Trump has already flip-flopped on Holt’s debate performance
Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2016 2:11 pmDonald Trump has already flip-flopped on Lester Holt’s debate performance
By Callum Borchers September 27 at 10:03 AM
In the immediate aftermath of Monday's presidential debate, Donald Trump had nothing but praise for moderator Lester Holt.
"I thought Lester did a great job," the Republican nominee told CNN, adding that he thought the evening's questions were fair.
By the time he appeared on "Fox & Friends" Tuesday morning, however, Trump had changed his mind: "I'd give him a C, C+. I thought he was fine. Nothing outstanding. I thought he gave me very unfair questions at the end — the last three, four questions."
Among Trump's other complaints: His microphone was too low and wasn't working properly. On TV, anyway, there were no audio problems.
It is not hard to figure out what is going on here. Trump, whose default mode is "winning," felt good right after the debate and therefore had no gripes. Then he found out he lost in the eyes of most viewers — and seemingly, members of Congress, too. Now he needs to put the blame somewhere.
Continuing a familiar pattern, he picked a member of the media and a piece of equipment. (Remember when he blamed his refusal to disavow David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan on a bad earpiece?)
Trump's campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, also said right after the debate that "Lester Holt did a great job as the moderator."But other surrogates seemed to sense more quickly that their candidate fared poorly, and were swift to bash Holt.
By Callum Borchers September 27 at 10:03 AM
In the immediate aftermath of Monday's presidential debate, Donald Trump had nothing but praise for moderator Lester Holt.
"I thought Lester did a great job," the Republican nominee told CNN, adding that he thought the evening's questions were fair.
By the time he appeared on "Fox & Friends" Tuesday morning, however, Trump had changed his mind: "I'd give him a C, C+. I thought he was fine. Nothing outstanding. I thought he gave me very unfair questions at the end — the last three, four questions."
Among Trump's other complaints: His microphone was too low and wasn't working properly. On TV, anyway, there were no audio problems.
It is not hard to figure out what is going on here. Trump, whose default mode is "winning," felt good right after the debate and therefore had no gripes. Then he found out he lost in the eyes of most viewers — and seemingly, members of Congress, too. Now he needs to put the blame somewhere.
Continuing a familiar pattern, he picked a member of the media and a piece of equipment. (Remember when he blamed his refusal to disavow David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan on a bad earpiece?)
Trump's campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, also said right after the debate that "Lester Holt did a great job as the moderator."But other surrogates seemed to sense more quickly that their candidate fared poorly, and were swift to bash Holt.
