-Even Donald Trump's biggest
supporters are now admitting that he lost Tuesday's
debate to Kamala Harris. They're just hoping
no one saw it. For more on this,
it's time for "A Closer Look." ♪♪ Going into the debate,
the Harris campaign strategy was obvious --
"rattle Donald Trump." But Trump's
allies were confident, confident he would
not fall for it. -Do I think that she will be
able to rattle him in any way? I would argue right now
the chance is 0.001%. -Eh, you might wanna
move that decimal point five spaces to the right 'cause it turns out
it was slightly higher. Hannity's like
an inveterate gambler telling you he bet all his money
on a really sick racehorse. "His name is Ricky the Rocket,
and he's a lock to win. Sure, he's got horse flu, but he's really adjusting
well to his new wooden leg. Plus he's blind,
so that heightens all his other senses,
like running. What do you mean
running isn't a sense? Ohh!
I gotta get my money back! [ Gates rattle, bell ringing ]
-And they're off! [ Hooves beating,
spectators cheering ] [ Explosion ] -Ohh [chuckles] he blew up." [ Laughter ] Oh, no. [ Cheers and applause ] There was a lot more race
than I expected. [ Laughter ] Afterward, Trump's allies tried
to clean things up by saying that even if Trump
did lose his cool, you know,
maybe no one really noticed. -For Trump,
if he can't control himself where he gets so aggrieved
all the time and goes into the grievan--
he had so many opportunities, and I think he went in there
with the notion "I am going to highlight
her record and what happened." But then he didn't do it. -Okay,
but let's not overthink it. This is like you had a wedding and it didn't go exactly
as you wanted but no one else really knows it. -Yeah, I think
other people noticed. -Yeah, but Trump controlled
himself more than normal. Okay?
-[ Chuckles ] [ Laughter ] -Your argument is
"that was better than normal"? "Look, I've hung out with him
behind closed doors, and he usually talks
about people eating dogs way more than that. I mean, it's basically
the only topic of conversations. You know,
do sheepdogs taste like lamb? Do wiener dogs taste
like wieners? And if so,
should you eat them on a bun? You know, stuff like that." Also, can we go back
to this part? -This is like you had a wedding and it didn't go
exactly as you wanted but no one else really knows it. -No, we definitely noticed.
It was -- It was more like
a New Jersey Italian wedding, where the groom is
on his third glass of red wine, and the best man makes a joke
about their bachelor days, and the groom jumps
over the table and says, "You son of a bitch!" And the bride says,
"Tony, don't do it!" And the groom says,
"Which Tony? Me or him?!" And the best man says,
"You wanna go?" And they start wailing
on each other, and the groom's mother screams, "Oh, my God, cut it out,
you freakin' stunads!" And then the best man cries
and the groom cries and they hug it out and the
groom says, "I love you, bro." And the best man says,
"No, I love you, bro." And then they pass out,
and then the bride says, "Tony, wake up,
you freakin' goomba!" And then he wakes up and
he says, "Oh, what happened?" And his mother says, "Don't
worry, Tony, it's a wedding. Nobody saw it! Nobody saw.
Nobody was looking. [ Cheers and applause ] My beautiful boy." Seriously, I mean, what do you
mean nobody...? We all saw it. Did Republicans think it was
only on C-Span and get confused. "Well, probably only
a few people saw it, right? Oh, what's that?
It was also an ABC? Alright, well,
that's just one major network. And NBC? And CBS? MSNBC? And CNN? And Fox?
Oh, no, no. Who else was
carrying this debate? Lifetime? QVC? The Debate Fails
YouTube channel?" Even Nickelodeon had
a debate feed where every time Trump screamed about
eating dogs, he got slimed. -They're eating the dogs. The people that came in,
they're eating the cats. They're eating --
They're eating the pets of the people that live there. [ Applause ] -It was a nationally
televised presidential debate. At least 67 million people
watched it, which is close, actually, to what
analysts were expecting. -Analysts are forecasting
a TV audience tonight on par with the largest cultural
moments across the history of modern American television. They are saying it could draw more than the 76 million
people who came together to watch the "Seinfeld"
series finale live in 1998. -That's right.
