Trump Blames Everybody but Himself
6 min read
This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.
This morning found the former apex predator of American politics looking for some hand-holding. Donald Trump said on Fox & Friends that he is “not inclined” to do any more debates, but that if he does, he wants only the friendliest possible moderators—his suggestions were the Fox News hosts Sean Hannity, Jesse Watters, or Laura Ingraham.
Trump’s comment came during a morning spent complaining about last night’s ABC moderators and arguing that the network should lose its broadcasting license. He was trying to pick up the pieces from a shambolic performance. “Trump lost his cool over and over,” David Frum wrote in The Atlantic. “Goaded by predictable provocations, he succumbed again and again.” Kamala Harris baited him with surgical precision, triggering his insecurities while giving him full freedom to openly wallow in his delusions.
Even some of Trump’s most reliable sycophants had to recognize that the fault lay neither in the stars nor in the moderators but rather in the candidate himself. Others in the former president’s universe, though, have refused to acknowledge that truth. During the debate, the conservative activist and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk posted on X: “Did you really think they were going to give Trump a fair debate? Trump got shot on July 13th, and now a drive by shooting on September 10th.” Megyn Kelly posted: “These moderators are a disgraceful failure and this is one of the most biased, unfair debates I have ever seen. Shame on you @ABC.” Other reactions were even more hysterical. Sean Davis, a co-founder of The Federalist, suggested not only that ABC lose its license but that the moderators and network executives be charged with “criminal election fraud and interference.” “What you saw last night from ABC has never happened before in American history,” the former Trump aide Stephen Miller complained in a post on X. “We’ve always had leftwing bias from establishment corporate press. This was something else entirely: this was aggressively working to sabotage and undermine the democratic process.”
As soon as he got offstage, Trump grasped onto his supporters’ line of defense. “I thought that was my best Debate, EVER, especially since it was THREE ON ONE!” Trump wrote on Truth Social, echoing phrasing used online during the debate. Trump must be aware on some level that last night, tens of millions of voters watched a bitter, confused, and diminished elderly man fall apart in front of their eyes. At his rallies, Trump can get away with his signature lies and tantrums of grievance—and with not saying much at all about actual policy plans. In his softball interviews with fawning right-wing hosts, he can ramble and lie without fear of being challenged. At the presidential debate, though, it didn’t work. So he has decided to blame everybody but himself.
History should note that the former president spent part of the day of the debate hanging out with a notoriously bigoted conspiracy theorist and posting memes referencing a false claim about Haitian immigrants eating pets in Ohio. Even after the story of the pet-eating immigrants was debunked, Trump and his running mate, J. D. Vance, continued to push the racist idea, which led to the debate’s most memorable moment. “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats,” Trump declared. “They’re eating the pets of the people that live there, and this is what’s happening in our country.”
Actually, it’s not happening, as the debate moderator David Muir pointed out, noting that ABC had reached out to the Springfield city manager to confirm this. Trump and his supporters were incensed that the ABC moderators, who fact-checked some of Trump’s statements in the debate live, corrected this and a few of his other egregious lies—for example, pointing out that killing newborn babies is illegal, contra Trump’s claim that in some states, doctors can “execute” babies after birth.
Attacking debate moderators and the media in general is nothing new for Trump. He makes no secret of his loathing for the press and for anyone who holds him to account. Indeed, he tried to inoculate himself against a poor debate performance by pre-attacking ABC, accusing it of liberal bias. But it wasn’t the moderators or the network, or even Harris, who forced Trump to begin ranting that “they’re eating the dogs!” That was all Trump. Ever the showman, he may understand just how awful last night’s show was for him—which is why he’s pointing the finger at everyone else.
Related:
- What was Trump even talking about?
- Kamala Harris’s most successful power play
Here are four new stories from The Atlantic:
- Peter Wehner: Kamala Harris broke Donald Trump.
- Trump again disgraces a sacred American space.
- The post-debate challenge for Harris
- How Joe Rogan remade Austin
Today’s News
- Speaker Mike Johnson pulled a stopgap government-funding bill hours before the House was set to vote on it because more Republicans withdrew their support. Congress has until September 30 to come to an agreement on government funding in order to avert a government shutdown.
- Mexico’s Senate narrowly passed a controversial and sweeping judicial-reform measure that would allow voters to elect judges at all levels, including the Supreme Court.
- Officials arrested a Southern California man yesterday for allegedly starting the Line Fire that has burned more than 34,000 acres in the state.
Evening Read
‘I Was Responsible for Those People’
By Tim Alberta
On the evening of September 4, 2021, one week before the 20th anniversary of 9/11, Glenn Vogt stood at the footprint of the North Tower and gazed at the names stamped in bronze. The sun was diving below the buildings across the Hudson River in New Jersey, and though we didn’t realize it, the memorial was shut off to the public. Tourists had been herded behind a rope line some 20 feet away, but we’d walked right past them. As we looked on silently, a security guard approached. “I’m sorry, but the site is closed for tonight,” the man said.
Glenn studied the guard. Then he folded his hands as if in prayer. “Please,” he said. “I was the general manager of Windows on the World, the restaurant that was at the top of this building. These were my employees.”
Read the full article.
More From The Atlantic
- How swing voters reacted to the Trump-Harris debate
- J. D. Vance’s very weird views about women
- David Frum: How Harris roped a dope
- Gullible Mr. Trump
- Kamala Harris’s secret weapon
- Taylor Swift’s three-word burn of J. D. Vance
Culture Break
Analyze. Taylor Swift is a perfect bogeywoman for almost everything the GOP is targeting in the presidential race, Spencer Kornhaber writes.
Read. All This and More, a new novel by Peng Shepherd, follows the consequences of a reality TV show that allows contestants to make multiple life-altering choices.
Play our daily crossword.
Stephanie Bai contributed to this newsletter.
Explore all of our newsletters here.
When you buy a book using a link in this newsletter, we receive a commission. Thank you for supporting The Atlantic.
