here are top takeaways from wednesday<u+2019>s third and final debate between donald trump and hillary clinton : in the most civil of the three presidential debates , it was mrs. clinton who wielded the sharpest jabs, bordering at times on insults. in doing so, she took a role most often played during the past year by mr. trump. mrs. clinton called her opponent a <u+201c>puppet<u+2019><u+2019> of russian president vladimir putin. she said that mr. trump cries <u+201c>crocodile tears<u+2019><u+2019> about jobs lost to free trade while using chinese steel in his buildings. in a sly aside, she said mr. trump was working on his <u+201c>celebrity apprentice<u+201d> reality show while she monitored the raid that killed osama bin laden. but mrs. clinton<u+2019>s strongest language came when she challenged mr. trump<u+2019>s behavior toward women. <u+201c>donald thinks that belittling women makes him bigger. he goes after their dignity, their self-worth,<u+201d> she said. it added up to a broad assault on mr. trump<u+2019>s character and career. mr. trump, who said claims of inappropriate sexual behavior against him are fiction, accused mrs. clinton of running a <u+201c>sleazy campaign<u+201d> and of destroying emails. <u+201c>such a nasty woman,<u+201d> he said at one point. but he spent as much or more time challenging mrs. clinton<u+2019>s effectiveness. he noted that she had been in public life for 30 years and faulted mrs. clinton for the violence in iraq. and he said she didn<u+2019>t like mr. putin <u+201c>because putin has outsmarted her at every step of the way. putin has outsmarted her in syria.<u+201d> after feuding with top members of his own party, among them house speaker paul ryan and gop senators running for re-election, mr. trump looked more like a traditional republican on wednesday. he called for tax cuts, promised to uphold gun rights and said he would appoint supreme court justices who would overturn roe v. wade. capital journal is wsj.com<u+2019>s home for election 2016 news. yet, mr. trump reminded voters that he has created his own, unique brand of republicanism. many gop leaders reject the warm language about mr. putin, an issue that arose again when he cast the russian leader as more skilled in international affairs than mrs. clinton. and he acknowledged disagreeing with ronald reagan, the party<u+2019>s pre-eminent icon, on the issue of free trade. mrs. clinton said she adhered to core democratic policy stances<u+2014>standing for abortion rights, same-sex marriage and <u+201c>sensible<u+2019><u+2019> new gun regulations. but she also called for national unity, saying the next president has to <u+201c>bring our country together.<u+201d> and celebrate diversity rather than pit people <u+201c>one against the other.<u+2019><u+2019> mr. trump talked more of restoring an america in disrepair, with its <u+201c>depleted military,<u+201d> <u+201c>disrespected<u+201d> law-enforcement officers and inner cities that are a <u+201c>disaster.<u+201d> he returned to his signature line: <u+201c>we are going to make american great again.<u+201d> mr. trump had been close on mrs. clinton<u+2019>s heels in polling this summer, a time when voters viewed him as the candidate of change and as best able to handle the economy. since then, his edge on those issues has slipped. on wednesday, he returned his focus to those themes, as many allies have long urged him to do. <u+201c>we<u+2019>re bringing our jobs back<u+201d> from mexico and other offshoring locations, he promised. he said he could boost growth <u+201c>higher than 4%; i think we can go to 5 or 6%.<u+2019><u+2019> he also cast mrs. clinton as part of a failing washington elite. <u+201c>we cannot take four more years of barack obama, and that<u+2019>s what you get when you get her,<u+201d> he said. mr. trump created the main headline of the debate, and one that is likely to resonate in the days afterward, by declining to say he would accept the results of the election. <u+201c>i will look at it at the time,<u+201d> he said, when pressed by moderator chris wallace on whether he would <u+201c>absolutely accept<u+201d> the election results. he asserted that people had been improperly registered to vote and that mrs. clinton should not be allowed to run because of her use of a private email server. <u+201c>i will tell you at the time,<u+201d> he said. <u+201c>i will keep you in suspense.<u+201d> mrs. clinton, for her part, called mr. trump<u+2019>s comments <u+201c>horrifying<u+201d> and an attack on american democracy. for mr. trump, it was another example of his strategy of trying to energize his core supporters rather than reaching out to independent and centrist voters. write to aaron zitner at aaron.zitner@dowjones.com
5 takeaways from final donald trump, hillary clinton debate - wsj
aaron zitner