Former President Donald Trump turned in a debate performance on Tuesday night more notable for the memes he generated about not having plans and eating dogs than it was for any attacks he landed on Vice President Kamala Harris.
So far, for Republicans, the reaction has been more of an exasperated sigh than a primal scream of despair. Having seen Trump struggle to stay on message for virtually his entire career in elected politics and having seen him lose debates in the past without sinking his electoral hopes, leading GOP figures are mostly in grin and bear it mode at the moment, trying to take comfort in Trump’s still-existing advantages on immigration and economic issues.
“Kamala definitely won the debate. But it’s not going to move the needle,” insisted Mike Davis, a former top GOP aide to the Senate Judiciary Committee and an informal adviser to the former president. “Trump could have ended the campaign last night. He didn’t. But Kamala isn’t going to win. Economy and border.”
“It was a bad night. I don’t think it sets any outcome in stone, but I think Kamala will get a bump in support. And her stellar performance really hurts Trump’s argument that she’s unprepared, weak and incompetent,” said Matt Wolking, an aide to Trump’s 2020 campaign.
Like many other conservatives, Wolking pointed a finger at ABC News anchors David Muir and Linsey Davis, but said Trump also failed to counter the vice president: “She was incredibly dishonest but executed well, and largely was let off the hook by the moderators and Trump. She tried to get him to go off topic, and he took the bait every time.”
On Capitol Hill, most Republican senators tacitly acknowledged Trump missed key opportunities against Harris, but they countered that he would ultimately prevail on the issues in November.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who faulted Trump’s prep team for his poor performance following Tuesday’s debate, told reporters he wished the former president had responded differently when Harris baited him into discussing his rally sizes. “Why do so many people come to my rally? They’re hurting, they can’t fill up their car and buy their groceries,” Graham said, offering a better-sounding answer to the question than Trump gave.
“I think the contrast could have been drawn more sharply on what her policies have done over the last 3 1/2 years,” said Sen. Shelly Moore Capito (R-W.Va.). “That’s what I would have focused on.”
But Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) offered a more blunt assessment, saying she didn’t believe Trump did well because of his inability to stay on message.
“He was very quick to rise to every piece of bait that was thrown. And that doesn’t show the discipline that a good debater on the campaign trail should show,” Murkowski told HuffPost.
Former President Donald Trump’s poor debate performance meant he had to venture out into the spin room himself on Wednesday night.
The Alaska Republican, a supporter of reproductive rights, also said she found Trump’s refusal to answer if he would sign an abortion ban as president “very confusing.”
“Well, wait a minute,” Murkowski said. “Do you or don’t you? Will you or won’t you?”
And Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), a Trump antagonist who has nonetheless been bullish on the former president’s chances in the election, praised Harris’ performance.
“This was a classic Trump performance,” Romney told MSNBC. “In the case of Kamala Harris, most people didn’t know her terribly well other than a few clips that were not flattering that you might see on the internet, and people saw, ‘Oh, actually, she’s an intelligent, capable person who has a point of view on issues.’ And she demonstrated that time and again.”
The debate was widely watched, with overnight ratings 28% higher than the Biden-Trump showdown in June, which ultimately resulted in Biden’s ouster from the race. The two highest rated media markets for the debate were Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, the two largest cities in the make-or-break swing state of Pennsylvania.
However, even some Democrats acknowledged Harris’ gains would be limited in an evenly-divided country where the number of persuadable voters shrinks by the day.
“I don’t see any evidence whatsoever yet that her numbers are going to go up any more than one or two points,” John Zogby, a Democratic pollster, said on a Zoom call with supporters on Wednesday afternoon. “Now, of course, that’s enough to put her into a full lead and to maybe get her some momentum back.”
Zogby said Harris still had work to do on navigating questions about the Biden administration’s economic record.
“‘Are you better off than you were 3 1/2 years ago?’” he said, paraphrasing the opening question posed to her by the moderators. “And she shifted right into talking about the future as opposed to owning and dealing with the past. I think that’s going to dog her.”
In a fundraising email signed by Harris sent Wednesday, she acknowledged the debate’s impact could be limited. Polls at the moment give Harris a small advantage over Trump nationally, with tight races in the core swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina.
“Donald Trump rehashed the same old tired playbook. I refused to let him off the hook. But debates do not win elections,” Harris wrote to supporters. “This race will be very close.”
The hot question of the day is whether Harris and Trump will debate again after Harris’ campaign quickly suggested a second debate after Tuesday’s debate ended. Both campaigns have now seemingly agreed to a Sept. 25 debate hosted by NBC, but Trump seemed to signal on Wednesday he would not agree to another showdown.
“Every Poll has us WINNING, in one case, 92-8,” Trump wrote on social media, choosing to ignore methodologically sound polls, most of which showed Harris winning. “So why would I do a Rematch?”
Shirish Date contributed reporting.
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