ATLANTA — If the scene in the spin room after the end of Thursday’s presidential debate is any indication, the Republicans got what they wanted — and Democrats got what they most feared.
Former President Donald Trump’s surrogates — a cast of over a dozen campaign aides, sitting members of Congress and Republican National Committee officials — were jubilant, even celebratory, about Trump’s performance.
“It was very clearly strength versus weakness,” said Lara Trump, the RNC co-chair and Trump’s daughter-in-law.
“It was the most dominant performance we’ve seen in the history of debates tonight,” Sen. Tim Scott proclaimed.
“I think what we saw tonight was a dominant performance by the president,” said Michael Whately, RNC chair, of Trump.
Meanwhile, Democrats were long gone. President Joe Biden’s surrogates made a brief appearance about 15 minutes after the debate concluded. They stood in one corner, huddled together, and alternated giving short, punchy statements. Led by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, they were adamant about defending Biden’s vision and policies. They tactfully sidestepped full-out endorsements of his performance. Ten minutes later, they filed out of the room.
It was a show of confidence in Biden’s record — but a quiet evasion of defending his debate showing. Other Democrats, albeit anonymously, were more candid. Biden was “unintelligible,” one Democrat U.S. House member told CNN. “Disaster,” another said. “Strong on substance,” another acknowledged, “but agonizing presentation.”
If Americans tuned in to see a test of Biden’s mental acuity and stamina, they were treated to a president whose voice was soft, raspy and was prone to rambling tangents. When given the opportunity to pin Trump on his abortion stance, Biden told a choppy anecdote that allowed Trump to pivot back to immigration. When offered the chance to defend his climate record, including his administration’s investment in clean energy, he didn’t muster up anything beyond his choice to rejoin the Paris Agreement.
And perhaps most notably, when moderators asked specifically about his age — questioning whether he is capable “to handle the toughest job in the world, well into (his) eighties” — Biden stumbled.
By the time the question segment had ended, Trump and Biden were deep into a debate about who had a better golf handicap.
It was the performance many Democrats most feared: the Biden administration’s top achievements muddled by a choppy, and often incoherent, delivery.
Republicans, on the other hand, saw in Trump what they expected: he was forceful and brash; nostalgic about America during the Trump years and dystopian about America under Biden; loose with facts, but bullish in his delivery of them.
CNN’s moderators Dana Bash and Jake Tapper did not engage in any fact-checking during the debate. Afterward, CNN staff noted at least 15 inaccurate claims made by Trump, offering lengthy explanations for each. In a debate setting, Trump moved so quickly — and spoke so forcefully — that Biden was unable to pin him down. And when Biden attempted to, like on Trump’s criminal conviction, Trump returned fire with fire — by threatening to prosecute Biden for his own supposed wrongdoings. (Biden does not face any criminal charges.)
Trump’s most damning moments came not from Biden’s attacks, but Trump’s own admissions. He refused to take any responsibility for the Jan. 6th riots, and he called the rioters “warriors.” He said he would accept the results of the 2024 election, but only after being asked three times and under a big caveat: “if it’s a fair and legal and good election.” There was no evidence of widespread election fraud sufficient to overturn the result of the 2020 election, and Trump has still refused to acknowledge he lost.
His surrogates defended that position. “I’m not sure that anybody should give a blank-check response,” Ben Carson, a former Trump cabinet member, told me. “Obviously, it does depend on whether it’s done fairly and openly.”
Even so, in a battle of words, Trump’s tangents were more forceful than Biden’s mutters. Democrats attempted late-stage damage control. Vice President Kamala Harris went on CNN post-debate and defended the Biden administration’s record. Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon, in a statement, said Biden presented a “positive and winning vision” in contrast to Trump’s “dark and backwards window into what America will look like” under him.
But as the spin room cleared out, Democrats seemed to be lacking vision, too. An hour after the debate, long after Newsom had guided the Biden surrogates off the floor, the California governor stood in a private corner of the concourse above, deep in conversation. He seemed to be exploding on an aide — his eyes wide, his hands waving, his head bobbing.
When he saw reporters approaching, he quickly darted the other direction. He offered a pained grin. “I’m looking forward to tomorrow,” he said.