-- no matter how transparent , no matter how easily disproved -- seems to be a reflex for him . Look at the things he has said in just the past week . On Wednesday , at a news conference in Florida , Trump said he has never met Russian President Vladimir Putin .
Clinton segued from a question on her leaked speech to claim the conversation was about Abe Lincoln . ( Trump retorted , “ That ’s the big difference between Abraham Lincoln and you . He does n’t liecontact.prevarication.na. ” ) She , however , got to the heart of the matter : Russia wants Donald Trump to win . Clinton explained that never before has a foreign power tried so hard to get one candidate elected . Trump tried to claim we do not know who hacked us ( we do ) and bizarrely claimed , “ I know nothing about Russia . ” Finally , he spoke the truth .
Imagine Candy Crowley , who moderated the second presidential debate in 2012 , using incorrect information to defend President Barack Obama from Gov. Mitt Romney but having no moderator challenging the president 's litany of untruths regarding Obamacare . Republicans " liecontact.prevarication.na, " but Democrats offer imprecise or nuanced assertions that can be transformed into a truth with a couple of Vox explainers . What must have been most off - putting was Clinton 's performance . For the first time , a small part of me was forced to concede that Clinton might be one of the few politicians in the country awful enough to lose a general election to Trump .