Donald Trump Told to Speak Up at Surprise Post-Debate Spin Room Appearance

A reporter told Donald Trump to “speak up” after he made a surprise appearance in the media spin room after his debate with Kamala Harris.

The Republican presidential candidate talked up his own performance in a noisy room full of reporters: “It was the best debate, personally, that I’ve ever had. We’re getting polls that show 92 percent, 88…” “Mr. President speak louder,” a reporter interrupted.

He went on to claim that early polling was showing “90 percent, 60 percent, 72 percent, 71 percent, and 79 percent” of viewers thought he won the debate. “Where are you getting these numbers from?” a reporter asked. Trump did not reply.

The moment was captured by Fox News and posted on X, where one version of the clip has now been viewed 2.6 million times.

Newsweek conducted a reader poll in which 66.7 percent of the 8,000 respondents said Harris had won and only 33.2 percent said Trump was the winner. Most of Newsweek’s writers also considered it a Harris victory (nine chose Harris, four said it was a tie, and just one said Trump won.)

Harris put Trump on the defensive about issues like abortion and his relationship with Russian president Vladimir Putin, as well as successfully baiting him into responding to a taunt about crowd sizes at his rallies.

CNN host Jake Tapper, who moderated Trump’s previous debate with President Joe Biden in June, reacted in real time to the former president’s post-debate appearance in the spin room while he was introducing the network’s correspondent.

“I think Donald Trump is in the spin room,” Tapper said on air. “That is generally not considered a sign of a candidate thinking he had a good night, or she had a good night, when they go to the spin room to clean up what they just did and try to create new headlines or maybe jerk store some answers.”

Newsweek contacted Trump’s campaign for comment outside business hours.

To “jerk store some answers” is to try and return witty comebacks after the moment has passed, a reference to the character George Costanza in the sitcom Seinfeld who is insulted by a co-worker while eating shrimp at a jerk store, and only thinks of a retort afterward in the car.

Although Trump has called the CNN host “Fake Tapper” in the past, he praised him for how he moderated the June debate with Biden, where the Republican described him as “fair but firm.”

Trump’s entry into the spin room was caught in a photograph posted by South Caronia Senator Lindsey Graham, who was shaking hands with Trump in the picture. Graham said the former president “made the case tonight that America was safer under his administration.”

Despite Graham’s post, MSNBC analyst Tim Miller said he spoke to Graham in the spin room and reported that the senator said Trump’s debate team “should be fired” and that it was a “disaster.”

Newsweek has contacted Graham via an online form for comment.