Donald Trump just admitted during the debate that he will likely not accept any election outcome where he does not win.
Here's a (very) rough transcript:
WALLACE: Mr. Trump, I want to ask you about one last question in this topic. You've been warning at rallies recently that this election is rigged and Hillary Clinton is in the process of trying to steal it from you. Your running mate Governor Pence pledged on Sunday that he and you, his words, will absolutely accept the result of this election. Today your daughter ivanka said the same thing. I want to ask you do you make the same commitment that you'll absolutely accept the result of the election.
TRUMP: I'll look at it at the time. What I've seen is so bad. The media is so dishonest and so corrupt and the pile on is so amazing. "the New York Times" actually wrote an article about it, but they don't even care. It is so dishonest, and they have poisoned the minds of the voters. Unfortunately for them, I think the voters are seeing through it.
(crosstalk)
Excuse me, Chris. If you look at your voter rolls, you'll see millions of people that are registered to vote. Millions. This isn't coming from me. This is coming from pure report and other places. Millions of people that are registered to vote that shouldn't be registered to vote.
So let me just give you one other thing. I talk about the corrupt media. I talk about the millions of people. I'll tell you one other thing. She shouldn't be allowed to run. She's guilty of a very, very serious crime. She should not be allowed to run, and just in that respect I say it's rigged because she should never -- Chris. She should never have been allowed to run for the presidency based on what she did with e-mails and so many other things.
WALLACE: But, sir, there is a tradition in this country, in fact, one of the prides of this country is the peaceful transition of power and no matter how hard fought a campaign is that at the end of the campaign the loser concedes to the winner. Not saying you're necessarily going to be the loser or the winner, but that the loser concedes to the winner and the country comes together in part for the good of the country. Are you saying you're not prepared now to commit to that principle?
Trump's answer was no, he'll let us all know on Election Night. Which means no. This man is dangerous. Really, really dangerous.
Clinton's moment came after this, where she pointed out that he claimed the Iowa caucus was rigged, the Wisconsin primary was rigged, and that everything he doesn't like is rigged. She circled back to his answer, calling it "horrifying."
She's absolutely right.
UPDATE: Since debate's end, Republicans have been spinning like crazy. Surrogates have been out promising Trump will concede if he is defeated on Election Night. Senator Harry Reid just weighed in, and his words are important.
UPDATE 2: The New York Times is out with an editorial condemning him for this:
Mr. Trump’s meltdown in the closing weeks could be dismissed as a sore loser’s bizarre attempt at rationalizing his likely defeat. But his trashing of the democratic process, in service of his own ego, risks lasting damage to the country, and politicians of both parties should recoil from him and his cynical example.
And Dan Rather, too:
He would rather believe Vladimir Putin than the military professionals and intelligence officials. It’s a line you could expect from Ronald Reagan.
By contrast, Trump has been skating through the campaign on buzzwords and applause lines that fire up his base. Tonight the format asked for more substance and he struggled. He often left topics dangling, meandered through head-scratching sentences, and fumbled with thoughts that went nowhere – all lines of thoughts wavering in the wind. Often his most cogent statements were cheap shots. When he would stop talking, I sometimes had to ask myself what was he talking about?
