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THE WASHINGTON POST

Donald Trump's Glaring Disrespect For Democracy

Trumping before Wednesday night's debate in Las Vegas
Trumping before Wednesday night's debate in Las Vegas

-OpEd-

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump showed a bit more self-control in the third and final presidential debate Wednesday night than he had in the previous two. His back and forth with Hillary Clinton was more substantive, thanks in part to firm guidance from moderator Chris Wallace. But all of that was overshadowed by Trump's breathtaking refusal to say that he will accept the results of the election.

"I will look at it at the time," he said. "The media is so dishonest and so corrupt . . . they poison the minds of the voters . . . She should never have been allowed to run for the presidency."

Clinton rightly called his stance a "horrifying" repudiation of U.S. democracy. Respecting the will of the voters has since the end of the Civil War allowed for a peaceful transition of power that has made this country the envy of the world.

Next to that, policy issues seem small. Yet the policy discussion was clarifying also, exposing as it did Trump's ignorance of - or is it distaste for? - facts and policy. He again insisted that the North American Free Trade Agreement has sucked jobs from the country, when economists have found otherwise. He indicated the debt would take care of itself under his economic plan because "we will have created a tremendous economic machine," which is pure snake oil. Incoherently, he attacked Clinton for favoring open borders but also favoring a border wall.

In another striking moment, Trump denied that the Russian government has been meddling in this election, refusing to accept the judgment of the country's intelligence community. Clinton said "the most important question" was whether Trump would acknowledge Moscow's interference. Trump at first declined to do so, saying he doubted the reports by U.S. intelligence agencies. He avoided any criticism of Russia's Vladimir Putin, repeatedly insisting it would be "good" to get along with Russia, with no mention of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and other actions that have made getting along difficult.

As if to prove Clinton's point that Trump would withdraw U.S. leadership from the world - to Putin's delight - the Republican nominee doubled down on his insistence that NATO countries and other allies "have to pay up," and he absurdly took credit for forcing reforms on the decades-old alliance. Clinton, by contrast, insisted that the United States benefits from engagement in the world, which used to be a consensus view on presidential debate stages.

When Wallace turned to the scandals that have dominated the past month, Trump incorrectly insisted that the women who have come forward to accuse him of sexual misconduct have been "debunked."

Clinton managed to dodge some questions, including on communications that took place between the Clinton Foundation and the State Department under her leadership. She rightly said that she would not worsen the national debt as Trump would, but she could not refute Wallace's point that she has no plan to reduce it. She had no clear answer on how she could impose a no-fly zone over Syrian airspace now controlled by Russia.

These are gaps that would have been probed and tested in a normal campaign. They fade to the status of trivia in the face of an opponent who will not accept the basic rules of American democracy.

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

That Man In Mariupol: Is Putin Using A Body Double To Avoid Public Appearances?

Putin really is meeting with Xi in Moscow — we know that. But there are credible experts saying that the person who showed up in Mariupol the day before was someone else — the latest report that the Russian president uses a doppelganger for meetings and appearances.

screen grab of Putin in a dark down jacket

During the visit to Mariupol, the Presidential office only released screen grabs of a video

Russian President Press Office/TASS via ZUMA
Anna Akage

Have no doubt, the Vladimir Putin we’re seeing alongside Xi Jinping this week is the real Vladimir Putin. But it’s a question that is being asked after a range of credible experts have accused the Russian president of sending a body double for a high-profile visit this past weekend in the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

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Reports and conspiracy theories have circulated in the past about the Russian leader using a stand-in because of health or security issues. But the reaction to the Kremlin leader's trip to Mariupol is the first time that multiple credible sources — including those who’ve spent time with him in the past — have cast doubt on the identity of the man who showed up in the southeastern Ukrainian city that Russia took over last spring after a months-long siege.

Russian opposition politician Gennady Gudkov is among those who confidently claim that a Putin look-alike, or rather one of his look-alikes, was in the Ukrainian city.

"Now that there is a war going on, I don't rule out the possibility that someone strongly resembling or disguised as Putin is playing his role," Gudkov said.

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