Even the WSJ’s #RightWing editorialists thought that VP #KamalaHarris “won the debate because she came in w/a strategy to taunt & goad #Trump into diving down rabbit holes of personal #grievance & #vanity,” while #KarlRove added in a column that the night “was a #TrainWreck for him, far worse than anything Team Trump could have imagined.”

And then, in a universe all its own, was #FoxNews.

#Trumpaganda #propaganda #disinformation #FauxNews #lies #RT = #RepublicanTV #debate #MAGA #ignorance

“All the memorable lines were from Donald Trump,” host #JesseWatters proclaimed after the #debate ended. (He specifically cited #Trump’s “eating the pets” line.) “He just had some great knockouts,” Watters added. “And so this race just got tighter.”

“That’s probably true,” anchor #BretBaier agreed.

#idiocracy #Trumpaganda #propaganda #disinformation #FauxNews #FoxNews #lies #RT = #RepublicanTV #debate #MAGA #ignorance

An ebullient #KamalaHarris campaign immediately called for another #debate. (#Trump, who once called for debates “ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, ANYPLACE,” eventually refused the challenge after much hemming & hawing.) But #Harris’s gesture of confidence prompted #FoxNews’s #LauraIngraham to argue: “They don’t think she won. They don’t think she’s in a position to win this race.”

#idiocracy #Trumpaganda #propaganda #disinformation #FauxNews #lies #RT = #RepublicanTV #MAGA #ignorance

#SeanHannity interviewed Sen #MarcoRubio (R-FL), who claimed #Trump notched “a big win.”

Sen #LindseyGraham (R-SC) [who initially said it was a “disaster for Trump] said #Trump had “the best closing in presidential #debate history.”

Trump himself joined #Hannity in the spin room. “I think it was my best debate ever,” he said.

#idiocracy #Trumpaganda #propaganda #disinformation #FauxNews #FoxNews #lies #RT = #RepublicanTV #MAGA #ignorance

And that was just within the first 75 mins after the #debate. The next morning, #Trump was back, on “Fox & Friends.” “I won the debate by a lot,” he said, & “every single poll last night had me winning like 90-10.” The hosts did not contradict him. At the same time, Trump argued that #ABC News should lose its broadcasting license, because “they had a rigged show with somebody that maybe even had the answers.”

#idiocracy #Trumpaganda #propaganda #disinformation #FauxNews #lies #RT #RepublicanTV

On Wednesday afternoon, #JesseWatters returned to the airwaves. “I found [Harris] evasive, found her unlikable, preachy &, instinctually, I don’t know that’s going to play with men,” he said. “The signature moments that you see on the internet after this, she didn’t have any. … #Trump had them all.”

#idiocracy #Trumpaganda #propaganda #disinformation #FauxNews #FoxNews #lies #RT = #RepublicanTV #debate #MAGA #ignorance

On Thursday afternoon, conservative radio host #HughHewitt, a Post Opinions contributor, announced on #FoxNews that #Trump “is in the process of winning the #debate” because “a debate isn’t over in a day” & “upon further review, the American public has decided that debate was rigged.”

#idiocracy #Trumpaganda #propaganda #disinformation #FauxNews #lies #RT = #RepublicanTV #debate #MAGA #ignorance

It was a case study in how the dominant “news” organ of the right cleans up #Trump’s messes. When President Joe #Biden had his disastrous debate, liberal outlets & commentators panned the performance & ultimately helped to force him out of the race. But when Trump had what was, objectively, a bad night, #FoxNews led a movement to claim it didn’t happen.

#idiocracy #Trumpaganda #propaganda #disinformation #FauxNews #lies #RT = #RepublicanTV #debate #MAGA #ignorance

67M viewers saw an out-of-control #Trump claim he won the #2020election, complain that those who attacked the Capitol on #Jan6, 2021, were “treated so badly,” argue about his #CrowdSize, assert that he had read that #Harris “was not Black” & that #Biden “hates her,” admit that he still only has “#ConceptsOfAPlan” on #healthcare, make odd statements such as “I got involved with the #Taliban” & “she wants to do #transgender operations on illegal *aliens* that are in prison,”

#propaganda #FoxNews

& utter this ludicrous #slander about #Haitian #immigrants: “They’re eating the dogs, the people that came in. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating — they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”
#FoxNews then told its viewers (14M people watched the simulcast on the network) that they had not seen what they just saw. Unless I missed it, viewers also weren’t told the other news of the night, that #TaylorSwift had endorsed #Harris after the #debate.

#Trump #propaganda #FoxNews #lies

Often…readers ask why #Trump’s followers don’t see that he is off his rocker. This is why. #FoxNews sane-washes him — & it sets the tone for the entire #MAGA social media ecosystem.

The main disagreement on the network seemed to be between those who believed the #debate had been a triumph for Trump & those who believed the two #ABC News #moderators denied the #GOP nominee his rightful triumph.

