This must be said, and @ezraklein said it: "Hillary Clinton has humbled Donald Trump, and she did it her way." https://t.co/cBmbahIIm2
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) October 20, 2016
She looks like a President, and he looks like the kind of guy the Secret Service keeps away from Presidents.#debatenight
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) October 20, 2016
It can honestly be said that both candidates had their best debates last night. Unfortunately for the Republican party and its candidate, twenty minutes of ‘not acting completely unhinged’, followed by seventy-five minutes of ‘more greatest hits from the Breitbart/InfoWars archives’ can’t effectively match ‘consistently demonstrating why her experience and depth of understanding makes Hillary Rodham Clinton uniquely qualified to serve as President for the next four years.’
Trump's refusal to concede an election day loss now leading Politico, CNN, NYT, WaPo, WSJ, LAT and BuzzFeed. pic.twitter.com/UQPfq15558
— CJR (@CJR) October 20, 2016
about our democracy: if Hillary wins 270 electoral votes on Nov 8 her ability to take oath of office will not depend on Trump's permission
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) October 20, 2016
If his final petulant refusal to face reality once (when) he loses wasn’t so completely outside the norm, there were at least a dozen other Trump statements that would be sparking discussion this morning. Since moderator Chris Wallace was determined to feed red meat to his Fox News base, his first question was about SCOTUS and whether the candidates believed the Constitution was ‘a living document’ or ‘settled by the Founding Fathers’ (as is an item of doctrine among the wing-iest wingnuts, such as the late Antonin Scalia). Trump seized the opportunity… to complain that Justice Ginsburg had been very mean in her comments about him, before babbling about ‘states’ rights’ to prevent ‘babies being ripped from the womb, three, four days before birth’. (He did not, however, attest that he’d overturn Roe v Wade, so the nosiest part of his intended audience won’t be placated.)
He vowed to prevent Clinton ‘overturning the Second Amendment’. He claimed that ‘all those women’ who accused him of assaulting them ‘had been debunked, every one’ — as Clinton campaign plants. He once again defended Putin as ‘a strong leader, smarter than her’ and refused to accept that Russia might have had anything to do with the Wikileak hacks. He said that ‘millions of people who shouldn’t even be allowed to vote’ were giving Clinton an unfair advantage. He babbled about ‘bad hombres’ coming across the border — with Clinton’s collusion — to ‘poison our children with their drugs’. He didn’t protest when Clinton accused him of not paying federal income taxes, but he did insist that Warren Buffett and George Soros took advantage of the same loopholes. (Buffett has gone on the record explaining that he hasn’t, and will probably say so again today.) And that’s just the low-lights!
For the first time, the madness of Trump's ideas rather than the madness of his manner are taking centre stage at tonight's debate.
— Dan Roberts (@RobertsDan) October 20, 2016
Trump just claimed that there are "millions of people" who shouldn't be registered to vote who are. #debatenight
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) October 20, 2016
.@HillaryClinton defended women, @realDonaldTrump attacked his accusers. She stood up to Putin he defended him. #debatenight
— Brad Woodhouse (@woodhouseb) October 20, 2016
Chris Wallace keeps trying to carry Trump's water for him, and Trump won't get out of his way. Making Fox News look ridiculous.
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) October 20, 2016
Says @VanJones68: "You can't polish this turd" @AC360 responds: "Technically, you can't polish any turd." #Debate
— TimKarr (@TimKarr) October 20, 2016
If you are Republican candidate on the ballot this Fall, you feel a lot worse right now that you did 90 minutes ago
— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) October 20, 2016
To all my fellow #badhombres and #nastywomen remember you have the power to vote!!! #debatenight #debate
— Marcos Mateo Ochoa (@MarcoMateoOchoa) October 20, 2016
Thursday Morning Open Thread: <em>Relieved</em> to Be A DemocratPost + Comments (230)