The main event began promptly at 9 p.m. A knowing chuckle rippled through the assembled press in the room when Harris approached Trump directly to shake his hand—a stark contrast to the way Trump’s debate with President Joe Biden began in June when both candidates skipped that traditional greeting.
Waves of startled laughter accompanied some of Trump’s more extreme digressions as the debate unfolded, most notably his repetition of baseless internet rumors that Haitian immigrants in Ohio were eating pets.
Even before the candidates started their closing statements, journalists were migrating to the spin room ready for the deluge of post-debate takes. The Trump surrogates appeared first, with familiar GOP faces like Stephen Miller, Matt Gaetz and Tulsi Gabbard defending his arguments and suggesting that ABC News debate emcees David Muir and Linsey Davis were more aggressive in fact-checking the former president.
Meanwhile, Harris’ supporters—including Ted Lieu, Anthony Scaramucci and Josh Shapiro—praised her defense of her record as vice president and for painting a clearer portrait of what her presidency would look like.
Suddenly, a rumor ran through the crowd that Trump himself had entered the spin room. A giant crowd swarmed around the ABC News stage and, sure enough, the GOP candidate was in the center of the scrum. Trump answered some of the questions that were shouted at him, but without a microphone his responses were difficult to hear. He did make one thing very obvious, though: in his mind, he had won the debate.