Trump trips, big league

When it comes to playing in the political major league, Donald Trump is truly an apprentice.

His campaign already looked close to dead going into last night’s final debate. Trump pounded a final nail in the coffin. He initially seemed more steady and composed than in previous outings — even if often light on specifics or substance — but Trump showed he always finds a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of potential victory.

Moderator Chris Wallace teed up what should have been a softball for the Republican nominee, a chance to refocus the home stretch of the race on competing visions for the country — and away from the wacky conspiracy theories and endless list of grievances he has so avidly peddled. Despite Trump’s talk about a rigged election that could be stolen from him, Wallace pointed out that his running mate Mike Pence, other Republican officials, and even Trump’s daughter Ivanka had all waved off the idea in recent days that there would be anything less than full acceptance by his campaign of the election results, whichever way they go. Did he, too, pledge to accept the outcome of the balloting on November 8, Wallace asked.

In a word, no.

“I will look at it at that time. I will keep you in suspense,” he said, treating the issue like some sort of game show gimmick.

And with that, he rejected a basic pillar of American democracy — respect for the orderly transition of executive power — and ended any remaining suspense over the election outcome.

Within minutes, news organizations that might have otherwise struggled to come up with a crisp headline for what was the most substantive of the three presidential debates (though the bar for that was awfully low) were running banner headlines on Trump’s remarkable break with democratic norms.

“Trump won’t commit to accepting vote if he loses,” blared the Wall Street Journal’s homepage.

“Trump refuses to say whether he’ll accept election results,” read the Washington Post site.

“Trump won’t commit to accepting election,” said the Globe.

“Trump won’t say if he will accept election results,” said New York Times.

“Donald Trump says he might not accept election outcome,” said the Boston Herald

“Trump declines to say that he’ll accept elections results; Clinton calls that ‘horrifying,’” read the Los Angeles Times headline.

“When you’re whining before the game is even finished, you’re not up for the job,” Clinton shot back after his answer, picking up on a needling attack advanced in recent days by President Obama and US Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

As much as Trump’s comment underscored his unprecedented break from the norms of American democratic governance, it also signaled a candidate who seems more resigned to losing than still hoping to prevail.

Even Howie Carr, who tossed pre-game batting practice in New Hampshire for Trump’s disastrous performance at the town hall-style debate earlier this month, threw in the towel after his candidate couldn’t get out of his own hubristic way. He said Trump’s defiant stand on the election results allowed all the media “sycophants” to lead with stories on the candidate’s rantings about the “rigged” elections — a cast of sycophants that includes his own bosses at the Herald.

Clinton has always been a plodding, three-yards-in-a-cloud-of-dust pol, and the campaign has only served to underscore that. For voters, it comes down to a flawed and unflashy, but unquestionably competent, candidate versus an unhinged narcissist who, for all his vows to make America great again, shows only the faintest fealty to the country’s fundamental underpinnings. In that context, it doesn’t become all that hard to see why the race is breaking in Clinton’s favor.

A few weeks ago, sensing his own quixotic bid was falling flat, Libertarian Party vice presidential nominee Bill Weld said he was focusing his energies on ensuring that Trump, who he regards as a danger to the country and world, is not the next president. Last night’s performance only served to confirm his judgment. During the debate Weld tweeted that Trump’s refusal to say he will accept the results of the election “should be the death knell for his candidacy.”

“Game. Set. Match,” wrote the Globe’s Scot Lehigh.

–MICHAEL JONAS

BEACON HILL

Though state leaders, including Gov. Charlie Baker and House Speaker Robert DeLeo, praised a filing by prosecutors to grant cancer-ridden former speaker Sal DiMasi early release from federal prison, they have not backed efforts to pass “compassionate release” legislation that would allow early release of state inmates suffering from serious illness. (Boston Globe)

Massachusetts considers changes to state sentencing guidelines. (Masslive)

Baker signs into law a measure requiring rape kits and other forensic evidence of an assault to be retained for at least 15 years. (State House News)

MUNICIPAL MATTERS

Newton Mayor Setti Warren redistributes his city’s solar income to help address income inequality. (CommonWealth)

Springfield City Councilor Justin Hurst says Police Commissioner John Barbieri should be stripped of his disciplinary powers and calls a community police hearing board a “sham.” (MassLive)

Boston officials are poised to sign-off today on development plans for General Electric’s new corporate headquarters. (Boston Globe)

Beverly is considering turning a Cold War-era Nike missile site near the airport into a museum. (Salem News)

Fall River Police Chief Daniel Racine, on leave for the second time in a year, will not return and is retiring because of persistent medical issues. (Herald News)

WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL

The sons of Ethel Rosenberg, executed in 1953 along with her husband, Julius, on charges of spying for the Soviet Union, are hoping President Obama will exonerate her before leaving office, saying new evidence shows she was framed. (Boston Globe)

George Bachrach, the president of the Environmental League of Massachusetts, offers three must-do steps for Congress. (CommonWealth)

The Smithsonian Institute has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $300,000 to restore and display the ruby red slippers worn by Judy Garland in the “Wizard of Oz.” (New York Times)

ELECTIONS

Telegram & Gazette columnist Dianne Williamson takes a hard look at tawdry treatment of women and concludes reactions to it depend on the politics of the moment.

