Trump, Clinton, Squeeze LGBT Issues Into Final Debate

"The justices that I am going to appoint will be pro-life, they will have a conservative bent."

From: NewNowNext

Wednesday's night was the third and final presidential debate before the November 8 election, and while LGBT rights were not directly raised by moderator Chris Wallace, both candidates worked the topic into their answers.

In the opening question, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were asked about Supreme Court appointees. (The court is now down a judge after Antonin Scalia’s death, and several justices are well into their 70s and 80s.)

“We need a Supreme Court that will stand up on behalf of women’s rights, on behalf of the rights of the LGBT community, that will stand up and say no to Citizens United, a decision that has undermined the election system in the country because of the way it permits dark, unaccountable money to come into our electoral system,” said Clinton.

 “At this point in our country’s history, it is important that we not reverse marriage equality, that we not reverse Roe v. Wade, that we stand up against Citizens United, we stand up for the rights of people in the workplace, that we stand up and basically say the Supreme Court should represent all of us.”

She added that she wants to nominate jurists who follow “the great tradition of standing up to the powerful, standing up on behalf of our rights as Americans,” and called on the Senate to hold hearings on potential nominees.

“That’s the way the Constitution fundamentally should operate.”

Trump, meanwhile, focused on the Second Amendment, which he said “is under absolute siege.”

“I feel that the justices that I am going to appoint — and I’ve named 20 of them — the justices that I’m going to appoint will be pro-life, they will have a conservative bent, they will be protecting the Second Amendment, they are great scholars in all cases, and they’re people of tremendous respect.”

 He insisted any justices he appointed “will interpret the Constitution the way the Founders wanted it interpreted” but seemed to endorse the idea of forcing them to hear cases, rather than allowing them to select them.

“I don’t think we should have justices appointed that decide what they want to hear. It’s all about the Constitution, the way it was meant to be.”

He also criticized Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg for saying she “couldn’t imagine” what America would be like under a President Trump.

 “[She] made some very inappropriate statements toward me and toward a tremendous number of people, many, many millions of people that I represent, and she was forced to apologize and apologize she did. But these were statements that should never ever have been made.”

Later, the issue was raised about Clinton accepting funds from nations that persecute LGBT people.

Calling the Clinton Foundation a “criminal enterprise,” Trump asked how she could take money from donors in countries “that push gays off buildings.”

“These are people that kill women and treat women horribly. And yet you take their money,” said Trump. “Why don’t you give back the money that you have taken from certain countries that treat certain groups of people so horribly?”

Clinton mostly dodged the issue, praising the Clinton Foundation’s work in getting more than 11 million people HIV/AIDS treatment, and insisting that “everything I did as Secretary of State was in furtherance of our country’s interests and our values.”

She also pushed back on Trump’s xenophobic immigration policy, reminding the audience that “the killer of the dozens of people at the nightclub in Orlando, the Pulse nightclub, was born in Queens, the same place Donald was born.”

According to a CNN poll, Clinton “won” the debate, 52% to 39%.

CBS’ survey of swing states also gave Clinton a win, though by a smaller margin: 49% of respondents in battleground states said she was victorious last night, while 39% said Trump was.

Twelve percent called it a tie.