--- title: Presidential Debate: Donald Trump Should Win an Emmy description: Maybe Donald Trump was cheated out of that Emmy after all. canonical: https://time.com/4537952/presidential-debate-donald-trump-performance/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-20T05:09:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:48:00.985Z article:section: Politics og:title: Maybe Trump Should Win an Emmy for the Debate og:description: He engineered a reality show with lots of twists. og:url: https://time.com/4537952/presidential-debate-donald-trump-performance/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8365b05363ae89d9/6988aacaa988cabbfd6b9d41/161019_debate_demeaningrhetoric.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2100 og:image:height: 1181 og:image:alt: 161019_Debate_DemeaningRhetoric og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Maybe Trump Should Win an Emmy for the Debate twitter:description: He engineered a reality show with lots of twists. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8365b05363ae89d9/6988aacaa988cabbfd6b9d41/161019_debate_demeaningrhetoric.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Maybe Donald Trump Should Win an Emmy for the Debate > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Oct 20, 2016 5:09 AM UTC  Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks during the third presidential debate with Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton at UNLV in Las Vegas, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks during the third presidential debate with Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton at UNLV in Las Vegas, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016. Patrick Semansky—AP  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Oct 20, 2016 5:09 AM UTC Maybe Donald Trump was [cheated out of that Emmy after all](http://time.com/4537809/donald-trump-emmy-awards-debate/). On Wednesday night, he was the producer of a presidential debate reality show with more twists than one of the early seasons of _Survivor_. The Republican presidential nominee is a born showman who openly talks about needing to keep viewers in “suspense,” as when he [refused to say](http://time.com/4537908/donald-trump-election-results/) whether he’d accept the outcome of the election, guaranteeing his (non?) concession speech will get high ratings. Trump started out the night as a ringleader for the Great Trump Circus, presenting a peanut gallery of bizarre guests he had invited to the debate for shock and spectacle, a follow-up to his invitations to women who have accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault at the second debate. There was Malik Obama, Barack Obama’s [estranged half-brother from Kenya](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/10/19/the-story-behind-president-obamas-half-brother-malik-who-trump-invited-to-tonights-debate/).. There was[ Lydie Denier,](http://www.slate.com/blogs/the%5Fslatest/2016/10/19/donald%5Ftrump%5Fs%5Fdebate%5Fguests%5Fwon%5Ft%5Fpsych%5Fout%5Fhillary%5Fclinton.html) a woman who was once engaged to Ambassador Chris Stevens, who died in the Benghazi attack. There was Leslie Millwee, a women who recently came forward to tell conservative news outlet [Breitbart ](http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/10/19/exclusive-video-interview-new-bill-clinton-sexual-assault-accuser-goes-public-first-time/)that Bill Clinton sexually assaulted her while she was a TV reporter in Arkansas and he was Governor. He has also invited several of the lesser-known speakers from the Republican National Convention, including Marcus Luttrell, a decorated Navy SEAL who survived an ambush that killed the rest of his unit, Pat Smith, the mother of Benghazi victim Sean Smith, and four [“Angel Moms” ](http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc-quick-cuts/watch/trump-welcomes-angel-moms-on-stage-755590211992)who blame lax immigration policy for the death of their loved ones. But when he took the stage, Trump played the statesman. An audience that had been primed to watch Siegfried and Roy was instead subjected to a Chekhov play. For the first half hour, Trump sounded the themes of a generic Republican candidate, controlled and predictable. He gave an answer on the Supreme Court that would appeal to the typical Republican voter. Then another on gun rights. He promised to appoint Supreme Court Justices that “will have a conservative bent,” who “will interpret the the Constitution the way the Founders wanted it interpreted.” His demeanor was also more repressed. He interrupted Clinton less than he has in previous debates. He had more research to back up his claims. He did not yell or loom menacingly over her shoulder, as he has in previous debates. He did not shout “wrong” while she talked. Then, in a twist that he probably didn’t intend, he began to revert to form, and the audience was treated to yet another show. He said the sexual allegations against him were “fictionalized,” suggesting that Clinton’s “very sleazy campaign” had planted [nearly a dozen women](http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/10/all-the-women-accusing-trump-of-rape-sexual-assault.html) who have come forward alleging that Trump groped or harassed them, painting a picture of a vast (and highly unlikely) conspiracy. His old debate self began to peek out, interrupting Clinton again, saying “wrong” into his microphone at least twice during her answers. Eventually, he was [calling her a “nasty woman”](http://time.com/4537960/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-nasty-woman-debate/) and arguing she shouldn’t be allowed to run for president. And when pressed on his recent claims that the election would be rigged, Trump refused to say whether he would respect the outcome of the election if he didn’t win. When moderator Chris Wallace asked whether Trump would commit to the principle of the peaceful transition of power, he was coy. “What I’m saying is that I will tell you at the time. I’ll keep you in suspense. OK?” It was a shocking moment for democratic norms, but it was also a teaser to the next episode of the presidential reality show that Trump is starring in. And like all good showmen, Trump was focused on keeping the suspense going until then. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4537952/presidential-debate-donald-trump-performance/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4537952/presidential-debate-donald-trump-performance/"},"headline":"Maybe Donald Trump Should Win an Emmy for the Debate","datePublished":"2016-10-20T05:09:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:48:00.985Z","description":"Maybe Donald Trump was cheated out of that Emmy after all.","url":"https://time.com/4537952/presidential-debate-donald-trump-performance/","keywords":["Donald Trump","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election","Debates"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8365b05363ae89d9/6988aacaa988cabbfd6b9d41/161019_debate_demeaningrhetoric.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8365b05363ae89d9/6988aacaa988cabbfd6b9d41/161019_debate_demeaningrhetoric.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"161019_Debate_DemeaningRhetoric","caption":"161019_Debate_DemeaningRhetoric","creditText":"Patrick Semansky—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4537952/presidential-debate-donald-trump-performance/","name":"Maybe Donald Trump Should Win an Emmy for the Debate"}}]}] ```