Mario Gonzalez/The Rider Graphic
BY Oscar Castillo | NEWS EDITOR
Following the two previous contentious presidential debates, the stakes were raised as Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton squared off for the last time at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
The nominees looked to seal the deal by winning over as many undecided voters as they could during the third and final presidential debate.
UTRGV Communication Professor Louis Falk said both candidates missed an opportunity to sway voters in their direction.
“It just seems, basically, the same stuff over and over and over, except it just gets nastier and nastier,” Falk said of the debate.
However, he also said Trump might see a decline in his poll numbers.
“Trump, obviously, did it again, where he made himself, by his comment, part of the news cycle,” Falk said. “Unfortunately, in this election, from what I read a couple of weeks ago, if you do something to make them keep talking about you, and you are in the news constantly, like he is, then your poll numbers have been dropping. So, if you go back and you look, Hillary, when all the emails stuff that she was fighting back against it, her numbers were dropping because she kept commenting, but when she starts disappearing, her numbers rise back up.”
Clinton headed into the debate with a six-point lead in the polls, according to RealClearPolitics.com.
‘Rigged election’
By far, one of the major highlights during last Wednesday’s debate was when Chris Wallace, host of “Fox News Sunday” and debate moderator, asked Trump if he would accept the result of the election if he were to lose. Trump replied, “I’ll tell you at the time; I’ll keep you in suspense.”
The reply was controversial because, as Wallace noted during the debate, it is a long-lasting tradition that the loser must concede to the winner and thus unite the country. Trump could be the first nominee in the U.S. to reject the decision because of what he calls a “rigged” election.
“For the debate, by him making that comment, which everybody is talking about that he may not accept, that’s pushing him back in the limelight, which has a negative effect,” Falk said.
Communication Department Chair John Cook said he wouldn’t be surprised if Trump were to seek legal action if he doesn’t agree with the election’s result.
“He does think the system is rigged, and what’s interesting is that his cohorts all say, ‘Oh, no, no. He is talking about the media being highly supportive of Hillary,’ but he says, ‘No, I’m talking about the election fraud, too.’” Cook said. “And, it’s like, even his own supporters don’t support what he says, which I find very interesting.”
Trump has said in multiple rallies and social media that he believes the election and the media are rigged against him.
Trump might think the election is rigged because his comments keep him in the limelight, Falk said.
Asked what impact this rhetoric will have in American society, Falk replied: “Overall, it could hurt the chances of people voting in general, not just for this election but in the future because if people don’t have confidence in the process, why participate?”
Trump alleges the election is rigged because millions of people who are registered to vote should not be.
About 24 million, or one of every eight, voter registrations in the U.S. are no longer valid or are significantly inaccurate, according to pewtrusts.org.
The website notes that more than 1.8 million deceased individuals are registered to vote, whereas about 2.75 million are registered in more than one state.
“All of the studies that have been done, of the millions and millions of votes that been cast, maybe 30 people have committed voter fraud,” Cook said. “I just think it’s a ridiculously small concern, but you know, he’s set up this belief system amongst his hardcore supporters.”
Trump believes Clinton should not have even been eligible to run because of the email scandal.
“The investigation began as a referral from the Intelligence Community Inspector General in connection with Secretary [of State] Clinton’s use of a personal email server during her time as Secretary of State,” FBI Director James Comey said July 5 during a press briefing. “The referral focused on whether classified information was transmitted on that personal system.”
In July, the FBI decided to not press charges against Clinton because although it “did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information, there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.”
Fitness to be president
During the debate, Wallace asked Trump about the women who have claimed to have been sexually harassed by him after the release of the infamous “locker-room talk” video.
“First of all, the stories have been largely debunked,” Trump replied. “Those people, I don’t know those people. I have a feeling how they came. I believe it was her campaign that did it.”
From a public relations perspective, Cook said the first step would be to deny it if that is, in fact, what happened, but Trump saying he wouldn’t assault the alleged victims based on their looks is sexist and wrong.
“The fact that his wife came on and said, ‘I don’t believe he did it’ is probably better PR than anything Donald Trump said,” Cook said. “In my work, I’ve occasionally managed people who were accused of sexual harassment and they would say, ‘Have you seen how attractive my wife is?’ and I go, ‘What’s that got to do with anything?’ because that’s not the answer. It’s just not.”
Trump then blamed the Clinton campaign for the violence that has happened in his rallies. He said he knew this because of an edited video, posted on YouTube by Project Veritas Action, which suggests that Scott Foval of Americans United for Change, an organization helping the Clinton campaign, was allegedly inciting violence in the Trump rallies.
In response to the video, Brad Woodhouse, president of Americans United for Change, released a statement on “The Sean Hannity Show” saying, “Scott Foval is no longer associated with Americans United for Change.”
Clinton did not address this in her response.
Wallace then asked about the Clinton Foundation and if there was a conflict of interest, referencing the WikiLeaks emails, which showed that donors received special access to Secretary Clinton and some of those donors received government contracts.
“Well, everything I did as secretary of state was in furtherance of our country’s interests and our values,” Clinton said. “The State Department has said that; I think that it’s been proven.”
Immigration
As pointed out by the moderator, immigration is one of key issues where both candidates have polarized stances.
Trump said the U.S. needs stronger borders and that Border Patrol officers and ICE had endorsed him.
However, the National ICE Council, a union, endorsed Trump, not the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Clinton then said that she is for “getting rid of any violent” illegal immigrants. However, she wants to enact a comprehensive immigration reform within the first 100 days with a path to citizenship.
Trump pointed out that in 2006, Clinton was for increased border protection.
“Hillary Clinton wanted the wall,” Trump said. “Hillary Clinton fought for the wall, in 2006 or thereabouts. Now, she never gets anything done, so naturally the wall wasn’t built, but Hillary Clinton wanted the wall.”
Clinton, a senator from New York at the time, voted for the Secure Fence Act of 2006.
