Third Debate; Final Steps Towards the White House

The third and final debate between the two presidential candidates of the United States took place with only 19 days remaining until the elections. Election Day is always the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, which this year falls on November 8. On this day, representatives of the nation at all national and state levels, from state governors to the President of the United States, are determined by the people's vote. After going through the last stage of debate and discussion, the candidates will not have a similar opportunity to influence voters by highlighting their opponent's flaws and showcasing their own abilities as the next President of the United States. Of course, television advertising can continue, but it certainly will not have the persuasive power of a 90-minute debate session. The third debate was held in the same format as the first debate at a university - the University of Las Vegas in Nevada. This time, the moderator was Chris Wallace, a veteran journalist from Fox News. Although the moderator tried to maintain complete neutrality in front of the two candidates, Fox News is closely aligned with conservative circles, and in the days leading up to the debate, its programs featured severe critical content against Hillary Clinton. At the same time, news cameras from dozens of other networks broadcast the event live from the University of Las Vegas. Chris Wallace was the first journalist to host such a program in the history of Fox News. Interestingly, the moderator of the first debate has registered as a Republican to vote in the elections, while Chris Wallace, according to the Washington Post in 2006, had been registered as a Democrat for over two decades. (For Iranians, Chris Wallace and Fox News are known as opponents of the nuclear deal with Iran. Additionally, Chris Wallace's father, Mike Wallace - a famous journalist and host of CBS's 60 Minutes - conducted a very challenging interview with Ayatollah Khomeini during the Islamic Revolution, the file of which is still available on YouTube and circulates on social media. It is worth noting that Chris Wallace's stepfather was also a journalist for CBS News). At the beginning of the debate, both candidates entered from opposite sides and without greeting or shaking hands, took their places behind their designated podiums, whereas they had a friendly encounter in the first debate. The electoral battle has turned the two candidates into irreconcilable foes, and for the first time in U.S. electoral history, their relationship has gone beyond the usual and natural competition, especially from Donald Trump's side, accompanied by vulgar and insulting words. In this debate, Donald Trump used the term 'Nasty' to describe Hillary Clinton, which angered many viewers. Important issues that the moderator deemed significant actions for the future President of the United States were questioned. These issues covered a wide range, from the appointment of Supreme Court justices to the Second Amendment regarding the right to bear arms for every American, issues related to immigrants and illegal immigration, Russia's role in U.S. elections and cyberattacks, the economy and entrepreneurship, economic plans, and financial and tax management. Additionally, Donald Trump's allegations regarding inappropriate conduct with women, foreign and defense policy, and policies related to the U.S. economy were also questioned. At the beginning of the discussion, both candidates expressed their views on the appointment of Supreme Court justices, with Clinton emphasizing the necessity of respecting women's rights and LGBTQ rights and discussing women's right to abortion and special medical conditions, while Trump believed that legal penalties should be imposed for abortion. The two candidates also had differing views on the Second Amendment and the right to bear arms. Trump believed that this amendment should remain untouched, while Clinton stated that due to the lack of proper laws, approximately 33,000 people are killed annually. Regarding borders and building a wall to prevent the entry of immigrants, the candidates reiterated their previous opinions, with Trump continuing to emphasize the theory of building the wall but this time attempting to portray Clinton as someone who had supported the wall at one point. However, Trump refrained from repeating the claim that the wall would be built at the expense of Mexicans. The candidates' views on how to deal with illegal immigrants remained contentious. Clinton argued that a significant portion of the 11 million illegal immigrants are individuals born in the U.S. and cannot be expelled without addressing their status. The moderator tried to give Donald Trump an opportunity to respond to the allegations from nine women who came forward after the last debate regarding Trump's very derogatory comments about women. Trump's response, as usual, was to evade providing a convincing answer. He dismissed the issue as a myth but implicitly accepted the essence of the allegations by stating that 'most of them have been denied,' while noting that Hillary Clinton and her campaign sent them into the anti-Trump propaganda arena. In contrast, the issue of Hillary Clinton's personal emails was positioned opposite this question, and the debate did not succeed in changing voters' views on it, nor was anything new said about it. Chris Wallace explicitly asked Donald Trump, given that he claims the presidential election system is based on