As former President Donald J. Trump sought to minimize the damage done by Tuesday night’s debate, selling his defensive, angry and frequently fact-challenged performance as a resounding victory over Vice President Kamala Harris, he resorted to a time-tested tactic.
Just seven minutes after it was over, Mr. Trump wrote on social media that the debate had been “THREE ON ONE!” Then, in the spin room, he pressed his case that the moderators had treated him unfairly.
Across the years, Mr. Trump has treated the moderators of debates as useful foils, often working the refs by suggesting beforehand that they were likely to be unfair to him and then, if things did not go so well, pillorying them after the fact.
Here is a look back at some of Mr. Trump’s complaints about debates in which he was widely seen as coming up short.
Aug. 6, 2015: The first G.O.P. primary debate
On Megyn Kelly: ‘These ridiculous questions’
In his first Republican presidential primary debate in the 2016 election cycle, Mr. Trump was asked by the Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly to explain, among other things, why he had called women “fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals.”
Mr. Trump did not appreciate the question. Afterward, he promoted tweets that called Ms. Kelly a “bimbo” and that said she had “bombed” as a debate moderator. A day later, he complained that Ms. Kelly had treated him unfairly and appeared to suggest that she was menstruating during the debate.
“She gets out, and she starts asking me all these ridiculous questions, and you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever,” he said on CNN.
The shockingly sexist reference to Ms. Kelly came at the cost of a speaking slot at an influential conservative gathering in Atlanta, but Mr. Trump did not apologize.
Sept. 26, 2016: his first Debate with Hillary Clinton
On Lester Holt: ‘Very unfair questions’
The moderator of the first Trump-Clinton debate, Lester Holt of NBC News, took a restrained approach, fading into the background as the two rivals bickered and interrupted each another.
Mr. Trump initially praised Mr. Holt’s approach. “Honestly, I thought he did a great job,” he said immediately afterward.
The next day, however, after polling showed viewers thought that Mr. Trump had decisively lost, he told Fox News that as a moderator Mr. Holt rated no better than a C or a C+.
“He gave me very unfair questions at the end — the last three, four questions,” Mr. Trump told the network. “But I’m not complaining.”
Oct. 9, 2016: his second debate with clinton
On Martha Raddatz and Anderson Cooper: ‘One on three’
In the second Trump-Clinton debate — an extremely combative affair in which Mr. Trump threatened to put Mrs. Clinton in jail — his frustrations with the moderators, Martha Raddatz of ABC News and Anderson Cooper of CNN, boiled over.
After Ms. Raddatz interrupted Mr. Trump, pressing him on whether he planned to enact a ban on Muslims entering the United States, Mr. Trump fired back.
“Why don’t you interrupt her?” Mr. Trump asked Ms. Raddatz, referring to Mrs. Clinton. “You interrupt me all the time.”
At another point, when Mr. Cooper urged Mr. Trump to allow Mrs. Clinton to answer a question, Mr. Trump declared the debate had become “one on three.”
Sept. 29, 2020: his first debate with Joe Biden
On Chris Wallace: ‘I was debating two people’
The first debate between Mr. Trump and Joseph R. Biden Jr. in 2020 was chaotic, as Mr. Trump’s nonstop interruptions made it difficult for Mr. Biden to speak and exasperated the moderator, Chris Wallace of Fox News, whom Mr. Trump had praised in the past.
Mr. Trump’s steamroller approach was not well received: A CNN survey of viewers found that 60 percent said Mr. Biden had won the debate; only 28 percent said Mr. Trump had.
“Can you believe this guy? I was debating two people last night,” Mr. Trump, who sounded congested and had Covid, said at a rally in Minnesota the next day, repeatedly casting Mr. Wallace as biased.
Oct. 22, 2020: his second debate with Biden
On Kristen Welker: ‘She’s extraordinarily unfair’
Before the second presidential debate in 2020, Mr. Trump began to sow doubt about the impartiality of the moderator, Kristen Welker of NBC News.
“I’ve known her for a long time,” Mr. Trump said at a rally in Wisconsin five days before the debate. “She’s extraordinarily unfair.”
But Mr. Trump fared better, with a calmer, more measured approach than in his disastrous performance a month earlier. A CNN poll found that Mr. Biden had won by only 14 percentage points, an 18-point improvement for Mr. Trump.
Mr. Trump softened his tone regarding Ms. Welker. “She was fair,” he told rallygoers in Pennsylvania. “She wasn’t supposed to be.”
The post When Debates Don’t Go Well, Donald Trump Has a Go-To Move appeared first on New York Times.
