Press. voanews.com
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump further extended his
campaign narrative that the election process is rigged against him by refusing
at Wednesday's final debate to say that he will accept the results of the
November 8 vote. "I will look at it at the time," Trump said. He
added that he believes the media has "poisoned" the minds of voters
against him and that his opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton, should never have
been allowed to run.
Richard Herrera, an associate professor at Arizona State University's
School of Politics and Global Studies, said Trump's statement is
"unprecedented" for a major party nominee and could be a turnoff for
voters who are still undecided. "That’s questioning the legitimacy of our
own political system, which I don’t think people buy into," Herrera told
VOA. "They may not like government so much, and trust in government is low
at this point, but they don’t really question that when they vote it’s not
going to matter.”
After the debate, Clinton called Trump's refusal an effort to
"blame someone else for where he is in the campaign." One of the most
contentious sections of the debate featured Trump and Clinton sparring over
Russia's espionage activities and accusations they are working to help Trump's
campaign.
"They have hacked American websites, American accounts of private
people, of institutions, then they have given the information to WikiLeaks for
the purpose of putting on the internet," Clinton said. "This has come
from the highest levels of the Russian government, clearly from [President
Vladimir] Putin himself, in an effort, as 17 of our intelligence agencies have
confirmed, to influence our election."
Trump said he does not know Putin and reiterated his stance that better
U.S.-Russian relations would be good. He added that Putin has "no
respect" for Clinton or President Barack Obama.
Herrera said there is a long history of Americans being wary of Russia
and that there remains an uncomfortable feeling about being too friendly with
the Russians. He said Trump is not likely to gain support by saying the source
of the hacks remains unknown and suggesting such cyber attacks against Clinton
would be a good thing.
Shirley Warshaw, a professor of political science at Gettysburg College,
said Clinton has been annoyed by the hacking of Democratic National Committee
emails and those from her own campaign, and that if Republicans had instead
been the victims "they would be beside themselves."
“The United States government has said very clearly that this was done
by a foreign power, particularly the Russians, and Mr. Trump denied it,"
she told VOA.
"This is campaign rhetoric that they’ve both been out on the
campaign trail saying it over and over again, and essentially what both of them
had was the same stump speech that they’ve been giving day in and day
out," she said. "If you took each of them off the debate they could
easily have been giving a speech somewhere."
Trump called Clinton's tax plan a "disaster" that would
potentially double people's taxes, while she said he would add to the national
debt by advocating for the largest tax cuts the country has ever seen. On the
Supreme Court, Clinton said she would appoint judges who protect marriage
equality and a woman's right to an abortion, while Trump said he wants judges
who would overturn abortion rights and protect those involving guns.
"On the day when I was in the Situation Room, monitoring the raid
that brought Osama bin Laden to justice, he was hosting the Celebrity
Apprentice," Clinton said. Trump,
during his response, said, "I say the one thing you have over me is
experience, but it's bad experience because what you've done has turned out
badly."
"All she had to do was stay there, now we're going in to get
it," Trump said. He added that Iraqi neighbor Iran would be the
beneficiary if Mosul is recaptured. Clinton
said she is encouraged by the Mosul offensive, which includes some U.S.
military advisors, but that she does not support deploying U.S. soldiers to
Iraq as an occupying force.
The fight against Islamic State extends into Syria, which has also been
engulfed in a civil war for more than five years. Clinton said Syria will be a
"hotbed of terrorism" as long as there is a civil war aided by Iran
and Russia, and reiterated her calls for measures to protect Syrian civilians.
"I'm going to continue to push for a no-fly zone and safe havens
within Syria, not only to help protect the Syrians and prevent the constant
outflow of refugees, but to frankly gain some leverage on the Syrian government
and the Russians so that perhaps we can have the kind of serious negotiation
necessary to bring the conflict to an end and go forward on a political
track," she said.
Trump further criticized U.S. support for rebels who oppose Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad, saying the U.S. does not know who they are. "When
and if -- and it's not going to happen because you have Russia and you have
Iran -- but if they ever did overthrow Assad, you might end up with, as bad as
Assad is, and he's a bad guy, but you may very well end up with worse than
Assad," he said.
On immigration, Clinton said she supports offering a path to citizenship
for those who are currently in the country illegally and would prioritize
enforcement action against those who commit crimes.
Trump called Clinton's policies amnesty and said they are unfair to
those who are waiting to gain entry through legal means. "We have millions
of people that did it the right way," he said. "They're on line,
they're waiting."
Trump has also stated a priority of going after criminals for
deportation, but Clinton criticized his statements during the campaign that
anyone who is in the United States illegally would be subject to deportation. "I
think that's an idea that is not in keeping with who we are as a nation,"
Clinton said. "I think it's an idea that would rip our country
apart."