Harris/Trump Debate: The View from the Spin Room

Set phasers to… spin. The most popular (and crowded) place to be before and after a presidential debate is the spin room, where surrogates from both sides of the aisle are swarmed by press asking for their instant reactions.

TVNewser joined the fray following the ABC News debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, overhearing the hot takes from politicians, policy officials and, in this rare case, Trump himself. The GOP candidate gatecrashed the spin room and briefly fielded questions without a microphone before heading to the Fox News podium. His verdict? He handily won the debate.

But not everyone agreed with that conclusion. Here’s how the debate looked according to the folks in the spin room.

Kamala Harris Surrogates

California Gov. Gavin Newsom [Speaking before the debate]

[Harris] just needs to be herself. Undecided voters are asking a simple question: “Who’s for me?” Tonight, they will see Donald Trump, who has only been for one thing—himself. And Kamala Harris, who has stood up for regular people and their rights her entire career has put on the table a platform that invests in the middle class and small businesses. I think undecided voters care mostly about who is going to fight for them, and I think that question can be answered tonight.

New Mexico Gov. Lujan Grisham

[Harris] made it clear that it’s easy for him to unravel because he’s only focused on himself, that he’s not really a commander in chief. He’s got no plan, no vision. She put him in a position to have to defend [his positions] and there’s no defending who he is. I’m willing to bet that voters in my state who may still be undecided are pretty clear about [Harris’ position on] tax policy and there being a child tax credit. She spent a lot of time on inflation and so did the moderators. The issue is, quite squarely, he wants to label her, she wants a bipartisan immigration deal, he killed that deal, not just once. He doesn’t want to fix problems—he wants to try to create them.

California Rep. Ted Lieu

Kamala Harris said there was much more that unites us than divides us, and Donald Trump made up weird stories about people eating dogs and cats. That’s good contrast right there! Her answer on abortion was very compelling and very good. People don’t want women bleeding out because doctors are afraid to give reproductive health care because of these insane Trump abortion bans.

Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci

I can tell you the lines I liked: I liked the one where she said there’s more things that unite us than divide us. I’m hoping that it won’t just be that line [that will be used in ads] but it will be her facial expression and body language, because it was very empathic and brilliant.

There were three big moments in this debate: The first was the moment where she explained what he does at these rallies and how people get bored and leave quickly. I think that unraveled him. The second was where she explained how he disavowed the Constitution and she went through a prosecutorial cadence about how the insurrection never should have happened. And then the last thing was explaining to the American people what she wanted to do. It was a very healing, very embracing message. For those moments and so many more, she won the debate.

Reproductive Freedom for All president Mini Timmaraju

There was lots of gold [for campaign advertisements] tonight! Abortion is continuing to be the most salient issue of the election and how we’re able to move independent voters to our side. I think you’re going to see a lot of content based on this debate on reproductive freedom. I think Trump was largely incoherent, but the points he did make made it clear he’s not backing down from his pride in overturning Roe v. Wade, so there’s a really good clip right there.

He would not commit to vetoing a national abortion ban, which is basically admitting he supports a national abortion ban. And he’s really unhinged when confronted on this issue, because he knows it’s a loser for him and his party. Kamala Harris, in contrast, was really able to tell the story and bring the lives of women who have been impacted by these bans to the stage. It was really what she’s so good at. I think we’re going to see some content with the contrast and she made the contrast very, very clear.

Donald Trump Surrogates

Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton

The [ABC News] moderators were not good. It was three on one. They continued to engage in so-called fact-checking of Donald Trump. They never did that to Kamala Harris. They never pressed her on all of her lies and her misstatements, which were legion as I’ve been pointing out. But then again, that’s what Donald Trump has gotten for nine years. He has always gotten the press that is unfair and biased towards him.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio

I think [Trump] would do fine in a second debate. I think it’s interesting [Harris] wants one. Usually if you’re winning a campaign, you don’t want any more debates. You’re winning, why do you want to expose yourself to something going wrong onstage? The fact that she wants a second debate tells me—as someone who has run for office—that they must be seeing something internally. I think what they’re seeing is the idea of Kamala Harris at the beginning now those blanks are being filled in by all the things she stood for four years ago.

Former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy

I don’t think [Harris] won. But did she exceed the low expectations set for her? Perhaps she did. I think President Trump did a great job, particularly on the issue in the latter part of that exchange on abortion. He was able to clarify his position in a way that the media has tried to confound at every step of the way. I thought he did a great job where he put Kamala Harris on her back feet without [her] answering the question of what she would favor. I think he succeeded in making his position clear.

Citizens United president David Bossie

This is the Joe Biden basement strategy on steroids—not answering any questions. The ABC moderators were a disgrace in the sense that it was a three-on-one debate [with them] trying to fact-check, and they didn’t even do it correctly. [Harris] doesn’t want to talk to the the media, this is why this is her one and only time. The American people care deeply about the economy, they care deeply about their children’s future, they care deeply about what the interest rates are and what the grocery store prices are. Those are the important things to the American people, and what they’re not getting is any answers from Kamala Harris. Tonight’s debate didn’t change anything about the last four years.

Former Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh

I think if you take the debate as a whole, the fact that [Harris] somehow managed to get through 90 minutes without expressing a single idea about the inflation facing this country, a single idea about how she might fix the problem at the border that she and Joe Biden caused, a single moment of reflection about what happened in Afghanistan. She didn’t say a single word to address any of those problems, explain her culpability in causing them and what she might do if she were somehow able to become president to fix it. Had she done that, the question automatically would be: Why don’t you do that right now? You’re in the White House now—fix it.