This may have been the debate Donald Trump wanted, but it
wasn't the one he needed.
With one last chance to make a pitch to the American public
that he should be trusted with the presidency, the Republican
nominee had to make efforts to expand his base of support.
He had to find a way to distance himself from the allegation
that he has a history of sexual harassment.
He had to position himself as the change candidate - just
days after a Fox poll showed that Hillary Clinton, whose party
has held the presidency for eight years, was beating him on
the question of who would "change the country for the
better".
Instead, after roughly half an hour of something resembling
an actual policy debate about the Supreme Court, gun rights,
abortion and even immigration, the old Donald Trump - the
one who constantly interrupted his opponent, sparred with
the moderator and lashed out at enemies real and perceived -
emerged.
He called Mrs Clinton a liar and a "nasty woman".
He said the women accusing him of sexual harassment
bordering on assault were either attention-seekers or Clinton
campaign stooges.
He said the media were "poisoning the minds" of the public.
And, most notably, he refused to say whether he would
accept the results of the election if he loses.
Mrs Clinton had her own moments where she was put on the
defensive - on her emails, on the Clinton Foundation and on
embarrassing details revealed in the Wikileaks hack.
The difference, however, is that Mrs Clinton largely kept her
poise and successfully changed the topic back to subjects
where she was more comfortable. It was, in fact, a master
class in parry-and-strike debate strategy.
The key takeaway from this debate, however - the headline
that Americans will wake up to read in the morning - will
certainly be Mr Trump's refusal to back way from his "rigged"
election claims.
That was what Mr Trump wanted to say, but it isn't
something the American people - or American democracy -
needed to hear.
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The Russian gambit
Mrs Clinton's skill at deflecting attacks and baiting Mr Trump
into unhelpful answers first was on display when moderator
Chris Wallace brought up a line from one of her Wall Street
speeches - revealed in the Wikileaks hack - that she endorsed
a hemispheric free-trade and open-immigration zone.
After saying she was only talking about an open energy
market - an assertion that seems somewhat questionable -
she tried to turn the question into a discussion of whether Mr
Trump would renounce the Russian government, which US
officials have said is behind the cyber-attack.
Mr Trump actually called Mrs Clinton out on her attempted
"great pivot" - but then he went on to get bogged down on
the Russian issue.
He said he'd never met Mr Putin (although he boasted during
a primary debate that he had talked with him in a television
green room), and said that Mrs Clinton was a liar and the real
Russian "puppet".
Oh, and this all came up when the debate topic was
supposed to be immigration.
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A bad experience
Mrs Clinton's next chance to pull a rhetorical switch-a-roo
came during the economic portion of the debate. After a
discussion of their tax proposals - and a predictable
exchange of allegations over who's cutting and who's raising
them too much - Mr Trump went after Mrs Clinton on her past
support of trade deals.
When she waffled a bit, he tried to tag her with a line he used
in an earlier debate with some success.
Why didn't Mrs Clinton enact her economic reforms over her
30 years in the public sphere? Mr Trump asked.
"You were very much involved in every aspect of this
country," he said. "And you do have experience. I say the one
thing you have over me is experience, but it's bad
experience, because what you've done has turned out badly."
The problem with reusing attack lines is that sometimes your
opponent prepares a defence - and Mrs Clinton had a
scathing response ready to fly.
She said that while she was defending children's rights in the
1970s, Mr Trump was defending himself against charges he
engaged in housing discrimination against African-
Americans.
When Mrs Clinton was speaking out for women's rights as
first lady in the 1990s, Mr Trump was taunting a beauty
contest winner about her weight. And when she was in the
White House situation room watching the raid on Osama bin
Laden's compound, Mr Trump was hosting a television reality
show.
"I'm happy to compare my 30 years of experience, what I've
done for this country, trying to help in every way I could,
especially kids and families get ahead and stay ahead, with
your 30 years," she said.
"I'll let the American people make that decision."
It was a scripted set-piece, yes, but it drew blood.
