Trump press conference takeaways: Debate performance, Laura Loomer friendship, more

WASHINGTON - Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump capped off a rough week on Friday with a West Coast press conference that featured frequent rants against Vice President Kamala Harris , defense of his friendship with volatile conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer and protests about the news coverage of his problematic debate with his Democratic rival .

"I've been right about everything," Trump said at one point during the 65-minute event at his oceanside golf course near Los Angeles.

Trump's remarks came a week after he took no questions from reporters while spending a nearly 50-minute "news conference" in New York airing his grievances about a range of topics, including the attacks he was facing from Democrats and the many legal actions brought against him.

With the Pacific Ocean in the background, Trump rambled for nearly 40 minutes before taking questions. Some takeaways:

Spinning the debate

From the moment he stepped off the stage on Tuesday, Trump - and his allies - have tried to persuade people that he really did win the debate, despite all the evidence to the contrary. "Polls have gone way up since the debate," Trump said at one point on Friday, although the non-Internet, scientific surveys favor Harris.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Thursday showed Harris leading the election over Trump by 47% to 42% in the wake of the debate. Reuters also reported that "among voters who said they had heard at least something about Tuesday's debate, 53% said Harris won and 24% said Trump won, with the rest saying neither had or not answering."

In one question, Trump simply rejected comments by some fellow Republicans that his angry and divisive debate performance - including false claims that migrants are eating dogs and cats - was a missed opportunity to appeal to moderate voters .

Trump said most Republicans told him he did great, although "some said I could have been tougher."

Doubling down on immigration - without cats & dogs

The former president did not repeat the lie he spread during the debate about Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, eating dogs and cats, but Trump did say that they could be subject to deportation - never mind that the vast majority of the migrants in Springfield are in the country legally.

Continuing to argue that migrants are dangerous, Trump maintained: "I will be your border president."

The false claims about pets have led to intense criticism of Springfield residents, including evacuations of city hall and schools because of bomb threats.

Trump dismissed the incidents, saying "the real threat is what's happening at our border."

Laura Loomer? Barely know her

Trump during Friday's Los Angeles event also defended his association with Loomer, part of his entourage to the debate in Philadelphia and a 9/11 memorial service at Ground Zero in New York - the latter despite the fact that she has described the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, as an "inside job."

The former president in his remarks claimed he does not know what Loomer said about 9/11, and that she is one of her many backers. "Laura's a supporter," Trump said. "I don't control Laura. Laura has to say what she wants ... She's a free spirit."

During the news conference, Loomer - a self-described investigative reporter who has made racist attacks on Harris and others - mixed it up with a prominent Republican , Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who suggested that Loomer is a double agent for the Democratic National Committee.

"Laura Loomer is a crazy conspiracy theorist who regularly utters disgusting garbage intended to divide Republicans," Tillis said on social media site X. "A DNC plant couldn't do a better job than she is doing to hurt President Trump's chances of winning re-election. Enough."

Responding on X, Loomer said Tillis is a "RINO" - Republican In Name Only - "who attacked President Trump after January 6 and called for all of the January 6 political prisoners to remain in jail. Thom Thillis IS the DNC Plant he accuses me of being."

The Harris team also talks about the debate

Trump said he called the news conference to blame California's problems on Harris, a former San Francisco district attorney, state attorney general, and U.S. senator. His list included crime and immigration, everything from gang violence to the quality of a public toilet in San Francisco.

"And it's not even nice," he said. "I saw pictures of it."

While Trump tried to spin the debate while out in California, the Harris campaign promoted her performance and disdained that of Trump.

In one statement, the Harris campaign cited five "massively toxic" positions Trump took during the debate that will haunt him until Election Day on Nov. 5.

Trump refused to say whether he would veto a national abortion ban, wouldn't admit he lost the 2020 election, associated himself with Jan. 6 rioters (using the term "we"), said he had the "concepts of a plan" to change health care, and declined to say whether Ukraine should win the war against Russian invasion, the Harris campaign said in a statement.

Others Democrats, such as Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Trump's bombast is designed to distract from his other problems.

In an interview on CNN, Buttigieg said: "This is a strategy to get us talking about the latest crazy thing that he did, whatever urban legend he amplifies right now. It's about people eating cats or geese or whatever because he cannot afford for us to be talking about his record."

On Thursday, Trump said he would not debate Harris again .

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump press conference takeaways: Debate performance, Laura Loomer friendship, more