For those that we’re not able to catch a glimpse at the last presidential debate, compiled here are some of the most important quotes. These cover both policy topics and material for Alec Baldwin.
To better understand the quotes, it should be noted that this debate was designed to be the hardest on Hillary Clinton. Moderated by Fox News Host, David Wallace. Clinton was grilled in the first half of the hour, later having policy overshadowed by outbursts from Donald Trump. Trump was found to outline his policy better than in previous debates but his most memorable remark will be that he said he would not accept the result of this election. Clinton also repeatedly poked Trump, ultimately getting him to say “nasty woman”.
Quotes:
[Clinton on Supreme Court nominees]
“And I feel strongly that the Supreme Court needs to stand on the side of the American people, not on the side of the powerful corporations and the wealthy. For me, that means that we need a Supreme Court that will stand up on behalf of women’s rights, on behalf of the rights of the LGBT community, that will stand up and say no to Citizens United, a decision that has undermined the election system in our country because of the way it permits dark, unaccountable money to come into our electoral system.”
[Trump on Supreme Court Nominees]
“We need a Supreme Court that in my opinion is going to uphold the Second Amendment, and all amendments, but the Second Amendment, which is under absolute siege. I believe if my opponent should win this race, which I truly don’t think will happen, we will have a Second Amendment which will be a very, very small replica of what it is right now. But I feel that it’s absolutely important that we uphold, because of the fact that it is under such trauma.”
[Clinton on Abortion rights]
Well, I strongly support Roe v. Wade, which guarantees a constitutional right to a woman to make the most intimate, most difficult, in many cases, decisions about her health care that one can imagine. And in this case, it’s not only about Roe v. Wade. It is about what’s happening right now in America.
[Trump on Abortion rights]
“Well, I think it’s terrible. If you go with what Hillary is saying, in the ninth month, you can take the baby and rip the baby out of the womb of the mother just prior to the birth of the baby.”
“Now, you can say that that’s OK and Hillary can say that that’s OK. But it’s not OK with me, because based on what she’s saying, and based on where she’s going, and where she’s been, you can take the baby and rip the baby out of the womb in the ninth month on the final day. And that’s not acceptable.”
[trump on immigration]
“Now, I want to build the wall. We need the wall. And the Border Patrol, ICE, they all want the wall. We stop the drugs. We shore up the border. One of my first acts will be to get all of the drug lords, all of the bad ones — we have some bad, bad people in this country that have to go out. We’re going to get them out; we’re going to secure the border. And once the border is secured, at a later date, we’ll make a determination as to the rest. But we have some bad hombres here, and we’re going to get them out.”
[Clinton’s response on immigration quickly moved to talk about Russian Espionage after host, Wallace, quoted an out-of-context response from Clinton on energy]
“But you are very clearly quoting from WikiLeaks. And what’s really important about WikiLeaks is that the Russian government has engaged in espionage against Americans. They have hacked American websites, American accounts of private people, of institutions. Then they have given that information to WikiLeaks for the purpose of putting it on the Internet.”
[Trump responds to remarks of friendship with Putin and Clinton acts as the role of the instigator]
“Well, that’s because he’d rather have a puppet as president of the United States.”
"TRUMP: No puppet. No puppet.
CLINTON: And it’s pretty clear…
TRUMP: You’re the puppet!
CLINTON: It’s pretty clear you won’t admit…
TRUMP: No, you’re the puppet.”
[Clinton brings up issue of Trump’s inappropriate behavior towards woman]
TRUMP: Nobody has more respect for women than I do. Nobody.
(LAUGHTER)
Nobody has more respect…
[Wallace asks here if Trump will support the result of the election. Trump’s response is different than the one he gave at the last debate for the same question]
WALLACE: Please, everybody. WALLACE: But, sir, there is a tradition in this country — in fact, one of the prides of this country — is the peaceful transition of power and that no matter how hard-fought a campaign is, that at the end of the campaign that the loser concedes to the winner. Not saying that you’re necessarily going to be the loser or the winner, but that the loser concedes to the winner and that the country comes together in part for the good of the country. Are you saying you’re not prepared now to commit to that principle?
TRUMP: What I’m saying is that I will tell you at the time. I’ll keep you in suspense. OK?
[Clinton here on Iraq-Mosul fight]
And 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 both 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.
[Trump’s response to the same question of how to tackle Iraq-Mosul crisis]
So we’re now going to take Mosul. And do you know who’s going to be the beneficiary? Iran. Oh, yeah, they’re making — I mean, they are outsmarting — look, you’re not there, you might be involved in that decision. But you were there when you took everybody out of Mosul and out of Iraq. You shouldn’t have been in Iraq, but you did vote for it. You shouldn’t have been in Iraq, but once you were in Iraq, you should have never left the way.
[Clinton as role of instigator again calling Trump “unfit”]
TRUMP: No, you are the one that’s unfit. You know, WikiLeaks just actually came out — John Podesta said some horrible things about you, and, boy, was he right. He said some beauties. And you know, Bernie Sanders, he said you have bad judgment. You do.
CLINTON: … as he has campaigned for me around the country, you are the most dangerous person to run for president in the modern history of America. I think he’s right.
[Wallace’s last question dealt with how best to handle Social Security. As Clinton is responding, Trump interrupts]
CLINTON: Well, Chris, I am on record as saying that we need to put more money into the Social Security Trust Fund. That’s part of my commitment to raise taxes on the wealthy. My Social Security payroll contribution will go up, as will Donald’s, assuming he can’t figure out how to get out of it. But what we want to do is to replenish the Social Security Trust Fund…
TRUMP: Such a nasty woman.
CLINTON: … by making sure that we have sufficient resources, and that will come from either raising the cap and/or finding other ways to get more money into it. I will not cut benefits. I want to enhance benefits for low-income workers and for women who have been disadvantaged by the current Social Security system.
Ultimately Clinton swept this debate. She was notably more concise, informative, and mannered than her opponent, though she was also distinctly over prepared. For Trump, nothing was done to change anything about the race. Multiple polls taken after the debate found Clinton won as well, including but not limited to polls by: Fox61 News, CNN, The Guardian.
