Trump blows it again. Odds of him winning now 20 times worse than Hillary.

Just when you think Donald Trump can’t get any more outrageous, he does. Last night the Republican Party’s Presidential candidate blew it for another bloc of supporters by refusing to endorse the democratic process by honouring the election results. Add to that his snipe about being smart because he avoided taxes for years and even those who distrust Hillary Clinton and hate the US’s flawed political system have to be reconsidering. A Trump Presidency may well disrupt a status quo which needs a shake-up. But after his pathetic display in the publicly televised debates, no rational being can now consider making him President. The Republicans must be ruing their decision to choose such a poor candidate. A one dollar bet on their man winning will deliver a profit of $4, that’s 20 times the return of just 20c for a winning bet on Clinton. As Brexit and Leicester City showed us, last minute upsets are always possible. But Hillary must feel like she is now holding the keys to the White House. – Alec Hogg

By Margaret Talev and Sahil Kapur

(Bloomberg) — “I’ll keep you in suspense.”

Donald Trump offered those words in response to a question at Wednesday’s third and final presidential debate about whether he planned to honor the results of the Nov. 8 election. The answer, and his performance as a whole, may have been less about engineering a White House win than jolting his loyal following one last time before Election Day with an unprecedented anti-establishment move.

Trump twice refused to say he would honor the election results if he is not declared the winner, fomenting the idea of a rigged system in a way sure to further isolate him from many fellow Republicans who could help him close the significant gap with Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

The Big Debate - Presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. More magic available at www.zapiro.com.
The Big Debate – Presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. More magic available at www.zapiro.com.

“I will tell you at the time,” he told moderator Chris Wallace, an answer premised on his view that voter fraud might skew the results against him, despite scant evidence supporting such a belief.

As the debate wrapped, several of Trump’s closest advisers rushed to contradict him to reporters in the spin room, a recognition of the potential damage of Trump’s words. Meanwhile, his Facebook page offered its own live newscast pitched as an alternative to “biased, mainstream media reporting.”

Read also: In the gutter: Trump vs Clinton. Who will win? Expert analysis

The dual scenes—taking place in the same room at the University of Las Vegas Wednesday night—mirrored the profoundly ambiguous signals sent by the GOP nominee: Is he trying to beat Clinton or prolong his political power in defeat?

If Trump loses, said surrogate Ben Carson, “I think he’ll still have influence” over the party. A senior campaign adviser said recently that Trump wants to maximize support among hardcore Republican voters to help maintain his grip over the party regardless of the outcome of the election.

Even as polls have showed Clinton widening her lead nationally in recent weeks, Trump has spent most of the debates defending himself while using rhetoric that may further alienate college-educated whites, Hispanics and women. The strategy has strengthened his support among Republicans at the expense of voters he needs for a victory.

Early signs indicate Trump didn’t help his already perilous standing in the race. A CNN poll after the debate found that Clinton won by a margin of 52 to 39 percent; a YouGov poll said she won by 49 to 39 percent.

Struggling with female voters, Trump called Clinton “such a nasty woman” and expressed confidence that abortion rights decision Roe v Wade would be overturned as a result of his administration. Struggling with Hispanics, he said of undocumented immigrants, “We have some bad hombres here, and we’re going to get them out.”

Struggling with college-educated voters concerned with his temperament, Trump repeatedly interjected, “Wrong!” as Clinton spoke. He also denied saying and doing things that have been well documented, from mocking a disabled reporter to previously supporting the invasion of Iraq to using contributions to his foundation to cover legal fees.

Hillary Clinton, 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, and Donald Trump, 2016 Republican presidential nominee, stand on stage during the second U.S. presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S., on Sunday, Oct. 9, 2016. As has become tradition, the second debate will resemble a town hall meeting, with the candidates free to sit or roam the stage instead of standing behind podiums, while members of the audience -- uncommitted voters, screened by the Gallup Organization -- will ask half the questions. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
Hillary Clinton, 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, and Donald Trump, 2016 Republican presidential nominee. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Asked about multiple women’s allegations of groping, Trump denied them as “lies and fiction” arranged by the Clinton campaign, and inaccurately said they’ve been “debunked.” A Bloomberg national poll completed before the debate found that 56 percent of likely voters will cast their vote with concerns about his alleged treatment of women.

While insisting “I truly don’t think” Clinton will win, Trump went on to suggest Clinton would reap a domestic crisis in the White House as a result of her support for allowing Syrian refugees into the U.S., which he said would be “the great Trojan Horse,” before adding, “Lots of luck, Hillary.”

Clinton expressed similarly grave concerns about a potential Trump administration, emphasizing her argument that he’s unfit to be president. From the first question of the debate to her closing remarks, Clinton appealed to the broad coalition of American voters who back gay marriage, abortion rights, equal pay and immigrant rights.

She also repeatedly tried to isolate Trump from independents, who have moved in her direction in recent weeks, by focusing on issues ranging from women’s reproductive rights to Russian interference in U.S. elections and declaring his lack of faith in the electoral process “horrifying.”

“He is denigrating—he’s talking down our democracy,” Clinton said. “And I, for one, am appalled that somebody who is the nominee of one of our two major parties would take that kind of position.”

Some of Trump’s own top allies appeared uneasy with his refusal to accept the results of the ballot box. After the debate, several of his surrogates—including Sarah Palin—said they expect him to concede if he loses the election fairly.

“I think he’ll accept the results of the election,” said Trump surrogate Michael Flynn.

“Yeah, I’m sure he will,” said Trump surrogate Bruce LeVell said.

Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri went so far as to say it could be a bluff.

“We’ll have to see what he actually does,” she said. “Sometimes he talks a big game.”

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