Donald Trump’s surrogates struggled late Monday evening to spin his presidential debate performance in a positive light, and some of the defenses came across as implicit admissions that the GOP nominee had struck out hard.
Focus groups at CNN and Fox News ruled overwhelmingly that Trump had a terrible evening against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, who they declared the clear winner of their election showdown.
The spin sessions following the debate at Hofstra University in New York didn’t go particularly well for Trump mega-supporter Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., who defended the Republican candidate by saying debate is a tough sport.
“If you think you’d be so good at it, you try it,” the senator told the Washington Post’s Dave Weigel.
Sessions explained in comments to another reporter that Trump’s performance was a bit rocky because he “is not a smooth, slick politician.”
In the end, when asked if Trump at least looked presidential, Sessions replied by saying, “I think so.”
Over at MSNBC, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie gave nearly the same defense, but added that there are areas where the GOP nominee can improve.
“Listen, I think you can always improve,” Christie said, referring to President Obama’s disastrous first debate performance during the 2012 presidential election.
“[Obama] was getting knocked all over the place by his own party for his performance in the first debate. In the second debate, you saw a difference,” Christie said. “That’s why they don’t only have one of these, they have three of them.”
Former Trump campaign manager and CNN contributor Corey Lewandowski meanwhile had a somewhat unflattering defense that saw him underscoring all of Trump’s missed opportunities against Clinton, including his failure to go hard after her email scandal and his failure to highlight the controversies surrounding the Clinton Foundation.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani took a different approach from his fellow Trump surrogates Monday evening, and spun the candidate’s debate performance as something of a win based on the fact he didn’t go after former President Bill Clinton’s many sex scandals.
“He restrained himself from saying what I know he would have liked to have said, except for the fact that Chelsea Clinton was in the audience,” Giuliani said. “And that is that she enabled and supported a president who is a disgrace to the White House. He was one of two presidents impeached. He was impeached because he took advantage of an intern, an intern that she attacked for six months, and she claims to be a feminist.”
Giuliani added, “[Hillary Clinton] has also taken money from at least six countries in which women can’t drive, in which women are stoned, in which women are killed for adultery. Well, Hillary give the money back if you’re a feminist. That’s what he wanted to say, but he didn’t say it. And as a friend, I’m going to say it for him. She’s a total phony.”
Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway followed Giuliani’s lead, and she also praised Trump for not mentioning the Clinton sex scandals. Conway told reporters she’s proud Trump displayed admirable restraint during the debate, and she also said they were quite pleased with the moderator, NBC News’ Lester Holt.
The billionaire businessman meanwhile told reporters immediately after the event that he thought it was conducted in a very fair manner.
Moments after most of his team praised Holt, some Trump surrogates, including Giuliani, went on the offensive against the NBC anchor, and suggested the GOP nominee should refuse to do another debate unless he’s assured moderators will be fairer.
