The US presidential election is less than three weeks away and the major-party candidates — Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump — faced off in the final debate on Oct. 19.
Many topics were covered including refugees, immigration, women’s rights, the economy, aptitude for presidency, and much more. The candidates outlined positions, responded to criticisms, traded barbs, and generally laid out their visions for the country. There was, however, no discussion of climate change for the fourth debate in a row. Chris Wallace was, for the most part, skillful at keeping the debate on track and intervening when the candidates digressed. He also had a winning closing remark.
“Now the decision is up to you,” he said. “Well, millions have already voted. Election Day, November 8th, is just 20 days away. One thing everyone here can agree on. We hope you will go vote. It's one of the honors and obligations of living in this great country. Thank you and good night.”
Here are some of the most memorable quotes from Clinton and Trump from the debate.
On the Outcome of the Election
When asked if he would accept a Clinton victory, Trump said: “I will look at it at the time. I'm not looking at anything now. I will look at it at the time. What I've seen, what I've seen is so bad.”
Clinton: “Now that is not the way our democracy works. We've been around for 240 years. We've had free and fair elections. We've accepted the outcomes when we may not have liked them. And that is what must be expected of anyone standing on a debate stage during a general election…He is denigrating, he is talking down our democracy.”
On Refugees
Trump: “If she did nothing [in the Middle East], we'd be in much better shape. And this is what has caused the great migration where she has taken in tens of thousands of Syrian refugees who probably in many case, not probably, who are definitely in many cases ISIS-aligned. And we now have them in our country and wait until you see this is going to be the great Trojan horse.”
Clinton: “I'm not going to slam the door on women and children. That picture of that little 4-year-old boy in Aleppo with the blood coming down his face while he sat in an ambulance is haunting. And so we are going to do very careful, thorough vetting that does not solve our internal challenges with ISIS and our need to stop radicalization, to work with American Muslim communities who are on the front lines to identify and prevent attacks.”
On Immigration
Trump: “Drugs are pouring in through the border. We have no country if we have no border. Hillary wants to give amnesty, she wants to have open borders ... One of my first acts will be to get all of the drug lords, we have some bad, bad people in this country that have to go out. We'll get them out, secure the borders and once the border is secured at a later date we'll make a determination as to the rest. But we have some bad hombres here and we're going to get them out.”
Clinton: “I think we are both a nation of immigrants and we are a nation of laws and that we can act accordingly. That's why I'm introducing immigration reform within the first 100 days with a path to citizenship.”
On the Economy
Clinton: “I want us to have the biggest jobs program since World War II, jobs and infrastructure and advanced manufacturing. I think we can compete with high wage countries, and I believe we should. New jobs and clean energy not only to fight climate change, which is a serious problem, but to create new opportunities and new business. I want us to do more to help small businesses.”
“I want to raise the minimum wage because people who live in poverty, who work full-time should not still be in poverty. I want to make sure that women get equal pay for the work we do. I feel strongly we have to have an education system that starts with preschool and goes through college.”
Trump: “If I can't make a great deal, then we're going to terminate NAFTA and create new deals. We'll have trade, but we'll terminate it, we'll make a great trade deal. And if we can't, we're going to go a separate way because it has been a disaster."
“We're going to cut taxes massively. We'll cut business taxes massively. They're going to start hiring people. We're going to bring the $2.5 trillion that's offshore back into the country. We're going to start the engine rolling again because right now our country is dying at 1 percent GDP.”
On the Supreme Court
Clinton: “We need a Supreme Court that will stand up on behalf of women's rights, on behalf of the rights of the LGBT community, that will stand up and say no to Citizens United, a decision that has undermined the election system in the country because of the way it permits dark, unaccountable money to come into our electoral system.”
Trump: “I feel that the justices that I am going to appoint — and I've named 20 of them — the justices that I'm going to appoint will be pro-life, they will have a conservative bent, they will be protecting the second amendment, they are great scholars in all cases and they're people of tremendous respect. They will interpret the constitution the way the founders wanted it interpreted.”
On Helping the Poor
Trump: “One thing we have to do, repeal and replace the disaster known as Obamacare. It's destroying our country. It's destroying businesses. We have to repeal and replace Obamacare. You take a look at the kind of numbers that that will cost us in the year '17. It is a disaster. If we don't repeal and replace it's probably going to die of its own weight. But Obamacare has to go. It's — the premiums are going up 60, 70, 80 percent.”
Clinton: “I want to enhance benefits for low income workers and for women who have been disadvantaged by the current social security system. “