GOP

Hillary Clinton didn’t beat Donald Trump in the final debate. Donald Trump destroyed Donald Trump.

With Trump, there’s always a moment when the curtain opens on the true nature of his mental processes.

In Wednesday’s debate, it wasn’t just a moment, it was an epoch. It came when moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News — who did a terrific, probing, even-handed job — asked if he would accept the result of the election.

As Wallace noted, Mike Pence, Trump’s running mate, has said he and Trump will accept the results. His daughter Ivanka says she thinks her father will.

But all Trump would say was: “I will tell you at the time.”

He then launched into a multilayered conspiracy theory: The media was poisoning the minds of the voters. Further, Clinton shouldn’t have been allowed to run for president because of the supposed crime she has committed.

When Clinton pointed out that the FBI’s long investigation concluded there wasn’t a case, Trump as much as said that had been a tank job. That’s a popular belief among Republican right-wingers, but for anyone who knows the law, straight-arrow FBI director James Comey made the correct and obvious call.

But Trump didn’t stop there. He soon alleged that the Iraqi-led, US-assisted assault on ISIS-held Mosul had been launched this month to help Clinton’s campaign!

For her part, Clinton took him apart, noting that he had claimed the Iowa caucuses were rigged, that a court case against “Trump University” was rigged, and that, a few years back, when his reality show didn’t get one, that the Emmys were rigged.

Hers was an effective rejoinder, but frankly, it wasn’t needed. Trump’s own comments gave a window into his strange, conspiratoralist way of thinking.

Hillary Clinton didn’t beat Donald Trump in the final debate. Donald Trump destroyed Donald Trump.

Here’s the problem for Trump. He thought his challenge was muddying up Clinton, and so, in the second half of the debate, he went the usual Trump route. That is, a hyperbolic attack.

There were two issues there. First, by now, everyone knows Clinton’s flaws. But a durable plurality of voters has also decided that those faults pale before Trump’s. Which brings us to the core issue for Trump: His real challenge is himself.

Most voters have come to the conclusion that he’s just not a good fit for the White House.

This final debate only reinforced that impression.

♦ Culled from the Boston Globe

Delaware, Ohio (CNN)Donald Trump said Thursday he will accept the results of next month’s election if he wins, a caveat that threatens to cast unprecedented doubt on the legitimacy of the electoral process.

Trump offered a stunning declaration during the final presidential debate that he might not accept the results of next month’s election. In his first speech since the debate, Trump seemed to simultaneously double down on the stance he articulated Wednesday night while also trying to clean it up.

Trump argued forcefully during a rally here that he was being asked to “waive” his right to contest the election after critics slammed him for refusing to pledge to accept the results of the election the previous night during the final presidential debate.

Trump: I will keep you in suspense

“I would like to promise and pledge to all of my voters and supporters and to all of the people of the United States that I will totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election, if I win,” Trump told supporters here in his first comments since the final debate.

After raising concerns about voter fraud — instances of which are extremely rare — Trump also pledged to accept “a clear election result.”

“Of course, I would accept a clear election result, but I would also reserve my right to contest or file a legal challenge in the case of a questionable result,” Trump said. “And always, I will follow and abide by all of the rules and traditions of all of the many candidates who have come before me. Always.”

His running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, echoed Trump’s comments while speaking in Reno, Nevada, telling supporters: “Of course, we will accept a clear election result, but we also reserve the right to contest or file a legal challenge in the case of questionable results.”

‘I will keep you in suspense’

Trump’s remarks Thursday appeared aimed at quelling the outrage he sparked the previous night as Republicans and Democrats alike balked at Trump’s response that “I will look at it at the time,” when asked if he would concede the election should he lose on November 8. But by refusing again Thursday to promise outright that he will abide by the results of the election, Trump kept alive a worrying conspiracy theory that his underdog candidacy could be defeated by below-board behavior.

The remarks came after Trump took intense fire from Republicans and Democrats alike for saying “I will look at it at the time,” when asked if he would concede the election should he lose on November 8.

“I will keep you in suspense,” he added during the debate.

Trump digs a deeper hole

Trump also said Thursday that he was only refusing to make a blanket statement concerning the results of the election because he wants “fairness during the election.”

“This is having nothing to do with me but having to do with the future of our country. We have to have fairness,” he said.

