Trump campaign publicly claims victory in debate, but aides privately express doubts

Donald Trump’s campaign publicly claimed victory in the debate against Kamala Harris on Tuesday night, but some of his aides privately admitted it’s unlikely he was able to convince undecided voters to cast their ballots for him, according to insiders.

“Will tonight benefit us? No, it won’t,” a Trump aide said.

That sentiment sums up the Trump campaign’s predicament: With 55 days to go until the election, Trump is still looking for a moment when he can break his line of attack against Harris and drown out her gains in key polls in crucial states.

Related: Attorney General Kamala Harris has tried Trump, but the court of public opinion can be fickle

And it was an admission that despite their hopes of getting a happy Trump on stage, they got an angry Trump. Trump seemed enraged at being yelled at for his supporters leaving his rallies early and for the moderators repeatedly reminding him of his facts.

For weeks, the Trump campaign saw the debate as a golden opportunity to reach a national, prime-time television audience of millions with its attacks on Harris for policies it felt had been left out of mainstream news coverage.

The reasoning was that even if the television networks refused to air Trump’s rallies or campaign speeches, they would still have to air him live and uninterrupted if he spoke during the debate.

But Trump was caught off guard by Harris after just 10 minutes of debate. Even on his pet topics, such as illegal immigration, Trump missed several opportunities to launch attacks, eventually arguing with the moderators about whether Haitian immigrants in Ohio were eating pets.

The original plan to manipulate the alleged targeted immigrant pet ownership was to, if the moderators disagreed, say it was hearsay — and then attack Harris about the impact of illegal immigration on crime.

The problem was that Trump struggled to execute the plan, according to people familiar with the preparations. He got hung up on Harris’s dig at his rallies and then got caught up in a back-and-forth over the truth or falsity of the story.

The highlight, noted by several Trump advisers, was Trump’s closing statement — which consisted of rehearsed remarks — in which he questioned why Harris had not yet implemented her proposed policies as part of the Biden administration’s agenda.

In a statement, Trump campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita openly echoed their boss and declared victory. “The choice could not be clearer — President Trump was the clear winner tonight and he will win for America when he returns to the White House,” they wrote.

Trump’s advisers were also unanimously critical of the debate moderators, ABC News hosts David Muir and Linsey Davis, and their repeated fact-checking of Trump’s more outrageous claims, making it appear like a three-on-one clash.

Still, their personal assessment of the debate was a far cry from the victory declaration Trump made on Fox News when he visited the spin room, which he subsequently used to justify his disapproval of whether to hold a second debate with Harris 55 days before the election.

“I don’t know, I have to think about it, but if you win the debate, I think maybe I shouldn’t do it. Why would I have to do another debate?” Trump said when pressed by Fox News host Sean Hannity.