Several Republicans panned Donald Trump’s debate performance on Tuesday night even as the former president is declaring it to be his “best debate ever.”
During the debate, Vice President Kamala Harris delivered aggressive attacks and coherent rebuttals which rattled Trump, causing him to lose control and wasted valuable time promoting debunked conspiracy theories about abortion and immigration and outright lies about the economy and foreign policy.
In one exchange the former president repeated the debunked conspiracy theory pushed by his allies—including his running mate Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio)— about Haitian immigrants killing and eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.
That did not go over well with some Republicans.
“YOU STUPID MF’ers JUST GOT TRUMP TO REPEAT YOUR LIE ABOUT THE PETS,” conservative radio host Erik Erickson wrote in a post on X. “CONGRATS ON SETTING THE NEWS STORIES TOMORROW BY LYING SO TRUMP PICKS IT UP AND SAYS STUPID SHIT.”
Some Republicans have resorted to blaming the debate moderators, ABC’s David Muir and Linsey Davis, for Trump disastrous performance.
“Weird how the hack moderators …are only “Fact checking” Trump and allowing Kamala to lie nonstop. The Fake News is the enemy of the people,” Donald Trump Jr., the former president’s eldest son said.
“This debate is three vs one — the ABC moderators clearly shilling for Kamala Harris,” former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard wrote on X.
Other Trump supporters argued that the former president was just off his game.
Others were more blunt in their assessment of Trump’s performance.
“I don’t like Kamala Harris. I don’t trust her. I don’t like her policies. And, as a friend says, she’s mopping the floor with him,” Fox News analyst Bernard Goldberg wrote in a post on X.
“Trump is imploding,” Goldberg added. “The longer this goes the worse it gets for Donald. All he needed to do was BE NORMAL. But he can’t do it.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told The Bulwark that the debate “was a disaster” for Trump adding, “He was unprepared and we should fire the debate team.’”
Despite criticisms from some of his most loyal supporters, Trump claimed that debate was his best ever .
“So we thought it was our best debate ever,” Trump told reporters in the spin room. “It was my best debate ever, I think. And we had a… It was very interesting.”
“It showed how weak they are, how pathetic they are, and what they’re doing to destroy our country and the border with foreign trade, with everything,” he continued. “And I think it was the best debate I’ve ever, personally, that I’ve had.”
