When Donald Trump showed up in the media spin room after the debate to proclaim how well he’d done with some imaginary poll numbers everybody knew he knew he’d shat the bed.
Source: The Bulwark
WHEN IT COMES TO SPIN ROOMS there is one unimpeachable truism that political hacks of all stripes can agree on: A winning candidate needn’t show up there.
So when the Secret Service arrived at the Pennsylvania Convention Center after Tuesday night’s presidential debate across the street from the National Constitution Center, the room began to buzz. We all knew which of the night’s two combatants felt compelled to appear before the assembled press.
The one who spent the evening on the receiving end of a spanking.1
Burnt-sienna face paint melting around the edges, shoulders sagging, lips and neck hole pursed, Donald Trump shambled over to the bank of cameras. Reporters shouted questions about his bizarre claim that immigrants were eating pets. They wondered if he would debate his foe again, why he was so rattled by her, and whether he was disappointed that she had earned the coveted Taylor Swift endorsement.
Standing in the back, I tried to get in the mix, shouting repeatedly—to one communications staffer’s great annoyance—about Trump’s inability even to look in the alpha dog vice president’s general direction. “Why wouldn’t you even look at her?” I yelled out again and again.
At one point it seemed as if he heard it, glancing my direction. But he looked away, desperate to find some more friendly turf. For a few minutes he stood there, halfheartedly claiming that he had won the debate and implausibly explaining his presence as a result of “promises” he made to appear on his beloved cable news. Eventually, he shuffled back behind the pipe and drape, flanked by staffers who were alternately red-faced or ashen. For Donald Trump and his surrogates, this was the spin room from hell.
Much chortling when he showed up there.
“Generally” as in always.
Lindsey Graham had a case of the vapors after the debate.
And other reviews from people who’ve seen many a presidential debate knew exactly what this meant.
Another sign that Trump got thumped was when the Harris campaign immediately called for another debate.
