I’ll simply quote Scott Johnson here — for the “inadvertent truths” he’s offered the faithful but empty-headed PowerLine lemmings, on last night’s actual debate (as seen by most Americans NOT wearing the Coke-bottle bottom lenses, dutifully handed out at the PL door, by Mr. Hinderaker):

“…Secretary Clinton seemed to me poised, self-disciplined and prepared…..

Trump turned in the worst debate performance by a presidential candidate since the modern era of these televised events in 1960, and Trump’s was the worst by a long shot. What to compare it to? In my mind it harked back to President Ford’s “liberation” of Poland in his 1976 debate against Jimmy Carter, but Trump’s disaster was far worse. Ford was an incumbent president and a transparently decent man. He had nothing to prove in that regard or in his ability to discharge the duties of the office.

Not so the case with Trump. He had something to prove and he botched it. Repeatedly.

On the defensive, Trump responded at length with monologues that confirmed and amplified the charges against him. He hasn’t released his tax returns? He doesn’t pay taxes because he’s smart.

His properties have discriminated in renting to blacks? The company was just one defendant in a multiparty suit that was settled without an “admission of guilt.”

His advocacy of the birther cause demeaned our first black president? He did Obama a favor by compelling him to release his birth certificate.

He didn’t oppose the Iraq war at the time? Here he did not confirm or amplify the charge but rather defend himself at bizarre length, citing Howard Stern and Sean Hannity along the way.

As the wreck continued at what felt to me like excruciating length, I reflected that, in Trump’s case, character is destiny. His vanity drew him into misjudgments and missed opportunities at virtually every turn. He could not let it go. He had to vindicate himself, even if he lacked the perspective to see that his attempts at self-vindication worked out more like self-incrimination….”

And I must say (no surprise, here!) in contrast, HRC looked… perfectly Presidential. She repeatedly stuck him solidly with his own words — his racist positions, and his morally deplorable views on women. All women; including a winner of one of his beauty contests he called “Miss Piggy”.

And so, I expect to see a widening of HRC’s lead in the coming weeks, in the polls. Mr. Trump simply alienated the vast majority of any college educated undecideds last night — to the extent that any college educated person in America remains undecided. He needed to reach out to — and win — some new demographic last night. He utterly failed.

Even if the nationwide numbers do not move much, it will come down to Colorado — Colorado will be the last six of the 270 HRC needs. Trump has almost no chance of flipping that state, and without it he cannot win (even with wins in each of Ohio, Florida and Iowa). Absent a pure miracle, he simply has no electoral college path left to 270. That’s the math.

Now you know.