Trump, who has spent weeks calling the election “rigged” and suggesting to his supporters the presidency could be stolen from them, sought to compare his situation to the 2000 election, when Al Gore sought a recount in several counties after the results of the election in Florida were very tight.

“If Al Gore or George Bush had agreed three weeks before the election to concede results and waived their right to a legal challenge or a recount then there would be no Supreme Court case,” Trump said of the ensuing legal process following the contested result of the 2000 election.

But neither Bush nor Gore raised concerns about the legitimacy of the electoral process, neither before nor after Election Day. And a day after the Supreme Court ruled, Gore called Bush to concede.

Trump’s pledge to accept the results of the election “if I win” could have gone differently on Thursday, based on prepared remarks the Trump campaign released after his speech concluded.

The prepared remarks of that “major announcement” offered a similar, and seemingly more lighthearted, pledge labeled “ALTERNATE.”

“I would like to promise and pledge to all of my voters and supporters, and to all of the people of the United States, that when the results come in on election night, I will accept — without delay or hesitation — the concession speech of Hillary Rodham Clinton,” read the alternate text of Trump’s pledge to accept the presidential election results if he wins.

The question about accepting the election’s results was posed to Trump on Wednesday night after the Republican nominee spent weeks arguing that there was a mass “establishment” conspiracy seeking to undermine his candidacy.

Trump’s talk of a “rigged” election came after nearly a dozen women came forward last week alleging that Trump had groped or kissed them without their consent — prompting a deluge of defections from Republicans who had been supporting his campaign and unfavorable media coverage.

But in previous months, Trump had already begun suggesting to his supporters that the election could be stolen, urging them to be vigilant on Election Day and watch for cases of voter fraud, which are extremely rare in the US.

♦ Culled from the CNN

Reagan-Day Dinner photo form, left:, Dr. Elizabeth “Liz” Young, Secretary of Florida Conservative Republican Network, Florida State Governor Rick Scott, and Carol Jones, President, of Florida Conservative Republican Network.

By Anthony Ogbo | Guardian News, Houston TX/

Most conservative Republicans passionate about a new political era celebrated across the country yesterday as New York delivered big wins to a favorite son, Donald Trump who clinched nearly all the 95 delegates at stake in Tuesday’s primary election.

“I think that at this time, we have to respect the will of the voters and conjoin with Donald Trump to prepare for the general election in November,” said Dr. Elizabeth Young, Secretary of Florida Conservative Republican Network. Dr. Young was not alone. It may be recalled that in March, 2016, Florida Gov. Rick Scott handed down an endorsement to Trump, and called on party members across the country to come together and support him. “The voters are speaking clearly — they want a businessman outsider who will dramatically shake up the status quo in Washington,” he wrote

Gov. Rick Scott was the keynote speaker yesterday at the Reagan Day Dinner at the Spartan Manor, New Port Richey in Florida, where 400 party members of the Florida Conservative Republican Network gathered for a fundraiser. Dr. Young and Carol Jones, President, of Florida Conservative Republican Network also attended the event.

According to Governor Scott, “If we spend another four months tearing each other apart, we will damage our ability to win in November.” Dr. Young said that the Republican Party should start rallying around each other rather than the current in-house partisan fights. “We just have to face the ‘Trump reality’ and move on as a family, that is what democracy is all about,” she said.

Trump in addressing supporters after his victory said, “We don’t have much of a race anymore based on what I’m seeing on television. Senator Cruz is just about mathematically eliminated.”

Trump had held huge rallies across New York, focusing his campaign mainly upstate. He held big rallies in all the major upstate cities, including Long Island and Plattsburgh in northern New York. It was a big loss for Ted Cruz who came into New York facing an uphill battle after he said in a January debate that Trump represented “New York values.” Cruz’s comment was viewed as a slight on New York City and the state, and Trump has seized on this comments to provoke his chances.

“We don’t have much of a race anymore based on what I’m seeing on television. Senator Cruz is just about mathematically eliminated,” Trump said as he addressed his supporters after his victory. As of 12 a.m. ET, yesterday, Trump held 847 delegates, while Ted Cruz had 553 and John Kasich had 148, according to Guardian News approximation. A Republican candidate needs 1,237 delegates to take the nomination.

Hillary Clinton didn’t beat Donald Trump in the final debate. Donald Trump destroyed Donald Trump.

‘I will keep you in suspense’

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