Aside from the barrage of coverage following Wednesday’s final presidential debate concerning Donald Trump’s non-commitment to accept November’s election results, there were a few instances where that wasn’t discussed and ABC used their precious airtime to inform us Latinos “were crying” over Trump’s “hombres line” and assured viewers that “Hillary clearly won” the face-off.
Clinton campaign correspondent and Saturday World News Tonight anchor Cecilia Vega reported from the spin room that, for the Clinton camp, it was her “best debate” because “she bravely confronted women by quoting Donald Trump, using his own words” despite being “bothered” about Trump’s election comments.
Turning to the “hombres line” Trump employed to discuss removing violent illegal immigrants from the U.S., Vega brought up crying as she did during the network’s Democratic National Convention coverage:
I also got to tell you tha thombres line that Donald Trump used did not go over well, not just with the Hillary Clinton campaign, but from Latinos. I’ve heard from people tonight who tell me they were crying, they were offended, downright disgusted by the way he used that word on that stage tonight.
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Former Bush administration official and ABC News political analyst Matthew Dowd ruled that the debate didn’t change anything in terms of the race but if he had to guess, he proclaimed that “Hillary clearly won, in my view, won this debate.”
“It was her best performance of the three she's had. Donald Trump does well, he did well in the first third, as we've seen and then falters in the final of it...this debate was a clear win for Hillary Clinton. She has the lead. She is actually in the process of running out the clock and unless some unknown event occurs, Hillary Clinton is going to be elected president of the United States,” he added.
Moments later, World News Tonight anchor David Muir took the opportunity to bemoan the erosion of decorum in the final debate even though, by many accounts, it was the most substantive and nowhere near as dark as the second one:
You know, all of us have been together during all three of these debates and you can't help but to notice how much this has devolved from the first one. I mean, they came out, they shook hands in the first debate. The second one, they approached, but then did not and tonight, they didn't go near each other on that stage. If there were a fourth debate, one of them might be coming in via satellite...I think there's going to have to be a lot of healing, regardless of what side you're on, given just how nasty this has become.
The relevant portions of the transcript from ABC’s post-debate coverage on November 19 can be found below.
ABC’s presidential debate coverage
October 20, 2016
10:47 p.m. Eastern
CECILIA VEGA: Well, George, they are talking this up to the best debate so far for Hillary Clinton. One source was just telling me this. They feel like she bravely confronted women by quoting Donald Trump, using his own words. They are really hot and bothered, though, right now about his rigged elections comments, using words like unacceptable, a rejection of the American electoral standard. Those are the big issues for them, George. I also got to tell you that hombres line that Donald Trump used did not go over well, not just with the Hillary Clinton campaign, but from Latinos. I’ve heard from people tonight who tell me they were crying, they were offended, downright disgusted by the way he used that word on that stage tonight.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Yeah and that was trending on Twitter for a time.
(....)
10:50 p.m. EasternMATTHEW DOWD: Not a thing. He — and my guess is from this debate, Hillary clearly won, in my view, won this debate. It was her best performance of the three she's had. Donald Trump does well, he did well in the first third, as we've seen and then falters in the final of it. I think this is going to continue on, this whole idea that he wouldn't accept the results, is going to continue on. I would expect Republican officials around the country, in the day and days ahead to come out and say, Donald Trump, you cannot say that. You need to accept the results of this, but this debate was a clear win for Hillary Clinton. She has the lead. She is actually in the process of running out the clock and unless some unknown event occurs, Hillary Clinton is going to be elected president of the United States.
(....)
10:51 p.m. Eastern
DAVID MUIR: You know, all of us have been together during all three of these debates and you can't help but to notice how much this has devolved from the first one. I mean, they came out, they shook hands in the first debate. The second one, they approached, but then did not and tonight, they didn't go near each other on that stage. If there were a fourth debate, one of them might be coming in via satellite, but at the end of this, you saw them leave the debate and you wonder, George, whether they were going to shake hands. I think there's going to have to be a lot of healing, regardless of what side you're on, given just how nasty this has become.
