Republicans Admit Trump Lost Debate to Harris, Trump Whines About Fact Checking: A Closer Look

-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. ♪♪