'Way too much time on the defensive': GOP strategist baffled by Trump debate plan
Donald Trump's debate performance is leaving some Republicans concerned about the hit his campaign may take.
Candidates generally prepare before the debate, but Trump has been telling the press he's spent his whole life preparing for the moment. One Republican said that it was clear he had crafted some answers on issues to be clearer and even one zinger. The problem is that they didn't land.
GOP strategist Matt Gorman told MSNBC on Wednesday that reports claimed Trump's campaign was targeting African American and Latino men. There was a high likelihood that he was going to be questioned about his comments at the National Association of Black Journalists, where he questioned whether Vice President Kamala Harris was Black.
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"So, I was interested to see, going into tonight, what the Trump campaign would say to them, right," he explained. "One of the things is, look, they knew this question was coming. They had prepped for this. How does he try and pivot, attract some of the African-American men?"
What unfolded, Gorman said, was "a relitigation, again, of the past comments."
As a result, he said Trump "spent too much time on the defensive."
MSNBC host Chris Jansing observed Trump "It did seem like he had practiced one moment."
She showed the clip of Harris saying, "That's not true," while her microphone was muted, and she couldn't be heard.
"Wait a minute, I'm talking now. If you don't mind. Please," he blurted. "Does that sound familiar?"
This was an apparent a reference to her debate with former Vice President Mike Pence back in 2020 in which she chastised him at one point for trying to speak over her.
"Those are always hard to pull off. Why?" Jansing asked.
"I figured it would be coming from the Harris campaign," Gorman said about the seemingly planned zinger deployed against Harris. "His answer on abortion was much better than what we saw the last time. He was in control much more. And you're right, there was evidence of prep."
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