CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings covered his face with his hands on Tuesday as Vice President Kamala Harris' former communications director Jamal Simmons claimed that former President Donald Trump lost the first 2024 presidential debate.
Trump debated President Joe Biden on June 27, but his poor performance led to growing calls for him to end his reelection bid, leading him to give up on his bid on July 21. CNN News Central's Simons said Trump actually lost the debate because Democrats replaced Biden with Harris, and a former administration official described Harris as the better candidate. (Related article: The Trump campaign's simple plan to destroy Kamala Harris: Take her off script)
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“Look, Trump is zero-for-zero right now in terms of the debate, right? He might think he won the debate, but actually, he might have lost the war because of that debate,” Simmons said. “Because after that debate, Joe Biden left. And after Joe Biden left, he ended up with Kamala Harris, so he needs to be careful.”
When Simmons claimed Trump lost the debate, Jennings covered his face and laughed.
“Zero to one? Jamal, Jamal, my brother and colleague… he literally drove a guy who's been in politics for 52 years out of the profession with a debate,” Jennings said. “I mean, I know what you're alleging, you traded for a better candidate, and Trump won the debate. He's not zero to one. Are you saying he did badly because he did really well?”
“That's really the thing about campaigns. People tend to focus on the little things about what this way or that way means,” Simmons responded, “but the question is, are you winning the fundamental debates? And right now, Donald Trump may have won the debate tactically, but strategically, he may have lost the election overall because he fielded a much better candidate than the one he was going for, and he's probably trailing by a few points right now.”
President Trump and Senator Harris are scheduled to debate on ABC News on September 10. Simmons recently warned Democrats not to overestimate how well VP Harris will perform against President Trump in the debate.
“Keep in mind, Kamala Harris hasn't debated since she debated Mike Pence four years ago,” Simmons previously said. “Donald Trump has debated a few times since then… but she hasn't participated in this debate format, so I think Democrats should give her some time to start slow and give her some time to re-learn the debate format.”
“She's going to put up a very good fight against Donald Trump. She's got a lot of weapons in her arsenal, but don't overestimate what's going to happen in this debate. Donald Trump is not going to be whining and crying when the debate is over,” he added.
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