They were expecting TV ratings on par with
the "Seinfeld" finale, which makes sense
'cause there is some overlap. I mean, Trump's a germaphobe,
pathological liar, total loose cannon,
and Harris is, you know, veep. And, you know,
the debate did feel... the debate did feel at times
like an episode of "Seinfeld" where Kramer thinks the new fast food place
across the street is kidnapping pets. "Dogs, Jerry!
They're eating the dogs! They're eating the dogs!
They're eating the dogs, Jerry! "I went on a date
with Puddy last night and had him eating out
of my hand like a dog." "Now that's the tail
wagging the dog!" [ "Seinfeld"-esque
transition music plays ] [ Cheers and applause ] Oh, my God, what happened?
[ Laughter ] Did I go into my fugue state and do the entire cast
of "Seinfeld"? [ Laughter ] Even the weirdos
who support Donald Trump, like bear carcass collector and
brain worm jamboree, RFK Jr, even they had to admit that
Harris had a much better night. -I think that Vice President Harris
clearly won the debate in terms of her delivery,
her polish, uh, her organization
and her preparation. I think on substance, uh, President Trump wins
in terms of his governance, um, but he didn't
tell that story. -Yeah, it's so weird that
Trump didn't tell that story 'cause usually he's
such a good storyteller. Remember, this is a man who, when addressing
the Boy Scouts in 2017, decided to tell a story
about a rich guy he knew who lost all his money. You know, Boy Scout stuff. Imagine being a young person
who loves the outdoors, gathering with your peers, and hearing the president
tell you this. -I saw him
at a cocktail party, and it was very sad because the hottest people in New York
were at this party. [ Laughter ] -I'm not saying
the guy can't tell a story. I'm just saying it's rare for him to tell the right story
at the right time. I'd love to see him reading
a book to his kids. [ As Trump ] "Where's Spot?
Is he behind the door? Is he under the stairs?
Uh-oh! Here comes a chef
with some seasoning. -Run, Spot. Run. -Also, side note,
is RFK Jr really who the Trump campaign
wants to elevate right now during a national conversation
about eating unusual animals? The guy was accused of eating
a dog, said it was a goat, picked up a dead bear
off the side of the road, which he later dumped
in Central Park because he wanted to eat it. And somehow that was the
least crazy part of that video. [ Laughter ] His explanation of how he was
going to skin a roadkill bear and store the meat in his fridge
so he could eat it. That was just the setup to
the crazy part that came later. Like, that's the part
of the video where he was just expecting
everyone to nod along, like, "Okay, sure, sure.
Pick up the bear. Take it to your house.
Skin it. Chop it up. Put it in your fridge.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, normal stuff." Can you imagine the inside
of RFK Jr's fridge? Where does he
keep the bear meat? Next to the oat milk and the pickled pelican beaks? [ Light laughter ] In fairness...
[ Chuckles ] Oh, what part didn't you...?
Oh, all -- all of that? [ Laughter ] Which part of that picture
bummed you out? Every part? Okay, yeah. [ Laughter ] Sal just put it in 'cause
he didn't think I could say
"pickled pelican beaks." [ Laughter ] [ Laughter ] In fairness, I will say RFK Jr made
it very clear before any of this
dog-eating stuff came up that he would never do
something like that. -I'll eat virtually anything. There's two things
I wouldn't eat -- well, three. I wouldn't eat a human,
I wouldn't eat a monkey, and I wouldn't eat a dog. -And you gotta wonder which
one of those was the third thing he added on the fly.
[ Laughter ] Kinda matters, I think. "There are two things
I won't eat. I won't eat shrimp,
and I won't eat cilantro. Oh, wait! Human flesh.
Three things." Also, nobody eats humans. That doesn't make
you discerning. You eat roadkill. You're weird. When RFK Jr is hungry, he orders
a small salad on Uber Eats and then hopes the driver hits
something on the way over. [ Laughter ] So even Trump's supporters
had to admit he had a bad night. Although to hear Trump tell it,
that's only because the moderators were mean to him. -I think we did great.
