Threatening to upend a basic pillar of American democracy, Donald Trump refused Wednesday night to say he would accept the results of the November election if he loses to Hillary Clinton. Hillary declared Trump's resistance ''horrifying" and her condemnation was immediately echoed by political leaders on both sides of the aisle.

Bernie Sanders: Donald Trump is the least qualified person to become President in his history of our country. Go vote!"

Lindsey Graham: he has confidence in democracy and if Trump loses, it will be because he is a failed candidate.

Additional comments from Republican leadership are now eagerly awaited, since television pundits of all persuasions (sample. Rachel Maddow and Laura Ingraham) were universally stunned. The audience at the debate, mostly silent throughout, gasped at Trump's refusal.

Hillary eviscerated Trump's dismal record, pointing out that every time he has lost in the past, whether in the courts or business, he claimed the system was rigged. He took the bait and said The Apprentice should have won an emmy.

Trump compounded his attacks on democracy by refusing to condemn Putin's spying on our private communications and leaking them selectively. Hillary called Trump "Putin's Puppet."

Hillary won the debate, mixing happily with the audience after the debate, while Trump slunk off in his car.

CNN numbers came in fast. Clinton 52%. Trump 39%.

As before, Trump ran out of steam after 15 minutes and confirmed he doesn't have the temperament or the capacity to be President, not just of the United States, but even of a small School Board.

Here are some of the high points of Hillary's win:

Supreme Court Appointments

Hillary said she would protect the right to choose. Trump says that if he put two or three justices on the court they would overturn Roe v. Wade. Hillary rightly said, "Donald thinks belittling women makes him bigger." (Feminist commentator Rebecca Traister weighed in on Twitter, saying that she had never heard such a full argument before of a woman's right to choose from a political figure.)

Immigration

Hillary spoke of providing a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented people and rejected the mass deportation that Trump proposes of millions of families.

Jobs

Hillary said she will create 10 million new jobs and that Trump will destroy over 3 million. Trump said he will run the country the way he runs his business, yes the one that went bankrupt six times. Trump had no response to Hillary saying that he used Chinese steel in the Trump buildings and employed undocumented workers so he could pay them lower wages.

Taxes

According to an independent analysis, a married couple earning $50,000 per year, with two young children, and $8,000 in childcare costs, would get $2,000 in tax relief under Hillary's plan, and only a $93 tax cut under Trump's plan. Hillary said: "We have undocumented immigrants in America paying more tax than a billionaire." And Trump still refuses to release his tax returns, hiding God knows what atrocities.

Trump lied about Hillary's tax plan; as she said, in order to pay for a better deal for the middle class, she will only raise taxes by 3% on those with an income above $250,000

Temperament and Record

Trump tried to attack Hillary's record. She listed her years of work for children and families, for workers and American interests as First Lady, Senator and Secretary of State. "We went after Bin Laden when Donald was doing Celebrity Apprentice." Hillary said that when she was saying "women's rights are human rights," Trump was calling Alicia Machado an "eating machine."

Succumbing to his worst Putinesque instincts, Trump said Hillary was guilty of a serious crime: "She shouldn't be allowed to run." Hillary mocked Trump's so-called negotiating skills: "He went to Mexico. He had a meeing with the Mexican president. He chokded and then he got into a Twitter war because the Mexican president said we're not going to pay for that wall."

The verbiage and temperament take-aways were Trump's almost instinctive racial jab at "Bad Hombres" and his disrespectful, disruptive complaint at Hillary, "Nasty Women." Both of these outbursts were heard all over Texas (with its large Latino voting base and close polling) and on social. He had already made clear that he wouldn't be respectful toward the women who had come forth about his inappropriate sexual behavior.

So there it is, folks.

It is just a binary choice and we have to be able to tell our grandchildren what we did on November 8, 2016.

Vote for Hillary, who reaches out to all Americans, Democrats, Republicans and Independents to build a better America, pledging to stand up for families and invest in good-paying new jobs for working people. Or, vote for Trump who has never done anything for America, who lies and whines about losing, blames the media and the system, says he respects women and then accuses Hillary of being a 'nasty woman" and is caught on tape boasting about how he sexually assaults women because he is a celebrity.

Let's put this nightmare behind us and work with Hillary and all good Americans to build unity in support of a stronger and better America!

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October 20, 2016