen Lomellin, and prominent business leader Tehmina Khan.
Here is a transcript of how Trump and Clinton clashed on the issue of allegations of rigged vote and American democracy.
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.
What I’ve seen — what I’ve seen is so bad. First of all, the media is so dishonest and so corrupt, and the pile-on is so amazing. The New York Times actually wrote an article about it, but they don’t even care. It’s so dishonest. And they’ve poisoned the mind of the voters.
But unfortunately for them, I think the voters are seeing through it. I think they’re going to see through it. We’ll find out on November 8th. But I think they’re going to see through it.
WALLACE: But, sir, there’s…
TRUMP: If you look — excuse me, Chris — if you look at your voter rolls, you will see millions of people that are registered to vote — millions, this isn’t coming from me — this is coming from Pew Report and other places — millions of people that are registered to vote that shouldn’t be registered to vote.
So let me just give you one other thing. So I talk about the corrupt media. I talk about the millions of people — tell you one other thing. She shouldn’t be allowed to run. It’s crooked — she’s — she’s guilty of a very, very serious crime. She should not be allowed to run.
And just in that respect, I say it’s rigged, because she should never…
WALLACE: But…
TRUMP: Chris, she should never have been allowed to run for the presidency based on what she did with e-mails and so many other things.
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?
CLINTON: Well, Chris, let me respond to that, because that’s horrifying. You know, every time Donald thinks things are not going in his direction, he claims whatever it is, is rigged against him.
The FBI conducted a year-long investigation into my e-mails. They concluded there was no case; he said the FBI was rigged. He lost the Iowa caucus. He lost the Wisconsin primary. He said the Republican primary was rigged against him. Then Trump University gets sued for fraud and racketeering; he claims the court system and the federal judge is rigged against him. There was even a time when he didn’t get an Emmy for his TV program three years in a row and he started tweeting that the Emmys were rigged against him.
TRUMP: Should have gotten it.
(LAUGHTER)
CLINTON: This is — this is a mindset. This is how Donald thinks. And it’s funny, but it’s also really troubling.
WALLACE: OK.
CLINTON: So that is not the way our democracy works. We’ve been around for 240 years. We’ve had free and fair elections. We’ve accepted the outcomes when we may not have liked them. And that is what must be expected of anyone standing on a debate stage during a general election. You know, President Obama said the other day when you’re whining before the game is even finished…
(APPLAUSE)
WALLACE: Hold on. Hold on, folks. Hold on, folks.
CLINTON: … it just shows you’re not up to doing the job. And let’s — you know, let’s be clear about what he is saying and what that means. He is denigrating — he’s talking down our democracy. And I, for one, am appalled that somebody who is the nominee of one of our two major parties would take that kind of position.
TRUMP: I think what the FBI did and what the Department of Justice did, including meeting with her husband, the attorney general, in the back of an airplane on the tarmac in Arizona, I think it’s disgraceful. I think it’s a disgrace.
