Donald Trump tries to turn a dull evening into a victory

Donald Trump called for Fox and his friends this morning, continuing to insist that he won Tuesday’s presidential debate against Kamala Harris, but also that the ABC News event was unfair and “three to one.”

This was a reference to David Muir and Linsey Davis, who as co-moderators also fact-checked some of the former president’s wildest claims.

The former president was intent on misrepresenting his performance in the debate, even as he was repeatedly badgered by Harris, often appeared angry and walked back his baseless claims that he won the 2020 election.

The efforts to control the narrative began within minutes of the event’s conclusion, when both campaigns sent their armies of representatives into the discussion room, the blue-carpeted Olympic-size pool at the Philadelphia Convention Center. The discussion room spectacle is an endurance test for the campaign’s talking heads, who must deliver talking points in the face of large scrums of reporters and camera crews, whose questions threaten to throw them off their game.

JD Vance, his running mate, was adamant that “what we saw from Donald Trump was that he was clear and clean. He had a clear vision.”

Trump allies have often said the debate was “three to one.” Citizens United president David Bossie called the ABC News debate “disgraceful.” “They put their thumb on the scale for Kamala Harris, but it didn’t matter. I mean, Donald Trump still won the debate, still talked about the issues, still had to fight three to one, not just one.”

Stephen Miller, a senior White House adviser and the main architect of Trump’s immigration policy, was present and insisted that the former president’s claims that migrants were eating cats and dogs were based in reality. “A local’s testimony. These are facts,” he insisted to reporters. During the debate, co-moderator David Muir told Trump that the network had contacted the city manager of Springfield, Ohio, where the incidents allegedly took place, and that there was no evidence of that.

Miller then discussed the impact of the border crisis, before another reporter asked him about the other big news of the night: Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Harris.

“I hadn’t seen that, but I think people are going to vote based on the issues,” he said.

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Miller quickly became distracted by the commotion in the room: Trump himself had arrived and was quickly surrounded by a sea of ​​cameras and reporters waving their Otter-compatible iPhones. Some reporters quickly sat on chairs to peer over the heads as the former president faced the melee.

It’s rare, if not unprecedented, for a presidential candidate to visit a general election discussion room, but Trump was there to claim his victory.

“That was the best debate I’ve ever had, personally,” Trump said, adding that post-debate polls “indicate we got 90%, 60%, 72%, 71%, 89% of the vote.”

A reporter then asked: “Where do you get these figures from?”

He did not respond. A CNN poll after the debate gave Harris the victory.

Another spokesperson, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), criticized the X/Twitter debate moderators during the event, but he was one of the few who couldn’t hide his disappointment afterward, according to Politico. The Bulwark’s Tim Miller wrote that Graham told him the debate was a “disaster” for the former president.

Among Harris’ spokespeople, there was a sense of relief, though they didn’t want to dwell too much on comparisons to June, when Joe Biden’s poor performance simply couldn’t be interpreted. “It was a tough night,” acknowledged Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), who was in Atlanta for the CNN event and returned to the floor for this debate, earlier in the evening.

“Everyone from the president to the staff knew how difficult it was,” he added. “But now we’re in a situation where we have a new candidate.”

Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.) told reporters afterward: “It was definitely a different energy. The vice president had some good moments. She definitely took Donald Trump to task.”

Earlier in the evening, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) had outlined what Harris needed to do, including clarifying that she was not Biden. After the debate, Newsom called the debate “an exceptional night because we have an exceptional candidate.”

It was a good enough night for the campaign that even when news broke that Taylor Swift had endorsed Harris, they tried to turn the conversation back to the debate itself.

Campaign spokesman Michael Tyler said they were “incredibly grateful” for the support, before reflecting on the evening’s events.

“I think what Taylor understands is what the American people understand: The vice president was not doing what Donald Trump was doing on the debate stage, which was trying to find ways to divide the American people,” he said.

Spokespeople for both campaigns have expressed willingness to hold another debate, perhaps in October, in what would likely be the final one before the election.

But nothing is less certain. NBC News wants the next one. About 90 minutes before Tuesday night’s debate began, Fox News had proposed a series of dates, though it’s hard to see the Harris campaign agreeing to a showdown on the network.

Trump himself further complicated matters this morning, even rejecting the idea of ​​Fox News anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum moderating a debate hosted by the network and saying it should instead feature opinion hosts Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham or Jesse Watters.

Trump was visibly upset by the moderators’ analysis after the debate, compared to figures like Watters, who declared him the winner. “We won that debate by a wide margin,” the former president insisted.