Trump had his best debate in Nevada.
Instead of 90 minutes of him denying his alleged minor sexual aggressions, some actual issues were discussed -- the Supreme Court, the economy, trade, terrorism, immigration, guns and abortion.
And before he jumped the tracks, Trump scored a few solid hits on the crookedness of the Clinton Foundation and Hillary’s serial lies to the FBI, Congress and the American people.
Not that anyone in the liberal media really cared.
During the debate half the Friends of Hillary who pass themselves off as honest journalists were either too busy cheering their sweetheart or jeering Trump to take notes.
It really didn’t matter much.
They were only waiting for Trump to say something they considered politically offensive so they could start pounding out their selective outrage and disgust on their laptops and smartphones.
Did Trump call Hillary “a nasty woman?” Did he refer to illegal immigrants who commit crimes as “bad hombres?” Did he call Hillary “a puppet” first, or did she call him one first?
Though the Hillary Media tried to make each of those trumpisms into a war crime, after 15 months they weren’t newsworthy. They were just new variations of the stuff Donald always says.
In the end, however, Trump didn’t disappoint Hillary’s fanboys and fangirls in the press room.
When he told moderator Chris Wallace he wasn’t willing to say there and then that he’d automatically accept the results of the election and might challenge them if he thought there was something fishy,it wrecked his whole night.
It may have been common sense, but it guaranteed that the Hillary Media would get up early and spend all day Thursday talking about Dictator Trump being an unprecedented enemy of American democracy, violating the sanctity of the ballot box, threatening the peaceful passing along of power, etc., etc.
The journalists were too partisan to remember Al Gore not conceding in 2000 and other Democrats ---- like Hillary, Bernie and Barack ---- using the “rigged” word to describe various aspects of the electoral process.
If Trump says the system is rigged, Western Civilization is at risk.
It’s not that the Hillary Media would have been talking about the latest Wikileaks revelations or investigating what the holy Clinton Foundation did wrong in Haiti.
But Trump’s mistake made it easy for them to continue ignoring Hillary, her health issues and the workings of her crime family.
Trump’s mistake also did not help the Republican Party’s chances to keep the Senate and House this fall.
“Will you respect the results of this election?” was probably the first question the local news media asked every Republican in America running for Congress or dogcatcher on Thursday.
Thanks to Trump’s self-made distraction, Republican candidates couldn’t get their messages out to the public in the same way Trump couldn’t get out his.
Trump won’t change. He can’t change, no matter how much help his trainer Kellyanne Conway gives him. He can’t pivot. He can’t refute Hillary’s lies in any detail.
He can’t even look presidential. Hillary can fake a grandma smile with the best of them, but Trump wore a permanent scowl at the debate.
Winston Churchill had perpetual scowl too, but in case you haven’t noticed, Donald is no Winston Churchill.
Trump didn’t help himself at the debate. In fact, he may have pounded the last nail into his own coffin.
We’ll find out in a little more than two weeks.
I just hope that if in early November the polls show he’s going to get blown away, he doesn’t go into a scorched-earth policy like Jimmy Carter did in 1980.
Carter conceded early on Election Day ---- 5 p.m. Pacific time. That affected voter turnout on the West Coast and Democrat down-ballot candidates were hurt.
Trump may have no chance of winning, but for the sake of the Republican Party and the country he needs to fight all the way to the finish. The only thing worse than President Hillary is President Hillary and a Democratic Congress.
Michael Reagan is the son of President Ronald Reagan, a political consultant. Visit his websites at www.reagan.com and www.michaelereagan.com. Send comments to Reagan@caglecartoons.com. Follow @reaganworld on Twitter