Following Donald Trump vs Kamala Harris debate, experts and political commentators were quick to speculate who won the Tuesday night battle as it was dubbed as the most crucial turning point for both the presidential contenders ahead of the November elections.
Polling analyst Nate Silver declared on his blog that there is “strong consensus that Harris won the night.” According to him the decline in Bitcoin prices “also implies a loss for Trump.”
Some conservatives, such as Rod Drehrer and Chris Rufo, acknowledged Harris’ victory on X, but with reservations.
“Harris wins slightly on points. This shouldn’t change the race significantly either way, but she was able to de-risk this event and now the Right has lost the narrative that Harris is refusing media or engagement. Will be interesting to see if she goes silent again,” Rufo wrote.
Meanwhile, Trump supporters and Republicans accused ABC of bias towards Harris and blasted debate moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis for asking Trump more hostile “gotcha” questions.
Declaring that Harris seems to winning this, Drehrer mentioned Trump was “blustering and confused”. He, however, slammed ABC moderators for their “bias”.
Megyn Kelly, others tears into ABC
Megyn Kelly, a former presidential debate moderator, delivered her brutal review of ABC’s 2024 presidential debate.
Kelly spoke up on X during the ABC-hosted debate, criticizing the moderators.
“Why did the moderators need Kamala Harris there at all?” she wrote, calling them a “disgraceful failure”.
“This is one of the most biased, unfair debates I have ever seen. Shame on you ABC.”
Vivek Ramaswamy, the biotech entrepreneur and Trump supporter, called out the “media bias”, pointing out that this is a “major problem”. “Seeing it firsthand right now,” he tweeted.
Billionaire Bill Ackman made several anti-Harris tweets and also asked, “Why do the moderators only fact check @realDonaldTrump and not @KamalaHarris?”
Several people on social media throughout the debate targetted Muir and Davis’ for “one-sided” fact-checking.
Donald Trump Jr. also hammered the moderators for only fact-checking Trump, but not Harris.
“Weird how the hack moderators at @abcnews are only ‘Fact checking’ Trump and allowing Kamala to lie nonstop,” he wrote. “The Fake News is the enemy of the people!”
According to Political commentator Noah Pollak, the ABC moderators “embarrassed” themselves as they protected Harris from answering whether she supports partial birth late term abortions.
Meanwhile, firebrand Ann Coulter slammed ABC, writing: “But it’s great to have 3 Democrats debating Trump tonight. Thanks, ABC!”
Calling the whole debate “propaganda”, Independent journalist Christopher Rufo posted on X: “These overtly partisan, often misleading ‘fact checks’ are absurd. It’s not journalism.”