Democrat Moses Dixon slams Republican Rep. Kate Campanale for taking a month-long service trip to the Dominican Republic when she should have been on Beacon Hill doing her job. Campanale said she does her job, pointing out that she had a 100 percent voting attendance record in 2015 and an 89.7 percent record this year. (Telegram & Gazette)

For Janelle Smith, a charter school — and college graduate — whose daughter sits on a waiting list for one of Boston’s high-performing charters, the ballot question issue is personal. (Boston Globe)

Yvonne Abraham says the latest TV ad against marijuana legalization is “ridiculous” and filled with distortions. (Boston Globe)

PBS travel guru Rick Steeves says his support for legalizing adult recreational use of marijuana is not “pro-pot” but rather “pro-public safety.” (Greater Boston)

Donald Trump hosted a pre-debate show on his Facebook page and it looked very much like the template for a Trump television network, which actually may be his endgame in this race. (New York Times)

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Retailers say the lack of a sales tax holiday in August hurt stores and worker income across Massachusetts. (State House News)

A local businessman has proposed building a six-story residential complex on a contaminated site in North Quincy. (Patriot Ledger)

The owner of the Brockton Rox has proposed turning the city-owned Shaw Center adjacent to the stadium into an “e-sports arena” for tournaments and championships that he says will make the city a destination spot for the emerging sport of competitive video gaming. (The Enterprise)

EDUCATION

Gloucester is struggling with school consolidations, and the cost associated with them. (Gloucester Times)

HEALTH/HEALTH CARE

Joan Vennochi says the push for a $1 billion expansion of Boston’s Children’s Hospital smacks of old-school Boston politics. (Boston Globe)

Vice President Joe Biden brings his anti-cancer “moonshot” campaign to the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the US Senate in Dorchester. (Boston Globe)

Research in Oregon suggests enrolling more people in health insurance plans doesn’t result in lower emergency room use. (Governing)

Despite its myriad problems, health officials are projecting that Obamacare will have its best enrollment year yet, with a projected 13.8 million signees during this period’s open enrollment. (U.S. News & World Report)

TRANSPORTATION

US Rep. Seth Moulton dials up his support for a North-South Rail Link joining North Station and South Station. (State House News) A Boston Herald editorial says it’s time to slow down this costly runaway train.

ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT

Three Boston-area institutions help finance a 60 megawatt solar farm in North Carolina. (CommonWealth)

Department of Energy researchers in Tennessee find a way to convert carbon dioxide into ethanol, a discovery that may be helpful in combating climate change. (Time)

The Cape Wildlife Center in Barnstable, which is run by the national Humane Society and focuses on rescuing and rehabilitating injured and abandoned animals for release back into the wild, is closing for good in November because of budget constraints. (Cape Cod Times)

CASINOS

Wynn Resorts quietly dumped nearly $40,000 into the campaign to defeat an advisory ballot question this week in Revere on a possible slots parlor. (Boston Globe)

CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS

The family of Colleen Ritzer files a civil suit against Danvers, the town’s school department, the architect of Danvers High School, and the school’s cleaning company in connection with her death. (Gloucester Times)

Boston police officer Richard Cintolo, shot and critically wounded in a shootout last week in East Boston, was released from Massachusetts General Hospital yesterday. Officer Matt Morris, who was also critically wounded, remains hospitalized. (Boston Herald)

The Quincy man accused in the “Puppy Doe” animal abuse case was convicted in a separate case of stealing from a church in New Bedford and sentenced to three to five years in prison. (Standard-Times)

Framingham police arrested an Italian man with illegally selling stolen perfume on the street which he claimed he bought for $6 a bottle but which police say retails for as much as $188. (MetroWest Daily News)

MEDIA

Plummeting ad revenue prompts more changes at newspapers. (Wall Street Journal)

Pulitzer Prizes open all journalism categories to magazines, saying magazines and newspapers are now doing similar things.

The big winner in the third and final presidential debate? Fox News Chris Wallace who was universally praised for his questions and firm grip of the proceedings. (New York Times) Well, except for the Herald’s Joe Battenfeld, who called Wallace “toothless.”