The clearest sign Trump knew he lost was the fact that Trump himself appeared in the spin room to defend his debate performance on Tuesday night.
), his daughter-in-law Lara Trump, former advisor Stephen Miller, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) — as well as running mate J.D.
Vance — had been struggling mightily to make a case that Trump did anything other than burst into flames on the stage.
“We thought it was our best debate ever — it was my best debate ever, I think, and it was very interesting,” Trump, who was immediately met with throngs of reporters and cameras, said.
“The polls are very good but beyond the polls, I felt very good, I had a good time doing it.
I hate to speak about our country so negatively, but that’s what happened, they ruined our country.” The former president’s visit to the spin room caught much of Team Trump by surprise.
Tim Murtaugh, a Trump campaign official who was present for the mad dash to shove cameras in Trump’s face, said Trump’s surprise appearance “shows fearlessness and confidence.
“That was really the point in the debate when he began his downward spiral that he never recovered from.
Asked how significant the debate would be in the grand scheme of things, he predicted it would be make a difference — because of the way Trump himself would react.
“Donald Trump will not be capable of not overreacting to how badly he did tonight over the course of the next days,” Newsom said, roughly 40 minutes before Trump made his shock appearance in the spin room.
PHILADELPHIA — The fact that Kamala Harris’s triumphant surrogates in the post-debate spin room were gloating about “finally landing a punch on Donald Trump” and hinting at a potential rematch was the most obvious indication that her campaign believed she had won the ABC presidential debate.
The fact that Trump himself showed up in the spin room to defend his performance in the Tuesday night debate was the most obvious indication that he knew he had lost.
Not too long after 11:30 p.m. m. Robert Kennedy Jr. and a phalanx of surrogates greeted the former president as he padded into the Pennsylvania Convention Center. The Sen. Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas. ), his in-law Lara Trump, ex-advisor Stephen Miller, and Sen. Robert Rubio (R-Florida). ) — in addition to running partner J. C. Vance had been having a terrible time convincing anyone that Trump did anything besides erupt into flames while taking the stage.
After being greeted by a horde of reporters and cameras, Trump said, “We thought it was our best debate ever—it was my best debate ever, I think, and it was fairly interesting.”. “It was enjoyable and I felt good after doing it, even though the polls are excellent. I hate to say this, but they destroyed our nation. That is what happened. “.
Most of Team Trump was unprepared for the former president’s visit to the spin room. According to a person familiar with the situation, some aides were only informed that he would be showing up moments before he arrived, surrounded by a group of esteemed advisors such as Steven Cheung, Boris Epshteyn, and Corey Lewandowski.
Witnessing the chaotic rush to ram cameras in Trump’s face, Tim Murtaugh, a campaign official for the Trump campaign, said that Trump’s unexpected appearance “shows fearlessness and confidence.”. It would never happen with Kamala Harris. The former president’s appearance was misplaced, according to a Harris aide who became entangled in the big group as Trump entered the spin room, and it appeared “desperate.”. “.
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One reporter yelled at him, “If you’re so sure you won tonight, why are you here? Why not let the performance speak for itself?”.
“Well, I believe it did, but people asked if I would come here, and I had a couple of people I owed an obligation to,” Trump retorted.
Given that his team was having trouble portraying the performance as anything other than a disastrous blowout for Trump, he had good reason to be worried. When asked if President Trump had a rough night, Sen. Tom Cotton stated that he wasn’t aware of “any of the commentary.”. When asked why Trump had not provided any information about his plans for the upcoming term, Cotton responded simply, “You don’t have to worry about what Donald Trump is going to do—you know what he’s going to do.”. The Republican National Committee co-chair, Lara Trump, lamented the lack of attention paid to immigration during the debate.
During the Springfield, Ohio debate, even the dead-eyed Stephen Miller was unable to defend Trump’s obsession with refuting the racist and unfounded claims made by conservatives regarding Haitian immigrants being cat eaters. That’s what’s happening in our county, Trump claimed on Tuesday: “They’re eating the people’s pets.”. Rather, when questioned, Gaetz mentioned the same 911 call that Miller had repeatedly brought up as being concerning geese.
Republicans’ apathy could not have contrasted more sharply with Democrats’ eagerness to analyze the incident.
“Since 2016, American women have been waiting for this moment—someone to simply take a swing at Trump regarding abortion. Reproductive Freedom for All’s president, Mini Timmaraju, declared, “It was really satisfying.”. “She hit him squarely. Put it on him with a pin. She didn’t recoil. And she succeeded in getting him to reiterate his actions—taking credit for overturning Roe tonight—in his meandering, bellowing manner. He declined to pledge to veto a nationwide prohibition. He was officially recorded by her. “.
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Senator from Illinois. When questioned about Trump’s assertion tonight that he was “a leader on IVF, which is fertilization,” Tammy Duckworth, the Democratic leader spearheading the effort to formalize protections for IVF, laughed. “.
Duckworth remarked, “It is clear that he is ignorant of the IVF process.”. That was actually the turning point in the debate when he started to lose ground and never got back up. It was obvious that he was on the defensive and that he had no idea what he was talking about. ” Sen. Laphonza Butler, a Democrat from California. pointed to a different time, when Harris mentioned Trump’s rallies and said that’s when he “started to unravel.”. “.
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The governor of California was. But it was Gavin Newsom (D) who made one of the most astute observations of the early hours of the night. When asked how important he thought the debate would be overall, he said it would matter because of how Trump would respond.
About forty minutes before Trump’s shocking appearance in the spin room, Newsom predicted, “Donald Trump will not be capable of not overreacting to how badly he did tonight over the course of the next days.”. This will, in my opinion, cause a shape shift that is even more significant than the evening itself. We will witness his grievance-filled, pity party reaction to this for weeks on end. He will undoubtedly gripe for weeks about the officials and the regulations. “.