Donald Trump has called for the firing of the entire staff at ABC News following what he described as an unfair debate performance on Tuesday night.
The debate, which featured Trump facing off against Vice President Kamala Harris, has led to heated reactions from the former president. He claims that the moderators, Linsey Davis and David Muir, played a biased role in the debate, which ultimately led to his poor showing.
In a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump expressed his frustration, stating, “People are just starting to give me credit for having a GREAT DEBATE.”
He argued that the media, particularly ABC News, did not give him the recognition he felt he deserved for his performance.
Trump went on to claim that he wasn’t debating just one person, but three, pointing to what he saw as the moderators’ attempts to interfere with his responses. He accused them of being part of a coordinated effort to discredit his campaign.
Despite Trump’s insistence that he performed well in the debate, early polling results suggest otherwise. A CNN/SSRS poll conducted among 605 registered voters found that 63 percent believed Kamala Harris was the clear winner of the debate, compared to just 37 percent who thought Trump had come out on top.
A YouGov poll of 2,166 voters also revealed a similar outcome, with 54 percent backing Harris and only 31 percent supporting Trump’s claims of victory. Even a Republican-sponsored poll showed Harris leading by a 19-point margin, leaving little doubt that the public viewed her as the winner.
Rather than acknowledge these results, Trump continued to focus on his accusations against ABC News and its moderators.
He argued that Linsey Davis and David Muir had failed to remain neutral, particularly when they fact-checked some of his more controversial claims during the debate.
One such claim involved Trump’s statement about babies being executed, which the moderators flagged as false. Trump, however, dismissed their corrections as biased and part of a broader conspiracy against him.
While Trump’s complaints drew attention, many media critics praised the moderators for their handling of the debate. Slate’s Justin Peters described the debate as one of the best-moderated events during Trump’s political career, noting that Davis and Muir asked sharp, well-researched questions and managed to fact-check Trump in real-time without coming across as excessively partisan.
TIME TV critic Judy Berman echoed this sentiment, commending the moderators for their sporadic but effective fact-checking, which helped keep the debate grounded in reality.
Despite this praise, not all commentators agreed. Fox News host Howard Kurtz offered a different perspective, criticizing ABC’s moderators for what he saw as blatant bias against Trump. Kurtz argued that their performance during the debate confirmed Trump’s pre-existing criticism of ABC as a dishonest network.
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Beyond the debate itself, Trump’s lackluster performance seemed to have financial repercussions as well. The day after the debate, shares of Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social, tumbled by 10 percent, marking a record low for the firm.
The company, which has faced financial challenges since going public in March, appears to have been hit hard by Trump’s faltering debate appearance. Many are now questioning whether Trump’s media venture can recover from this downturn.
While Trump continues to demand that ABC News take drastic action by firing its staff, it seems the fallout from the debate is having a broader impact.
With polls showing Harris as the clear winner and Trump’s media company suffering financial losses, the debate has proven to be a pivotal moment in both Trump’s political campaign and his business interests. As the dust settles, it remains to be seen how Trump will respond to the growing criticism and the challenges ahead.
