I asked several of his surrogates, like what they thought, and the number one question I asked them was, what do you think his best answer was tonight. None of them could come up with anything. Donald Trump looked old tonight. Donald Trump was foolish at times. And then I saw my old friend Lindsey Graham. [00:00:17] You know, we used to be pals in 2016. He looked at me and he was just like, you are right about one thing that was a disaster. He was unprepared. And we should fire the debate team. I'm going to talk about migrants eating dogs and cats. I mean, that's something Saturday Night Live would do. Why would you even bother to do that? [00:00:33] I didn't think I was ever going to witness a debate as devastating as the one that you and Dana moderated back in in June, where Joe Biden basically tanked his reelection campaign, I think. Tonight was just as devastating. [00:00:50] Everyone you just heard from conservatives, lifelong Republicans. And honestly, it is nice to see that some conservatives in the media and some political individuals as well still believe in objective reality. [00:01:05] Because honestly, I've gotten used to a lot of people rejecting reality. But in this case, you have conservatives who are willing to fess up to the fact that Donald Trump had a bad night. It was not a good debate against Kamala Harris. He did terribly. [00:01:20] So let's begin with the man who was eventually ousted from Fox News, Bill O'Reilly. Donald Trump was foolish at times. He won the first half hour of the debate, but then he descended, as he always does. [00:01:36] And I don't know why I wrote a book on the man. I can't tell you why I'm going to talk about migrants eating dogs and cats. I mean, that's something. Saturday Night Live would do. Why would you even bother to do that? And to go back and try to relitigate for the, what, 8,000th time? [00:01:51] Election 2020? I mean, Miss Harris is right when she says, hey, we need somebody to look ahead. We got to get out of this. Is four years. Bill O'Reilly is totally right in what he just said, and I'm specifically [00:02:07] happy to hear that he's upset that Donald Trump decided to just bring up the Haitian migrants eating your pets. BS. In fact, O'Reilly wasn't the only person who was irritated by that and saw it as a foible for Trump during the debate. [00:02:25] Erick Erickson, another conservative, says he's a little more colorful in his language, if you will. He says, you stupid mfers just got Trump to repeat your lie about the pets. Congratulations on setting the news stories tomorrow by lying. [00:02:42] So Trump picks it up and says stupid crap. I don't think that was a strong moment for him. And honestly, when you look at the polling leading up to the debate, Donald Trump could have used that particular issue to his advantage if he [00:02:59] was smart about it and if he knew how to. I guess demagogue correctly about it. And instead he went to the lowest common denominator. He went to a ridiculous, insane lie out of Springfield, Ohio, an allegation that Haitian migrants are stealing people's cats and eating them. [00:03:20] You know, it's interesting because if he wanted to focus on Springfield, Ohio, he could have taken some jabs at the Biden administration for not providing enough federal support to Springfield in order to withstand the high numbers of people coming in. [00:03:36] Because it is a small town, they didn't have the resources, they did need help. And that's where the resentment is coming from when it comes to individuals in that local community. But he that would require honesty, that would require strategy, that would require, you know, [00:03:54] avoiding the temptation Of going to the lowest common denominator, and I don't know if he has that in him. I mean, clearly last night he showed us that he doesn't. And so I'm happy that O'Reilly and Erick Erickson are bringing that up because it was a bad moment for him. [00:04:09] And I don't know, I could be wrong, but I'm starting to feel like even his most ardent supporters are kind of getting sick of hearing about 2020 because it makes Trump look pathetic and weak. It makes him look like a child, a baby, a whiner who wants to be led by a whiner, [00:04:27] who wants their candidate to be a crybaby. Someone who is unable to accept reality, unable to pick himself up and just say, you know what? I'm going to move forward. I lost that one. It's okay. I mean, in in some of these swing states, I barely lost, barely. [00:04:46] So I'm going to do what it takes to beat Kamala Harris. I'm going to stop whining about what happened, you know, three and a half years ago. But he doesn't have it in him So then you have Chris Wallace, who of course, for a long time was employed by Fox News. [00:05:03] He's now over at CNN. But make no mistake, Chris Wallace has been a lifelong conservative. He has taken some jabs at Trump in the past where logically it makes sense to. It's not like he's needlessly going after Donald Trump and being unfair to him. He has criticized Trump in the past, where Trump deserves the criticism. [00:05:22] But here he is over at CNN, making some interesting points about how, Trump performed last night. Let's watch. I didn't think I was ever going to witness a debate as devastating. As the one that you and Dana moderated back in in June, where Joe Biden [00:05:41] basically tanked his reelection campaign. I think tonight was just as devastating. I think that Kamala Harris pitched a shutout, on almost every subject I can think of, she shut Trump down on abortion. She shut Trump down on January 6th and democracy, [00:06:00] she shut him down on national security and turned to the former president and said, the military leaders who served with you think that you're a disgrace. And then, as Dana mentioned, very powerfully at the end, made the point that she is the candidate of change and we need to turn the page from [00:06:16] a decade of division and polarization. Hey, don't scroll away, come back, come back. Because before the video continues, we just want to urge you to lend your support to tight U power. Our honest reporting. You do it at tight.com/team and we love you for it. [00:06:33] I think Wallace is correct, especially about that last part, because I personally feel it, and I think you guys see it in the way that I approach some of the stories that we cover. I'm also sick of the divisive rhetoric. I'm sick of, you know, the constant hate and division with the other side. [00:06:50] I want to find areas of common ground. I want to find a way to move forward in this country, right? Find solutions for the issues that we clearly have in this country. And I think a lot of Americans feel the same