On Wednesday, former CNN political analyst Chris Cillizza refuted Democrats’ post-debate claims that Vice President Kamala Harris had critically damaged former President Donald Trump’s campaign during their first faceoff.
Harris and Trump debated on Tuesday on ABC News, which led to commentary suggesting that Trump might struggle to recover. However, Cillizza, speaking on “On Balance with Leland Vittert,” stated that while he believes Harris won the debate, the impact on Trump was not as severe as “the left” portrayed it, cautioning against counting Trump out too soon.
“I believe Kamala Harris won the debate. It wasn’t a knockout, but won the debate last night … I woke up this morning and saw ‘Kamala Harris destroys Donald Trump,’ ‘The Beginning of the End for Trump.’ It’s like, man, we’ve been down this road, right? … He’s not going to just go away,” Cillizza said. “I think a lot of people on the left are waiting for this like magic wand to be waved for everyone’s like, ‘Oh, wait a minute, I actually don’t support Donald Trump anymore.’ I think so he mostly did what he does. Like this idea that he melted down feels to me like the same people who say, like, ‘Things are getting much worse for Donald Trump, he’s panicking.’ I’m like, he’s been like this since he came down the gold escalator in 2015. Not that much has changed. And to my mind, if you were for Donald Trump, there’s nothing in that debate that’s going to take you off that. If you’re for Harris, there’s nothing in that debate is going to take you off it.”
'It Wasn't A Knockout': Ex-CNN Analyst Rains On Dems’ Post-Debate Parade pic.twitter.com/k0aPdbV77s
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) September 12, 2024
Cillizza also noted that most undecided voters likely didn’t watch the entire debate and pointed out that despite the widespread perception that Hillary Clinton won most of the 2016 debates, Donald Trump still went on to win the election.
Meanwhile, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer posted on X on Tuesday that the debate “was a knockout” and expressed his anticipation of how Republicans would “spin” it. Democratic Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin also weighed in, stating that “Kamala just destroyed the remnants of Trump’s flailing career.”
