“SUCH A NASTY WOMEN”

Hillary Clinton easily had her strongest debate–confident, she rolled between policy and punches. Very strong. Trump also did well, but he had more to do, and didn’t achieve the heights necessary. As time went on, he knew he was failing, and was left to mutter “Such a nasty woman.” At the end, she was beaming, and he was sullen.

No doubt the biggest headline was Trump’s refusal to say that he would accept the result of the election — a stunning declaration that could upend centuries of US political stability. “I’ll look at it at the time,” said the Republican nominee, instantly providing the headline of the night. “What I’ve seen is so bad. The media is so dishonest and so corrupt and the pile-on is so amazing. I think the voters are seeing through it. I’ll tell you at the time. I’ll keep you in suspense, OK?”

Among other highlights was what called “this machine-gun burst of damning comparisons” from Clinton: “Back in the 1970s, I worked for the Children’s Defense Fund. And I was taking on discrimination against African American kids in schools. He was getting sued by theJustice Department for racial discrimination in his apartment buildings. In the 1980s, I was working to reform the schools in Arkansas. He was borrowing $14 million from his father to start his businesses. In the 1990s, I went to Beijing and I said women’s rights are human rights. He insulted a former Miss Universe, Alicia Machado, called her an eating machine. And 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.’” As Warnke said, “In the first debate, Clinton proved she could be as gentle a woman as the country’s men wanted; in the second debate, she’d proved she could be as measured a leader as the country’s people needed; and in the third, she proved she could be as authentically annoyed as she deserved. In three acts, Clinton demonstrated the unlearning process that guides many American women’s experiences: performing for men, leading for others, living true-to-self. We’ve never witnessed such a compressed, gendered metamorphosis in American political life. For many women, Clinton’s movement toward her own power is a historical moment. We’ll remember where we were when fire took our shape.” Among other comments:

Nick Confessore of the Times: “Given his limits as a candidate and temperament, I think this was probably the most mature debater we were likely to see from Donald Trump in this election. There are people out there who just want to hear him talk like a normal Republican for like five minutes so they can tell themselves it’s O.K. to go in there and pull the lever for him. So for those people I think tonight helped a bit. On the other hand, the offsetting problem for him is women and college-educated people and more affluent voters. I think there were many points tonight when he hurt himself with those groups.”

Maureen Dowd in the Times: “He was so unnerved, he said one of the most shocking things ever heard in a debate, putting his ego ahead of American democracy. Asked by the admirable debate moderator, Fox News’ Chris Wallace, if he would accept the results of the election or reject it as rigged, Trump replied coyly and self-destructively: “I will tell you at the time,’’ adding, “I will keep you in suspense.”

Peter Wehner in the Times: “Narcissism — in this instance the inability to accept that he is likely to lose to a woman in the biggest contest in the world — was at the core of Mr. Trump’s answer about not being prepared to say he would abide by the outcome of the election. What Americans saw almost instantaneously in that answer is that the Republican nominee for president puts himself — his vanity, his self-obsession, his need to project dominance and therefore his need to win — far above everything in life, including the best interest of the nation. All of us struggle with pride and none of us is selfless; but no one we have ever seen in American political life is as egotistical and selfish as Donald Trump.”