It was three to one. It was a rigged deal,
as I assumed it would be, because when
you looked at the fact that they were correcting
everything and not correcting with her. -You're so close to getting it. [ Laughter ] [ As Trump ]
"When you look at the fact that they were correcting me
on everything and not correcting her, it
can mean only one of two things. Either they were biased
against me, or I was just saying
insane things that were wrong. Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh. Oh, is that it? Oh, no. Oh, God. Did I say
more factually untrue th-- Oh, I owe a lot of people
a lot of apologies." [ Laughter ] During that same interview,
Trump was down on himself and his self-esteem was so low that he actually made
one of the hosts who was in a diner with
Trump supporters at the time conduct a poll while
Trump was still on the phone to make him feel better. -I hope that, Lawrence --
If you're listening, Lawrence, I hope you go
and do a little shout-out poll. And I don't know
the people there, but I love the people there.
I can see it. But why don't you
do a shout-out poll who they thought won
the debate last night? It would be great. -You know we always do the
poll at the end, Mr. President. I think you --
Is there a lot of people supporting President Trump
today? [ Cheering ] -Oh, my God,
that's so pathetic. He's like a boss
who makes his employees throw him a birthday party. "Alright, I'll go in my office,
and when I come out, you all yell 'Surprise!' You got it? Got it? Very simple.
You all yell 'surprise,' and the last person to yell it
is fired." So Trump is mad
the moderators didn't fact check
him and Harris equally. Look, man, they're not there
to fact check everything. Only the most insane stuff, like non-existent voter fraud
or eating dogs. I mean, yes, Kamala Harris did
reverse her position on fracking and the moderators asked her
about that, but if you wanted someone
to call her out on it, you should have done it. That's why you're there,
to debate her positions. Instead, it was almost
like Trump spent the whole night telling us
to do his research for him. -Look at Springfield, Ohio,
look at Aurora. Look at her plan.
Look at a poll. Look at what she's done.
Look at that period of time. Look at what's happening. Look at these millions
and millions of people. Look at what they're doing. Look at the governor
of West Virginia. Look at the governor.
Look at what's happening. Look at what's going on
with North Korea. Look at the economy. Look how --
Look at the inflation. Look at the facts.
Look at what's happening. Look at what's going on.
Look at it. -Stop telling us
to look at stuff! You look at stuff
and then tell us about it! Also, you were the president.
You should know more than us. You got to look at stuff
we're not allowed to look at, and then you took it
and hid in the bathroom so nobody can look at it, Jerry! [ "Seinfeld"-esque
transition music plays ] [ Cheers and applause ] Now, I'm no expert
on debate prep, but it's possible
that Trump was super unprepared because he did not prepare. Kamala Harris, meanwhile,
did extensive debate prep and even got some advice
from some of Trump's previous adversaries. -She has sought out advice. She has the advantage
of being able to also talk to Hillary Clinton and
former President Barack Obama about this debate --
both, particularly Clinton, who has gone up against
Donald Trump in the past. -That's right.
Harris got advice from Hillary about debating Trump. What exactly
did Hillary give her advice on? How to avoid Trump stalking
you around stage like a dog in a video game? "Okay, rule number one, don't
put a pork chop in your pocket. That was a huge mistake. I don't know what
I was thinking. Rule number two,
he can't follow you if he can't see you
dressed like a podium." [ Laughter ] But the advice she got
from Hillary Clinton turned out to be true. Hillary told "The New York
Times" before the debate, "he can be rattled." Yeah, I'd say he was rattled. No one's ever screaming about eating dogs
for chill reasons. You've never seen a yoga
teacher start a class by saying, "Breathe in, breathe out,
they're eating the dogs, namaste." It goes without saying
that Trump can be rattled. He's never not rattled. He's always screaming at the top
of his lungs like a Mets fan who went to high school
with the umpire. "Hey, you were always blind,
Vinny! That's why Mrs. Lennox made
you sit in the front row, you schmuck! Hey, I'll see you
at Tony's wedding? No, not that one.
The other one." Who knows how much
the debate will matter, but clearly Harris did
what she set out to do. Trump failed spectacularly. If you're spending your time
attacking the moderators and your supporters are hoping
no one saw the debate, you lost. Polls show most viewers
thought Harris won. Among sane people,
Harris got 99.998% and Trump got...
-...0.001%. [ Laughter ] [ Cheers and applause ] This has been "A Closer..." -Look. Look. Look. Look. Look.
Look. Look. Look. Look. Look. ♪♪