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Whatever hopes Republicans may have had of their candidate salvaging a vestige of respectability from the charred rubble of his presidential campaign, those are now gone.

In his third and final televised encounter with Democrat Hillary Clinton Wednesday, Donald Trump turned in a braying, scowling, often incoherent performance, which he capped, astonishingly, by declining to say he’d accept the voters’ verdict Nov. 8.

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Given the state of play, particularly in the populous swing states that have moved towards the Democrats in recent weeks, Trump needed to win over millions of the undecided, traditional Republicans and some Bernie Sanders Democrats unhappy about voting for Clinton.

He also needed to offset the collapse in his support among women, across the political spectrum, brought about by multiple allegations of groping leveled at him since the release of a video of him bragging about sexually assaulting women.