Women trouble
Quick on the heels of the exchange about experience came
the question Mr Trump had to expect - but didn't appear
ready for. What did he think of all the women who had come
forward since the last debate to allege that, when it came to
sexual harassment, Mr Trump's actions matched his candid
words in that recently revealed recording?
The Republican nominee's response was that the women
were either attention-seekers or Clinton campaign stooges
and that the allegations have been "largely debunked" -
which, when you think about it, isn't exactly a blanket denial.
In the last debate, Mrs Clinton appeared to hold back a bit in
her condemnation of Mr Trump on the topic.
This time - perhaps inspired by First Lady Michelle Obama's
well-received speech condemning Mr Trump last week - was
much sharper.
"Donald thinks belittling women makes him bigger," she said.
"He goes after their dignity, their self-worth, and I don't think
there is a woman anywhere who doesn't know what that feels
like. So we now know what Donald thinks and what he says
and how he acts toward women. That's who Donald is."
Mr Trump's response, that no one respects women more
than he does, was met by laughter in the debate hall and the
nearby media hall.
Mrs Clinton brushed off his efforts to turn the topic to her
private email server.
He may have lost this election even without the live-mic
revelation two weeks ago, but it's becoming increasingly
clear his campaign has been irreparably wounded by it.
Cracked foundation
During the presidential "fitness" portion of the debate,
Wallace had some pointed questions for Mrs Clinton, as well.
He asked her to defend the Clinton Foundation against
allegations it was a pay-to-play organisation that granted
insider access to the state department in exchange for big-
money donations.
Mrs Clinton responded by defending the foundation's actions
- noting its high ratings from non-profit watchdogs and its
global health efforts.
Mr Trump called it a "criminal enterprise" - but then Mrs
Clinton was able to push the conversation to Mr Trump's
foundation, which has had its own share of controversies.
She noted that Mr Trump had used foundation money to
purchase a six-foot portrait of himself. "Who does that?" she
asked.
Mr Trump tried to defend himself, but Wallace wouldn't let
him off the hook, asking him why he used charitable money
to settle a fine levied on his Florida resort.
The Republican's response was only that the money had
gone to charity.
An exchange on the Clinton Foundation could have been -
perhaps should have been - a winning moment for Mr Trump.
Instead, it was another opportunity for Mrs Clinton to knock
him off his stride.
Tangled rigging
Mr Trump was already largely sunk at this point in the debate.
Mrs Clinton had managed to dodge his most dangerous
attacks and goaded him into the kind of badgering behaviour
that had garnered him negative reviews after the first debate.
He needed a clear victory and, at the absolute best, he had
fought Mrs Clinton to a draw.
Then he was asked whether, despite his talk of rigged voting
at his rallies this week, he'd follow his running mate's lead
and pledge to accept the results of the election.
"I will look at it at the time," he said. "I'm not looking at
anything now."
It was a comment that will launch a thousand headlines and
dominate discussion in the days ahead.
It was also just the start of a full-spectrum tirade by Mr
Trump against a media that "poisoned the minds of voters"
and Mrs Clinton, who he said should have been prohibited
from even running for the presidency.
Mrs Clinton's response was that the Republican's remarks
were "horrifying".
She then deftly expanded her response to paint Mr Trump as
a man who cries "rigged" whenever he faces a situation he
doesn't like - whether it's the FBI decision not to prosecute
her for her email server, his loss in the Iowa caucuses earlier
this year, the lawsuit against his eponymous for-profit
university or even his reality TV show's defeat at the Emmy
Awards. ("Should have gotten it," Mr Trump piped in.)
"He's talking down our democracy," she concluded. "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."
Talking to Republican officeholders in the media spin room
after the debate, their discomfort with Mr Trump's statement
was palpable.
Some explained it away as a tongue-in-cheek joke. Others
said it was simply Mr Trump not wanting to consider defeat
before Election Day.
The reality, however, is Republican politicians owe their
positions - past, current and future - to the people's vote, and
they rely on the legitimacy granted by opponents who
concede when defeated.
Mr Trump has called American democracy into question - and
when he shakes that particular tree, it's impossible to
determine who might get crushed by falling branches.
