Clinton, Trump face off in final presidential debate

The third presidential debate of the 2016 election season took place on Oct. 19 at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Moderated by Chris Wallace of Fox News, this debate returned to the format of the first general election debate of the season, with a 90-minute program divided into sections that represented a wide spread of political issues.

Much of the debate saw the two candidates standing by positions they have previously taken during the campaign, as well as attacking their opponents for previous scandals. Some questions, however, provoked newly worded responses.

For example, when asked about his purported support for the repeal of Roe v. Wade, Trump said that he thought his promised appointment of pro-life Supreme Court justices would cause this to “happen automatically.” Clinton was then forced to defend her vote against a ban on late-term partial-birth abortions, claiming that she did not believe these regulations had taken the health of mothers into account. Trump responded that this was “terrible,” insisting that this would allow doctors to “rip the baby out of the womb in the ninth month.”

Trump also once again refused to say that he would accept the results of the election, saying instead “I will look at it at the time.” He then pivoted to criticize the media, insisting that they had “poisoned the minds of the voters.”

Clinton responded indignantly to this, calling this statement “horrifying,” and praising the United States for having “accepted the [election] outcomes when we may not have liked them.” She further leveled criticism against Trump for his statement, accusing him of “denigrating” and “talking down our democracy.”

Speaking on immigration, Trump noted that “we have some bad hombres here,” in reference to undocumented immigrants. Clinton reiterated her previous stance on immigration reform coupled with border security.

After exchanging fire over foreign policy, including issues surrounding Russia and Putin, the two candidates were offered an opportunity to make closing statements.

Clinton spoke first, emphasizing that she was “reaching out to all Americans” in order to “make our country what it should be.”

Trump used his closing statement to attack Clinton for donations from the wealthy and influential. He warned the audience, claiming “We cannot take four more years of Barack Obama. And that's what you get when you get her.”

With the debates over, less than a month remains before the general election on Nov. 8.