donald trump <u+2019>s best chance to be president has always been to make the campaign about something larger than himself<u+2014>reviving the economy, replacing antonin scalia on the supreme court, defeating islamic state, something to make the case for change to a country unhappy with the status quo. in wednesday<u+2019>s debate mr. trump showed what might have been had he fought more on the issues, even as he also exposed his achilles<u+2019> heel of a thin skin and petulant ego. mr. trump is never going to out-argue hillary clinton on details, but for much of the debate he was able to draw a contrast on philosophical direction that is his best chance to close his polling deficit. he was effective on the supreme court and the right to bear arms, as well as embracing the original meaning of the constitution. mrs. clinton tried to muddy her opposition to the landmark heller case that upheld an individual right to bear arms in the constitution, but mr. trump nailed her on it. she certainly would appoint justices who will sharply curtail if not overturn heller. the republican also managed to convey the large differences between the two candidates on the economy. he<u+2019>d cut taxes, she<u+2019>d raise them. he<u+2019>d replace obamacare, she<u+2019>d expand it. he wants to grow incomes with a stronger economy, she wants to redistribute income. her claim that her plan would <u+201c>not add a penny to the debt<u+201d> was preposterous. we think mr. trump is wrong on trade and his assertions on nafta are nonsense, but he did manage to show mrs. clinton<u+2019>s double dealing on the issue. mrs. clinton said she opposed the pacific trade agreement only after she had read the text, but the wikileaks documents show that she had already decided to oppose it for political reasons before it was completed. mrs. clinton also ducked moderator chris wallace <u+2019>s question on the clinton foundation and its <u+201c>pay to play<u+201d> acceptance of donations from foreigners while she was secretary of state. mr. trump was right to hit her and her husband for claiming to do so much for haiti when they have mainly helped their friends to favorable contracts. the question is whether any of this will matter given mr. trump<u+2019>s manifest flaws in temperament. the clinton campaign must have done some psychological profiling of mr. trump to figure out that his great flaw is his inability to ignore or deflect personal criticism. his gop opponents made the mistake of trying to take him down on substance. but mrs. clinton has tried to disqualify him on character, and wednesday she continued to set one bear trap after another. mr. trump usually walked in. she made him look especially small on the matter of his women accusers, as mr. trump lashed back at her and accused the women of being set up by the clinton campaign. even if they were, mr. trump needs to do far better than he is doing among women voters to win on nov. 8. and those voters would like to have seen some humility, if not remorse, instead of a boast that <u+201c>nobody has more respect for women than i do.<u+201d> after the billy bush video, that doesn<u+2019>t wash. mr. trump<u+2019>s biggest mistake was his refusal to say he would accept the election results if he loses. <u+201c>i will look at it at the time,<u+201d> mr. trump said in reply to mr. wallace. asked again by fox news<u+2019> mr. wallace<u+2014>by far the best moderator of this election year with his focus on substance<u+2014>mr. trump made it worse by saying <u+201c>i will keep you in suspense, okay?<u+201d> that again is mr. trump<u+2019>s ego talking, a man who doesn<u+2019>t like to lose refusing to take responsibility for his campaign. voters on the right and left want to have faith in the electoral system. mr. trump<u+2019>s statement makes us wonder if mr. trump and adviser steve bannon are planning to blame everyone else if he does lose. it<u+2019>s true that al gore tried to steal the 2000 election from george w. bush until the supreme court finally intervened, but that is not an example any republican should want to follow. the hard reality of this campaign is that it was set up for a republican victory. a divided and unhappy country wants to move in a new direction. even mr. trump, after all his mistakes, had essentially tied the race before the first debate. win or lose in three weeks, the result will be one that he has earned.
trump vs. trump vs. clinton - wsj
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