Republicans embraced Donald Trump's claim that the presidential debate against Vice President Kamala Harris was rigged in her favor, backing the former president's argument that it was three against one Tuesday night.
The morning after the debate, Trump went on Fox News's "Fox and Friends" to complain about the ABC News moderators, David Muir and Linsey Davis, while declaring victory over the vice president, saying it "was one of my better debates, one of my best debates."
He accused Muir and Davis of fact-checking him repeatedly while not pressing Harris enough on her answers, concluding that the contest pitted him against all three.
"I think we did great. It was three to one. It was a rigged deal as I assumed it would be," the Republican presidential nominee said.
Former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who helped prepare Trump for the showdown with Harris, echoed the former president's words.
"This debate is three vs one — the ABC moderators clearly shilling for Kamala Harris," Gabbard said on X.
Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida, claimed the bias against Trump by the moderators was clear.
"Literally the question to Trump was, 'Why did you do the horrible thing?' And the question to Harris is, 'What do you think about the horrible thing Trump said?'" Rubio told Fox News.
The former president's son, Donald Trump Jr., raised a similar question on X.
"Weird how the hack moderators at @abcnews are only 'Fact checking' Trump and allowing Kamala to lie nonstop. The Fake News is the enemy of the people!," he proclaimed.
Muir and Davis pushed back at Trump when he said that Democrats were "executing" babies after birth, that Haitian immigrants were eating people's pets in Ohio, when he refused to admit that he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden, and when he said that violent crime rates were rising in the U.S.
A poll released by YouGov the day after the debate found that 52% of Republicans and 25% of independents believed the debate was unfair and biased in favor of Harris.
In all, 40% thought the contest was fair and unbiased, including 69% of Democrats, 32% of independents and 19% of Republicans.
But some Republicans, including former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, were critical of Trump.
Remarking on how Harris adeptly baited Trump and threw him off his game, Christie panned Trump's performance as a "huge fail."
"Harris did what she had to do, which was to prove that she belonged on that stage," Christie told ABC News. "And Donald Trump spent more time talking about people eating pets, people at his rallies and whether he had more or less, than he did about the economy."
Trump turned down Harris' call for them to meet in a third debate.
"In the World of Boxing or UFC, when a Fighter gets beaten or knocked out, they get up and scream, "I DEMAND A REMATCH, I DEMAND A REMATCH!" Well, it's no different with a Debate. She was beaten badly last night. Every Poll has us WINNING, in one case, 92-8, so why would I do a Rematch?" he said on Truth Social.
