Republicans Reportedly Believe Donald Trump Missed A ‘Golden Opportunity’ At Debate
After the chaotic presidential debate on Tuesday, Republicans believe Donald Trump missed a “golden opportunity” to reshape the race against Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden ahead of Election Day, The Hill reported.
“They say the game-changing moments were there for the taking but Trump’s aggressive posturing got the best of him,” the report claimed.
“The debate effectively collapsed around Trump’s cross-talk, which was a huge turnoff to many viewers at a time when the president is desperately trying to make up ground in key battleground states.”
Republican Amy Koch, the former majority leader in the Minnesota state Senate, claimed that Biden looked weak in the first half of the debate.
“But then Trump just overwhelmed and it was too much. It was over the top and rude and it felt desperate and bullying. He blew it.”
Koch claimed that the U.S. leader did not improve his standing with groups he needed to connect with — women, independents, or suburban voters — and may have lost ground with disaffected Republicans.
Gianno Caldwell, a Black conservative political analyst, said that Trump fumbled the opportunity to offer a full-throated condemnation of white supremacy.
“He’s done it before,” Caldwell noted. “He designated the KKK as a terrorist group.”
Caldwell noted that the commander in chief did not mention any of his work that would resonate with Black voters, including the First Step Act, opportunity zones, and his platinum plan for African Americans.
The debate was notoriously marred by Trump’s constant interruptions, much to the dismay of Fox News host Chris Wallace, who admitted he failed to stop the event from going off the rails. According to The Hill, Republicans believe that the president should have interrupted less and given Biden more room to speak undeterred — a strategy they allegedly think would have possibly made the former vice president seem rambling and potentially increase the likelihood that he made a mistake.
According to CNN, Trump’s allies are privately worried that Trump’s performance would alienate voters. Some also allegedly pressed him to explicitly denounce groups like the Proud Boys, who took his debate comments as approval and integrated them into their logo less than an hour following the event. As The Inquisitr reported, Trump on Wednesday said he didn’t know anything about the group but ordered them to “stand down” and let law enforcement deal with the civil unrest across the country.
Sen. Tim Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, pointed to Trump’s comment to the Proud Boys during the debate and suggested that he “misspoke.”
“If he doesn’t correct it, I guess he didn’t misspeak,” Scott said.
