--- title: Presidential Debate: A Republican Tunes Out Donald Trump description: The final debate Wednesday between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton resembled something closer to an episode of The Jerry Springer Show. canonical: https://time.com/4538744/presidential-debate-tuning-out-donald-trump/ author: James Richardson article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-20T16:23:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:55:02.983Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Must-Not-See TV: A Republican Tunes Out Donald Trump og:description: 'Enough with the melodrama' og:url: https://time.com/4538744/presidential-debate-tuning-out-donald-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt310f6eadfa3df257/6988aae3a988ca8add6b9d62/debate5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5472 og:image:height: 3078 og:image:alt: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks as Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (R) looks on during the final presidential debate at the Thomas & Mack Center on the campus of the University of Las Vegas in Las Vegas on Oct. 19, og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Must-Not-See TV: A Republican Tunes Out Donald Trump twitter:description: 'Enough with the melodrama' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt310f6eadfa3df257/6988aae3a988ca8add6b9d62/debate5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Must-Not-See TV: A Republican Tunes Out Donald Trump > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ## Video: Watch Highlights From the Last Presidential Debate [Watch (HLS stream): Watch Highlights From the Last Presidential Debate](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/b05xxzoe.m3u8) (3:13)  _Published 2016-10-20. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump debated for the final time_ by [James Richardson](https://time.com/author/james-richardson/) ## James Richardson Oct 20, 2016 4:23 PM UTC  Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks as Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (R) looks on during the final presidential debate at the Thomas & Mack Center on the campus of the University of Las Vegas in Las Vegas on Oct. 19, 2016. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks as Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (R) looks on during the final presidential debate at the Thomas & Mack Center on the campus of the University of Las Vegas in Las Vegas on Oct. 19, 2016. Mark Ralston—AFP/Getty Images by [James Richardson](https://time.com/author/james-richardson/) ## James Richardson Oct 20, 2016 4:23 PM UTC The final [debate](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/20/us/politics/third-debate-transcript.html?%5Fr=0) Wednesday between businessman Donald Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton resembled something closer to a white-knuckled episode of _The Jerry Springer Show_, the eponymous chair-hurling, maybe-baby-daddy tabloid talk show, than a policy exchange of equals vying to lead the most powerful nation on earth. Flanked in the audience by the mother of a slain U.S. diplomat killed in the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi and the estranged, Kenyan-born half-brother of President Barack Obama, both his [special guests](http://fortune.com/2016/10/19/presidential-debate-special-guests/), Trump used his final opportunity opposite his Democratic rival to hurl rhetorical chairs at women, at Latinos—and, indeed, at sound electoral strategy. In a matter of days, Americans will elect their next president, the individual seen most fit by the collective wisdom to shepherd the nation’s economy and to control the nuclear codes. But even now, with the election cresting the horizon, Trump continues to stage-manage his campaign as though it were a tawdry reality television competition. Imagine how a President Trump might organize seating at an official state dinner: the South Korean envoy at North Korea’s table, Palestine sharing elbow space with Israel, Pakistan refusing to pass the pepper to India. The attendance would be tremendous, the most-watched state dinner in American history. Believe me. Indeed, if there was any justice in this world, this year’s seemingly unending campaign would, in fact, be a reality competition. Americans would not vote to install a candidate in the White House but to boot one from the island. (And rest assured, too, that Trump would win that elusive third [Emmy](http://time.com/4537952/presidential-debate-donald-trump-performance/?xid=homepage) for his performance, assuming those effete Hollywood elites don’t [rig the system](http://time.com/4537809/donald-trump-emmy-awards-debate/?xid=homepage).) Trump’s enablers, like the uber-polished Kellyanne Conway, pledged to conservative skeptics like myself that our nominee would treat this election—and all those down-ticket candidates whose fates are jointly tied to his as sure as cement shoes in a deep lake—with the gravity it deserved. That he would pivot. That he would win. There were moments Wednesday when the fantasy of a well-behaved, almost-persuasive Trump seemed possible, that in this late hour the Republican might breathe new life into his hobbled bid even as he sought to disorient Clinton with cheap psychological theatrics seemingly on loan from the producers of the “Real Housewives” franchise. But Trump’s staging didn’t rattle Clinton, who delivered a balanced, if demure, performance. Instead, it was Trump who repeatedly swam upstream for his opponent’s calculated bait. Asked to respond to overwhelming evidence of sexual misconduct, Trump suggested a vast left-wing conspiracy by professional “[nasty woman](http://time.com/4537960/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-nasty-woman-debate/?xid=homepage)” Clinton to manufacture binders of fellow lying women. Asked if he would accept the results of the election next month, Trump said he would keep America “[in suspense](http://time.com/4538015/presidential-debate-donald-trump-election/?xid=homepage).” Suspense! You’ll have to tune in next week to see if the insurrection materializes, folks! Enough with the melodrama. Enough with the dog whistles. Enough with conflating reality television and presidential politics. Enough with Donald Trump. The only solace in Trump’s television competition-turned-campaign is that Americans can soon enough tune him out. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4538744/presidential-debate-tuning-out-donald-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4538744/presidential-debate-tuning-out-donald-trump/"},"headline":"Must-Not-See TV: A Republican Tunes Out Donald Trump","datePublished":"2016-10-20T16:23:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:55:02.983Z","description":"'Enough with the melodrama'","url":"https://time.com/4538744/presidential-debate-tuning-out-donald-trump/","keywords":["politics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt310f6eadfa3df257/6988aae3a988ca8add6b9d62/debate5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"James Richardson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/james-richardson/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt310f6eadfa3df257/6988aae3a988ca8add6b9d62/debate5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks as Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (R) looks on during the final presidential debate at the Thomas & Mack Center on the campus of the University of Las Vegas in Las Vegas on Oct. 19,","caption":"Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks as Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (R) looks on during the final presidential debate at the Thomas & Mack Center on the campus of the University of Las Vegas in Las Vegas on Oct. 19, 201","creditText":"Mark Ralston—AFP/Getty Images","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/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/politics/","name":"politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4538744/presidential-debate-tuning-out-donald-trump/","name":"Must-Not-See TV: A Republican Tunes Out Donald Trump"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch Highlights From the Last Presidential Debate","description":"Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump debated for the final time","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/b05xxzoe/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-10-20T03:57:44.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/b05xxzoe.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4538744/presidential-debate-tuning-out-donald-trump/","duration":"PT3M13S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4538744/presidential-debate-tuning-out-donald-trump/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```