Mr. Trump said he would spin the reporters himself.
Though his campaign had dispatched advisers and spokeswomen, close congressional allies and even his running mate to the debate “spin room,” where journalists mix with such surrogates, former President Donald J. Trump bucked tradition. He walked into the room full of reporters less than an hour after the end of his debate against Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday night and insisted that he’d delivered a winning performance.
“It was the best debate I’ve ever had,” said Mr. Trump, whose matchup against President Biden in June ultimately led Mr. Biden to drop out of the race.
His entrance sucked the air out of a room that had been buzzing with both his surrogates and those from the Harris campaign. He was immediately swarmed by cameras and phones, taking attention away from the Democrats there.
Facing a barrage of shouted questions, he largely stuck to the same points, like insisting that ABC News and the moderators had been unfair.
Still, there were signs that his confidence had been rattled. Mr. Trump had for weeks been goading Ms. Harris to agree to multiple debates. After the debate, her campaign said in a post on X that she was ready for a second one and asked, “Is Donald Trump?”
But Mr. Trump, when asked about her campaign’s sudden eagerness for a rematch, sounded more hesitant. “She wants a second debate because she lost tonight very badly,” he insisted.
Later, after he’d marched around the perimeter of the room to do an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News, Mr. Trump cast more doubt on his commitment to another debate.
“I have to think about it,” Mr. Trump said, adding that he thought Ms. Harris lost their debate. “When you’re a prize fighter and you lose, you immediately want a new fight.”
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