way, and it's impossible to get there when you have one of the candidates on that stage putting out lies [00:07:10] about migrants eating cats. It's impossible to do that when you have someone who's still obsessed with the fact that he lost the 2020 presidential election and refuses to just believe in objective reality when it comes to that election. [00:07:27] You know, we had a few moments last week where he was willing to admit, you know, on the Lex Fridman podcast, while speaking before the, moms for Liberty Conference, he said, we lost. We lost by a whisker. And I was like, all right. Finally he turned a page. [00:07:43] I mean, it took a while, but he turned the page. He's finally accepting the results of the 2020 election, but he went right back into it. And this is the kind of garbage that tears the country apart. It really does. And I'm tired of it. I think a lot of people are tired of it. [00:07:59] But Wallace also weighed in on the optics of the debate, and I think he really nailed it here. Let's watch the image of the debate to me is she's there, happy, smiling, expressive, shaking her head, and dismay at things Trump was saying. [00:08:17] And Trump looked angry, scowling. She was looking directly at the audience. He was looking at the moderators and arguing with them and something else. And he was he he. Donald Trump looked old tonight. [00:08:32] That Donald Trump look old tonight line I'm sure is going to get under Donald Trump's skin. Now Kamala Harris, of course, is much younger than he is. But she had this kind of like, energetic, vibrant demeanor. It wasn't just about the age. It was the way that she presented herself. [00:08:51] She seemed energetic. He was scowling throughout the entire debate. He refused to look at her. I mean, these are actually very similar to some of the points that we made during our debate coverage last night. But optics matter more than anything during a debate, more than the substance. [00:09:08] It's just the truth. Because, look, most people aren't going to do fact checking in real time. So you can unfortunately, in a lot of debates, lie or mislead or be dishonest and get away with it and still win the debate. [00:09:23] If the optics are right, if the optics are there, but you have Kamala Harris, who again seems confident, energetic, vibrant, and then you have Donald Trump, who's just like like you couldn't see his neck for most of the debate because he's kind of like hanging his head. [00:09:40] He has bad posture and he looks grumpy. He looks like someone who needed a nap earlier but just couldn't fall asleep and is like irritated that he has to be there. That's not a good look. Those were terrible optics for him. Finally, we go to Brit Hume, also lifelong conservative, [00:09:57] pretty hardcore with his conservatism. And he actually did complain about the moderators somewhat. So I want to be fair to him about that. But he also had to make this admission. Make no mistake about it, Trump had a bad night. He rose to the bait repeatedly when she baited him, something I'm sure [00:10:16] his advisers had begged him not to do. You know, in the first debate when Biden attacked him, he just kept his cool and kept going. And in this debate, he rose to debating. And we heard so many of the old grievances that that we'd long thought that Trump had learned were not winners politically. [00:10:32] And there they all were, you know, talking about how he didn't lose the election and all that. I mean, so my sense is that she came out of this in pretty good shape. So let's talk about a potential future debate. So earlier I had shared with you all that Donald Trump kind of made clear [00:10:49] while speaking to Fox and Friends that he's not inclined to do another debate. He complained about the possibility of Fox News hosting a debate that would be moderated by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, and he doesn't think that they should be the moderators. [00:11:04] They're not fair to him. You know, more of the same. It's not fair. It's not fair. But really, the person who would be better served in not doing a second debate would be Kamala Harris. Like Donald Trump should be like desperate to do another debate to kind of reverse [00:11:22] the disaster that took place last night. But it seems like he's trying to skirt out of it. While Kamala Harris's team is, you know, goading him for another debate. Now, if she genuinely wants to do another debate, I mean, obviously last night she proved that she can perform really well. [00:11:38] But if I were in Donald Trump's shoes, I would definitely want another opportunity to turn things around. But it seems like for the moment being and things can change. He's kind of running away from it and I don't think that's going to do well for his campaigning. So we'll see what happens. [00:11:54] I would not be surprised if there isn't going to be a second debate, but I think the results are in. I think it's pretty clear, based on the polling of voters, based on what even conservative pundits are saying in conservative media. [00:12:10] Donald Trump did not have a good night. He lost that debate. Kamala Harris did really well. Now, of course, the second part of this is how much of an impact will the debate have on the overall general election. And, you know, historically, they haven't had that much of an impact. [00:12:26] There have been some outliers, though, as we all know. One of the outliers, of course, was the debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. I am curious to see how this debate is going to be, you know, integrated in the polling moving forward for this election and whether or not [00:12:42] she's going to see a bump in support. But last night, she did a really good job And her team. Honestly, her campaign team has made a lot of really great decisions. Being ecstatic about accepting Dick Cheney's endorsement. [00:13:00] Not not a good move. I would have avoided that. But for now, it seems to have like, you know, barely hurt her. But all other decisions so far have been pretty sound pretty good. And it seems like she's taking this seriously. And she came. Correct. Like she came prepared. He underestimated her. [00:13:18] She did not underestimate him. And I love to see it. Thanks for watching The Young Turks really appreciate it. Another way to show support is through YouTube memberships. You'll get to interact with us more. There's live chat emojis, badges. You've got emojis of me Anna John Jr. So those are super fun. [00:13:36] But you also get playback of our exclusive member only shows and specials right after they air. So all of that, all you got to do is click that join button right underneath the video. Thank you.