Donald Trump’s ‘rigged’ claim takes US election into dangerous waters

Donald Trump’s high centre of gravity and propensity to trip himself up, as shown in the three presidential debates including Wednesday’s, overshadowed Hillary Clinton’s guile in their encounters.

While the Republican candidate was largely to blame for his three successive losses – getting in his own way and that of his populist message that has rallied millions of Americans – the Democrat delivered strong performances, showing her skill as a debater, her knowledge of her opponent and the value of preparation.

She understood Trump’s weaknesses and hit them repeatedly, attacking his vulnerable narcissism and fragile ego. Trump suffers from that failing of most bullies: he can dish it out but he cannot take it. Clinton knew that and was able to push his buttons in all three televised debates. For the first time on Wednesday, she even used some of Trump’s own tactics against him, interrupting him and letting fly with insults.

Puppet dance

Chiding the Republican over his refusal to condemn Vladimir Putin, she hit back at Trump's charge that the Russian leader had no respect for her. That was because Putin wanted "a puppet" as president, she said. It was a put-down that The Apprentice television celebrity himself would be proud to utter in his boardroom.

“No puppet, no puppet,” was the property developer’s cartoonish response, spitting it back like an upset toddler struggling with being called a name. “You’re the puppet. No, you’re the puppet.”

The debates made for great television for the neutral observer but as an audition for a man wanting to be the president of the United States, they showed why Trump, despite his TV mastery, should not get the part. He proved the charge from his Democratic opponent: he is temperamentally unfit to hold the most powerful public office in the world.

Trump travelled to Las Vegas with a final chance to turn around his campaign and squandered it by showing, after a calm and collected first-third, his lack of self-restraint and disregard for facts.

Losing badly in the national polls and the must-win battleground states, the Republican candidate had to use the debate to grow his support beyond the non-college-educated whites, despite his belief he can drive out these voters in big enough numbers than they usually turn out in to win the White House.

Trump missed a final big opportunity to win back female voters. He called Clinton “a nasty women”, talked in graphic terms about abortion and denied the sexual assault accusations levelled at him by nine women, lying about his attempts to dismiss their stories by suggesting that he was not attracted to them.

He doubled-down on his divisive immigrant policies and rhetoric so alienating for Hispanic and other minority voters with his plan to deport “bad people”: “We have some bad hombres here,” he said, seemingly unaware (once again) of how offensive the phrase would be to Hispanic-Americans.

Dangerous implications

And, finally, when asked – after days of whinging and making unfounded claims about a “rigged” election – whether he would accept the result on November 8th, Trump threatened to throw his toys out of the pen.

“I will tell you at the time. I will keep you in suspense,” the New Yorker said, dropping a cliffhanger like he was on his reality TV show, not the contest for the US presidency.

It was an extraordinary admission, which he repeated after being pressed, raising doubts about the integrity of the entire democratic process and potentially giving new licence to the angry supporters he likes to incite. This latest desperate move enables the reality TV star to make a humiliating defeat – as the polls suggest he is facing – more palatable for him and his supporters, and sow the seeds for more conspiracy theories to sustain his populist appeal after the election with the commercial benefits that might flow from it.

Describing his statement as “horrifying”, Clinton accused him of “denigrating” and “talking down our democracy”. The second-time candidate said she was “appalled” that a major-party nominee would take such a position. She was joined by senior Republicans who rebuked Trump’s unprecedented stance.

At his first post-debate rally, in Ohio on Thursday, Trump attempted to walk back his previous night's bombshell somewhat, but it was another thumbing of his nose at his critics. He joked with supporters that he would "totally accept" the result of the election – "if I win". He delivered the line with the timing of a veteran carnival performer and his audience loved it, cheering back at him.

It would be funny, if it was not for the dangerous implications of his unproven assertions. Trump, once again, showed there is nowhere he is unwilling to go in this bizarre and frightening election campaign.