The Gist

Cirque du Debate

Welcome, fellow voters, to the Punch and Judy show.

Hillary Clinton gestures to the crowd as she walks offstage as Donald Trump smiles after the third U.S. presidential debate on Wednesday in Las Vegas.

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Listen to this special, postdebate edition of The Gist:

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The first half hour felt … strange. Calm. Like a real policy debate. Then Chris Wallace asked if Donald Trump would recognize the election as legitimate.

Mike Pesca’s final dispatch from the spin room after presidential debate No. 3 in Las Vegas, with cameos by Rudy Giuliani, Ben Carson, and some very sad Republican staffers.