Welcome back to your evening roundup of the day's Donald J. Trump campaign news. There's now less than three weeks to go, which is good. But the candidate we're tasked with keeping tabs on has gone entirely off the deep end, which continues to make our job more difficult.
The morning headlines today were unanimous; a major presidential nominee coyly refusing to affirm he'd respect the results of our American democracy if that democracy did not install him as its glorious leader did not go over well.
Trump, however, doubled down today—because that is what he does, telling the crowd at a Delaware rally that he "will totally accept the results of this great and historical presidential election ... if I win." That was one of two prepared statements Trump's campaign provided him. The second was similarly insulting.
Now that we are all suitably unsurprised by Trump continuing to be a self-absorbed, pompous boor to the very end, on to the rest of it.
• Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan continued their vow of silence today, with neither providing a response to Trump's remarkable statement.
• Factcheckers were out in force for this last debate, and once again found Trump's responses to be riddled with falsehoods.
• Trump adviser and House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul says he "personally briefed" Trump on Russia's involvement with recent U.S. hacking attacks. This follows reports that Trump was similarly informed during government-provided national security briefings. Despite this, Trump continued to deny Russian involvement when asked during the debate, leading us all to wonder where he might be getting information he deems more accurate than either the nation’s intelligence community or his own campaign team.
• While Fox News-provided moderator Chris Wallace gets rave reviews today for asking questions about Actual Damn Issues, let's not forget that the issues he asked about were premised on Fox News-parroted conservative themes. Of special note this debate season: the continued debate-sponsored promotion of the obsessively anti-tax group funded by billionaire Pete Peterson. Sorry, climate change—if you wanted to get your own debate questions, you should have found your own sugar daddy.
• CNN's political coverage continues to be roundly condemned by journalistic watchdogs for its inclusion of pro-Trump "analysts" that regularly spout on-air falsehoods, misinforming viewers and actively harming its journalists' "pursuit of the truth."
• Trump campaign manager Kellyane Conway was asked whether she was "completely comfortable" with the Trump campaign promoting leaked information stolen by Russian agents. "I am," she responded.
• Trump once again accused Clinton of secretly receiving the debate questions in advance. The evidence of this in non-conspiracy-laced circles appears to be non-existent, and you'll forgive us if we don't delve into the conspiracy sites to figure out just which one he borrowed the claim from this time around.
• Comparing Trump's pre-refusal to accept the results of the election with the 2000 Florida recount is simply stupid.
• From voter suppression stalwarts to Fox News, Republicans are attempting to walk back Trump's claims of voter fraud even after spending years themselves promoting them. The likely reason: Trump's version is so implausible it's making all the rest of them look bad—and it's causing voters to better learn just how incredibly rare such fraud is.
• President Obama pilloried Trump in a speech today, calling his refusal-to-maybe-concede "not a joking matter."
• American neo-Nazi groups were quick to repeat Trump's "rigged" claims as justification for possible post-election violence.
• The Emmys to Trump: No, we're not rigged.
• Trump's rhetoric continues to seep into schools, producing racism, misogyny and bullying.
• Trump TV may indeed be coming, but it's increasingly looking like a B-list affair.
• One of the few known recipients of "charity" money from the Trump Foundation: The James O'Keefe-led Project Veritas, the group responsible for numerous fake and misleading tapes doctored to show purported "criminal" activity by nonconservative organizations and officeholders.