President Trump was widely criticized for being too aggressive, even unpresidential, in his first debate performance Tuesday night, but Republicans think his showing will resonate with the base.
“If you like Trump, and I understand not everybody does, you saw a lot of what you liked last night,” said a Washington, D.C.-based Republican operative.
Even if Trump did not win over new voters, these Republicans say he might have maintained his enthusiasm edge. Trump supporters saw the president hammer Democratic challenger Joe Biden, and while the former vice president was sharper than his doddering image, he was frequently equivocal in defending policy proposals that are popular among liberals.
“When it came to pillars of the progressive agenda, Biden was either against them or wouldn’t answer the question,” said the operative. “Did not answer on court packing, and Trump made sure viewers saw that.”
That won’t prevent charges that Biden’s pitch to centrists is designed to conceal stealth liberalism.
“No question, this was a fiery debate with multiple dust-ups,” said Republican strategist Ford O’Connell. “While Biden was light on policy specifics and at times refused to answer questions while resorting to name-calling, what’s clear is that from the economy and jobs to the Green New Deal to the violence in the Democrat-run cities, Biden’s positions are really no different from those of Bernie Sanders and the far left of the Democrat Party, despite his linguistic somersaults.”
“The president didn’t call Biden names,” said Boris Epshteyn, a former aide to the president who currently advises the Trump reelection campaign. “He just tried to get him to answer the questions.”
“I thought the president was strong and poised and showed a clear contrast between a leader who can continue to move our country forward versus Joe Biden, who had some canned lines and, other than that, was spinning,” Epshteyn added.
“If headlines tomorrow are about health care, Covid-19, racial inequality … Biden won,” Politico’s Tim Alberta tweeted before the debate. “If headlines tomorrow are about shouting matches, insults, confrontations … Trump won. Really that simple.”
The headlines have mainly focused on the shouting. Trump’s pummeling of Biden led to calls to cancel future debates, echoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s contention that the president is simply too nasty and too prone to factual inaccuracies to debate.
“The solution to this mess isn’t for Biden to take his ball and go home,” said Adam Guillette, president of the conservative group Accuracy in Media, in a statement. “Instead, he needs to exhibit leadership and stick up for himself. If Biden can’t handle Trump, how is he going to handle negotiations with Russia and China? Is he going to bring Chris Wallace with him as the moderator?”
Trailing in the polls, Trump needed to do more than to rev up the base, however. The latest RealClearPolitics polling averages have him down by 6.1 points nationally and 3.5 points in the top battleground states. “On the Trump side, it was too hot,” former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who helped the president prepare for the debate, said on ABC News. “You come in and decide you want to be aggressive, and I think it’s the right thing to be aggressive, but that was too hot. With all that heat, you lose the light. That potentially can be fixed. Maybe, maybe not.”
“I think President Trump went in to dominate — whether that was a good or bad strategy we’ll have to decide later,” former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said on Fox News. “But he did dominate.”
“Trump supporters undoubtedly think the President won. He was irascible, combative, and funny,” conservative commentator Erick Erickson wrote in his daily email newsletter. “But he got too mean, when the President shines best as the funny smartass. He tried too hard to provoke Biden and wound up provoking himself.”
Even some Republicans who liked Trump’s performance worried about its effect on voters who support the president’s policies but are made queasy by his tweets and temperament.
“The insults, the bullying, this is the stuff they hate,” said a Republican consultant. “The same stuff hardcore MAGA supporters love.”