fraud, whether he would accept the election results - whatever they may be. Trump's response - which was not particularly surprising - mainly reiterated the claim that millions of ineligible people have registered to vote, but he did not provide any reasons or evidence for this claim. Trump's direct response to Chris Wallace's question about whether he would accept the election results was that he would decide on November 8 (Election Day) whether he would respect the election results or not. He accused the media and the FBI of conspiring in favor of Mrs. Clinton. Many Americans viewed this response as an insult to American democracy and even Republicans considered it a blow to the existence of the Republican Party. Mrs. Clinton deemed Trump's response 'horrific' and counter-accused him of undermining our democracy due to frustration from his weak campaign. In fact, this part of the debate provided an opportunity for Mrs. Clinton to launch an attack. Hillary Clinton listed instances where Donald Trump has claimed fraud whenever he has failed to achieve a desired outcome throughout his life. Mrs. Clinton seized this opportunity and labeled Trump as Vladimir Putin's puppet. Clinton defended the foundation of democracy in America, stating that in the past 40 years and in over 200 national elections, no one has claimed fraud. In foreign policy, issues such as the initiation of operations to liberate Mosul were raised. Trump did not provide an analysis related to policymaking in this regard, and fundamentally, this is Trump's major weakness; he is unable to offer theories for policymaking but can only criticize, and in this, he uses irrelevant language and repetitive vocabulary. Chris Wallace asked Mrs. Clinton if Mosul is liberated and a situation arises to maintain its status, would she agree to send U.S. forces to Iraq? Clinton's answer was negative. She stated that she would never send American military forces to Iraq but could establish security in that part of Iraq by imposing a no-fly zone. Trump's response was completely different and even irrelevant, as he believed that the liberation of Mosul is beneficial for Iran and then began to criticize the nuclear deal, claiming that this deal freed $150 billion of Iranian funds and additionally, $1.7 billion in cash was paid to Iran. Thus, he implicitly opposed even the liberation of Mosul. In foreign policy, Clinton accused Trump of wanting to weaken America's partners and NATO. She also identified Russia and Putin as behind cyberattacks on America and labeled Trump as Putin's puppet. Trump, as before, insisted that Japan, South Korea, Germany, and countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar should pay their share in exchange for America's support. Trump stated at least twice during the debate that he does not know Putin but hinted that Putin does not respect the U.S. government and its former Secretary of State, which angered Clinton. Economic and entrepreneurship questions from both candidates yielded similar responses to the previous two debates. Regarding tax increases and decreases, the statements were repetitive, with each claiming they would lower taxes to increase economic productivity. Although each candidate mentioned raising taxes for different groups in society, they did not provide a specific formula for how this would help balance the economy. Overall, economic experts believe Clinton's economic plan has advantages over Trump's economic plan, but concerns about federal government support programs (Social Security) remain in both plans. The third debate was more contentious in content than the previous two debates. In the previous two debates, attacks from both sides were directed at the personalities and private lives of individuals to prove the unsuitability of that candidate as President. Hours after the third debate aired, initial statistical speculations indicate that Hillary Clinton had a noticeable advantage over Donald Trump. While Trump's allies claim he respects democracy, moments after the debate, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina tweeted that Trump's debate performance and statements were detrimental to the country and the Republican Party, stating that if Trump loses the election, it will not be due to fraud but because he, as a candidate, failed to gain public trust. The point raised by Lindsey Graham has caused significant concern among many Republican senators and representatives. Trump's performance thus far has posed a considerable risk not only to the presidential election results but also to the election prospects of many representatives and senators. Some predict that up to 25 Republican representatives may not be able to retain their seats in the upcoming elections, thus handing the majority in Congress to the Democrats. This prediction indicates that House Speaker Paul Ryan's concerns were entirely legitimate when he announced his lack of support for Donald Trump weeks ago and urged other Republican representatives to focus on strengthening their position and the party instead of supporting Trump. It is said that Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate, has relative support from American voters, although its level is lower than before. This has led to a decline in voter statistics or a shift towards independent candidates or the Green Party. At the same time, it must be concluded that considering the overall aspects of the current election, unless an unexpected event occurs, Hillary Clinton is taking her final steps towards the White House.