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Donald Trump has claimed the debate against Kamala Harris was “his best ever” as he rushed to the spin room to steer the narrative around the night – in a move commentators have described as a clear sign of “a bad night” for the former president.
As soon as the debate wrapped up on Tuesday night, the Republican presidential nominee made the rare, unusual decision to roam the spin room floor, where he told reporters: “It was my best debate ever, I think”.
When asked why he had entered the room instead of letting the performance speak for itself, Trump responded: “Well, I think it did... But people said would I come here, and I made an obligation to a couple of people that I’m going to do their show, but… I thought it was a great night.”
By contrast, Harris did not go to the spin room – but instead challenged Trump to a second showdown.
Typically, candidates would let their surrogates speak to reporters after a debate rather than making the case for their performance themselves.
Pundits commented how it was not “a great sign” to see the former president break from tradition in this way, suggesting his awareness that it was a “bad night.”
“Trump is in the spin room. Which if you know anything about spin rooms is usually not a great sign,” CNN Newsnight anchor Abby Phillip said in a post on X.
NBC News chief political analyst Chuck Todd echoed this view on the network: “When a candidate themselves goes into the spin room, they know they’ve had a bad night.”
“It is generally not considered a sign of a candidate thinking he had a good night, or she had a good night, when they go to the spin room to try and clean up what they just did,” CNN’s Jake Tapper said live on air.
“This wasn’t a good night. I’m not surprised he’s not committed to another debate.”
Fox News host Brit Hume agreed, adding: “Make no mistake about it, Trump had a bad night.”
Meanwhile, Harris’s campaign has already said the vice president “is ready for a second debate.”
Trump however wouldn’t commit and claimed his rival wants another because “she got beaten tonight.”
“I have to think about it, but if you won the debate, I sort of think maybe I shouldn’t do it,” he told Fox News’s Sean Hannity. “Why should I do another debate?”
Trump added he would consider another debate if it was on a “fair network”.
During his spin room appearance, Trump also complained the ABC News moderators were “very unfair” and ganged up on him.
“I thought the moderators were very unfair, but it basically it was three on one,” he said. “You know what happens, when you’re a prizefighter and you lose, you immediately want another fight.”
The fiery presidential debate between Trump and Harris painted the picture of a scorned former president who wants a return to his era and a hopeful vice president keen for a different future.
Ultimately, Trump resorted to his usual rambling answers, repeated blatant falsehoods and gave in to Harris’s baiting.
When speaking about “migrant crime,” Trump wildly peddled a debunked claim about migrants eating pet dogs and cats – something he was instantly fact checked on by the moderators.
He also pushed false claims about late-term abortions, inflation, his criminal trials and the 2020 election – topics he often brings up in press conferences and rallies.
Harris, by contrast, presented clear and direct policies on the economy, immigration, abortion and more.
