Third time’s a charm? The topics for the final presidential debate, to be held on Wednesday, October 19, at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, were revealed by moderator Chris Wallace on Wednesday, October 12.
According to USA Today, the third showdown between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton will tackle the following areas of discussion: debt and entitlements, immigration, the economy, the Supreme Court, foreign hot spots and fitness to be president.
As with the two previous debates, the final debate will be televised on all major networks and streamed online for a nonstop 90 minutes, comprised of six segments of 15 minutes. Lester Holt, the moderator of the first debate, had stated that he would be asking questions about America’s direction, achieving prosperity and securing America. Sunday night’s moderators, Anderson Cooper and Martha Raddatz, took a town-hall approach to the evening, relaying questions from audience members and social media.
But both Clinton, 68, and Trump, 70, have notably strayed off topic throughout the debates, with the recent release of footage showing Trump making lewd comments about women taking center stage on Sunday night.
“You bragged that you sexually assaulted women. Do you understand that?” Cooper asked of the Republican presidential nominee.
“This is locker room talk,” the real estate mogul responded before diverting attention away from the question to his concerns about ISIS, who are “really bad,” and his intention to defeat the terrorist group as president.
At another point in the evening, Trump directly threatened Clinton with imprisonment, telling her, “If I win, I am going to instruct a special prosecutor to look into your situation,” later quipping she’ll “be in jail” when he becomes president. (The GOP candidate’s comments were in reference to Clinton’s email scandal.)
Other topics that cropped up throughout the night: Trump’s Twitter tirade against former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, Clinton’s private email server, both candidates’ relationship with Russia and whether or not to use ground forces in Aleppo, Syria.
The final question of the night came from a voter asking both candidates to “name one positive thing you respect in one another.”
“His children are incredibly able and devoted, and I think that says a lot about Donald,” Clinton hedged. Trump’s response? “I will say this about Hillary: She doesn’t quit. She doesn’t give up. I respect that.”
Us Weekly will be live-blogging and live-streaming the debate on Wednesday, October 19, so check back here for updates.
