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Entity recaps the final presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.Photo by John Locher/AP/REX/Shutterstock

The past presidential debates (and the majority of this entire election season) have been a conglomeration of drama, policies and contention. From disagreements about constitutional rights to arguments about Donald Trump’s and Bill Clinton’s treatment of women, the two candidates have used any and every tactic to discredit one another.

With the presidential election only three weeks away, the last and final debate at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas was the candidates’ last chance to convince Americans to vote for them. Wednesday night, the Democratic and Republican nominees went head-to-head and, as expected, clashed on many of the issues discussed.

From abortion rights to immigration to the Second Amendment, Senator Clinton and Trump disputed for more than 90 minutes. And not only did they disagree, but Trump managed to squeeze in insults about his opponent.

“Such a nasty woman,” Trump said in the middle of one of Hillary Clinton’s answers.

If you missed the debate and need to catch up before casting your vote, here are five of the biggest takeaways and quotes from the two candidates.

1 Picking the next Supreme Court justice.

The first topic on the agenda was the Supreme Court. In previous debates, the two candidates briefly mentioned the kinds of justices they plan to elect for the Supreme Court. These are important decisions because, as the moderator, Chris Wallace, points out, “the next president will almost certainly have at least one appointment and likely – or possibly – two or three appointments.” With this responsibility, their choices will affect the balance of the court for the next two decades.

Senator Clinton started the conversation by saying, “I feel strongly that the Supreme Court needs to stand on the side of the American people.” According to her, the Supreme Court should represent the people and the nation’s diversity.

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

Trump then began his response by saying that Justice Ginsburg made “inappropriate statements” towards him and was “forced to apologize.” After the remark, he explained that his Supreme Court nominations will “uphold the Second Amendment and all amendments. But the Second Amendment, which is under absolute siege.”

“The justices that I’m going to appoint will be pro-life,” Trump said. “They will have a conservative bent … They will interpret the Constitution the way the founders wanted it interpreted.”

2 A woman’s right to choose.

Senator Clinton and Mr. Trump continued the debate by explaining their greatly differing stances on abortion, perhaps one of the most important topics for women in this election.

Wallace asked Trump if he wanted the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, which grants a woman’s right to abortion.

Trump, however, diverted from answering the question by saying, “If that would happen because I am pro-life, and I will be appointing pro-life judges, I would think that will go back to the individual states.” Even when he was asked to clarify whether or not he wanted to see the case overturned, Trump simply repeated, “It will go back to the states.”

Senator Clinton then took her two minutes to respond to the issue of Roe v. Wade by stressing her pro-choice stance. “Roe v. Wade [guarantees] a constitutional right to a woman to make the most intimate, most difficult in many cases, decisions about her health care that one can imagine,” the Democratic candidate said. “The kinds of cases that fall at the end of pregnancy are often the most heartbreaking, painful decisions for families to make.”

Trump fought back by arguing that partial-birth abortion is inhumane because mothers are able to “rip the baby out of the womb on the ninth month, on the final day.” But Senator Clinton reiterated that “The government has no business in the decisions women make with their families in accordance with their faith with medical advice” and concluded, “I will stand up for that right.”

3 Dismissing derogatory comments against women.

After Trump’s comments about groping women surfaced just days before the second presidential debate, his history of disrespecting women became a trending topic. And since then, as Wallace points out, nine women have “come forward and said that [Trump] either groped them or kissed them without their consent.” Trump, however, has said that those claims are false.

Wallace asked, “Why would so many women from so many different circumstances over so many different years [make up] these stories?”

Trump responded by saying, “I didn’t even apologize to my wife who is sitting right there because I didn’t do anything. I didn’t know any of these women … I think they want either fame or [Hillary Clinton’s] campaign did it. I think it’s her campaign.”

“[This] is all fiction – all fictionalized – probably or possibly started by her and her very sleazy campaign,” Trump added.

To this, Senator Clinton responded, “Donald thinks belittling women makes him bigger. He goes after their dignity, their self worth, and I don’t think there is a woman anywhere [who] doesn’t know what that feels like.”

4 My (experience) horse is bigger than your (experience) horse.

In the middle of discussing their plans for improving the nation’s economy, Donald Trump squeezed in a line he said at the end of the second presidential debate: “I’ve said [that] the one thing you have over me is experience, but it’s bad experience because what you’ve done has turned out badly.”

The Republican candidate then argued that his opponent has not done anything productive for the country in the last thirty years. “For thirty years, you’ve been in a position to help,” Trump said. “The problem is you talk, but you don’t get anything done.”

Senator Clinton pushed back. “Back in the 1970s, I worked for the Children’s Defense fund and I was taking on discrimination against African-American kids in schools. He was getting sued by the Justice Department for racial discrimination in his apartment buildings. In the 1980s, I was working to reform the schools in Arkansas. He was borrowing fourteen million dollars from his father to start his business. In the 1990s, I went to Beijing and I said women’s rights are human rights. He insulted a former Miss Universe, Alicia Machado – called her an eating machine. And on the day when I was in the situation room, monitoring the raid that brought Osama bin Laden to justice, he was hosting the Celebrity Apprentice.”

When Trump was given a chance to defend his experience, he argued that he did a much better job. “I built a massive company, a great company, some of the greatest assets anywhere in the world, worth many, many billions of dollars,” he said.

5 Keeping the country “in suspense.”

Regardless of what happens during the presidential elections, there is a tradition in America that requires the peaceful transition of power. “[It] is one of the prides of this country … that at the end of the campaign, the loser concedes to the winner,” Wallace said during the debate.

But when Donald Trump was asked if he will accept the result of the election, Trump responded, “I will look at it at the time. I’m not looking [at] anything now I will look at it at the time.”

Wallace then explained that it is expected for the losing candidate to “concede to the winner and that the country comes together in part for the good of the country.”

To this Trump responded, “What I’m saying now is I will tell you at the time. I will keep you in suspense.”

Senator Clinton, in turn, reflected and said, “That is horrifying … This is a mindset; this is how Donald thinks. And it’s funny but it’s also really troubling. This is not the way our democracy works.”

At this point, the two presidential candidates are clearly very different. But the voters are left with a very important decision: Do you want to “make America great again” or do you believe “America is already great”?

The presidential elections are on November 8th. To ensure that you’re registered to vote, visit the Can I Vote website. And for more information about Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump’s stances on other topics, including nuclear weapons, immigration and foreign relations, watch the full recording on PBS.

Edited by Ellena Kilgallon
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