[Continued from the manuscript…]

Toward the end of the debate, Chris Wallace again gave Trump the opportunity to say that he would abide by two centuries of American presidential behavior and accept the results if he loses. Trump again spouted the discredited fear that there will be millions of fraudulent ballots cast as an excuse to not accept the election.[1] Instead, it seems that the GOP is moving to challenge all results.[2] The only real takeaway from this debate is that it shouldn’t happen ever again.[3] It seems clear than any future debate will have to allow the moderator to silence candidates’ microphones. Presidential debates can sometimes be pivotal moments in an election. Famously, in 1960, John F. Kennedy swept Richard Nixon in the nation’s first televised debates. Nixon had no understanding of how to hold himself on TV. He sweated and blustered while the handsome Kennedy breezed through with punchy quips and telegenic smiles. Many have seen that moment as a cause of Kennedy’s sweeping win. It is hard to know if this debate will translate into any electoral shifts. Nothing has seemed to deter Trump’s base heretofore, so I have my doubts. I turn off the television before the debate ends. It is just too awful, too seedy, like watching a bully stomp across a muddy middle school playground, ready to shove anyone who gets in his way down into that mud.