#idiocracy #Trumpaganda #propaganda #disinformation #FauxNews #lies #RT = #RepublicanTV #ignorance

“Tonight’s debate was three on one,” proposed #Hannity.

“Yes, it was a three-on-one debate,” chorused Florida Gov Ron #DeSantis.

“Three against one,” said Sen #LindseyGraham (SC).

“It was three on one,” said #LaraTrump.

“We had three against one,” said #Trump himself.

#idiocracy #Trumpaganda #propaganda #disinformation #FauxNews #FoxNews #lies #RT = #RepublicanTV #debate #MAGA #ignorance

During a commercial break came…an ad from #RightWing billionaire Richard #Uihlein’s super-#PAC blaming #Harris for “murders, rapes, attacks on children” & for being “a complete failure.” It was difficult to distinguish the news coverage from the attack ad.

If #FoxNews viewers were listening carefully, they could have heard snippets of reality. #BritHume acknowledged that “#Trump had a bad night”

#idiocracy #Trumpaganda #propaganda #disinformation #FauxNews #lies #debate #MAGA

& [Hume cont] that #Harris was “a different person from the absolute dunderhead so many of us thought she was during her conduct as vice president.” And a token Democrat, fmr congressman Harold Ford, politely disagreed w/the general tenor of things: “I just think she won.”

But after 15 mins of this post-#debate “analysis,” #Hannity took over the anchor chair & ended all dissent.

#Trump #idiocracy #Trumpaganda #propaganda #disinformation #FauxNews #FoxNews

#Hannity said #Harris had presented nothing but “pre-rehearsed, memorized platitudes” & “lots of kind of weird faces & expressions.” He then went after the “left-wing moderators. The biggest loser of the night, #ABC, #Disney, Bob Iger’s network. It was a disgrace.” Hannity was upset that the moderators had not brought up the VP’s position on “banning plastic straws,” among other things.

#idiocracy #Trumpaganda #propaganda #disinformation #FauxNews #FoxNews #lies #debate #MAGA #ignorance

“It’s an embarrassment to journalism,” said #MarcoRubio.

[that’s the embarrassment to #journalism???]

“The #ABC #moderators were complicit in her running a completely fact free debate performance,” submitted Sen #TedCruz (TX).

#Trump running mate #JDVance, also joining #Hannity, agreed that the moderators “did a terrible job” while “President Trump did a good job.”

#idiocracy #Trumpaganda #propaganda #disinformation #FauxNews #FoxNews #lies #RT = #RepublicanTV #debate #MAGA #ignorance

#Hannity was upset that #Harris “wasn’ fact-checked.” (Maybe this was because Harris hadn’t claimed #immigrants were eating people’s pets.)

Hannity decided to “dip in” to post-debate remarks by Harris to supporters but cut that off after 31 secs, just as she was about to give her assessment of the #debate. Then he tried to broadcast an unannounced appearance by #Trump in the spin room.

#idiocracy #Trumpaganda #propaganda #disinformation #FauxNews #FoxNews #lies #debate #MAGA #ignorance

But this didn’t go well, either, because, while it was difficult to hear #Trump, reporters’ questions were loud & clear:

“Why didn’t you look at her?”

“Did she get under your skin?”

“Why not let the performance speak for itself?”

#Why not have a second debate?”

Trump made his way over to #Hannity for some gentler treatment. Trump informed his interviewer that he had “won the #debate” & “we’re getting great reviews.”

#idiocracy #Trumpaganda #propaganda #disinformation #FauxNews #FoxNews

As evidence, #Trump cited viewer surveys from #FarRight sites. “We looked at one poll, it was 92 to 7,” he said. “We looked at another, 86 to 3.”

“Wow,” #Hannity replied.

At one point, Trump started to veer into repeating his claims that #immigrants are eating pets — & Hannity cut him off.

“Your people are calling for you to roll,” he said.

#idiocracy #Trumpaganda #propaganda #disinformation #FauxNews #FoxNews #lies #RT = #RepublicanTV #debate #MAGA #ignorance

The next morning on #FoxNews, #Trump was still maintaining that “every single poll had us winning by a lot, despite the fact that it was an unfair #debate obviously.”

And the #Fox coverage continued to support that view. “It was a disaster for her last night. … Donald Trump did far better. …Who the hell do they think they are fact-checking?” #House Speaker #MikeJohnson, on #FoxBusiness Network, cited the same “polls” that Trump did, saying, “he clearly prevailed.”

#propaganda #FauxNews #lies

“They’re polls that you see on the internet & a lot of them probably have statistical problems w/them,” #RFKJr acknowledged. “I would suspect that the polling over the next wk is going to show probably a slight drop in his support, particularly among independents.”
#Trump responded as though #Cavuto had just eaten his pet. “#NeilCavuto, #Fox’s Lowest Rated Anchor, is one of the WORST on Television,”he posted on social media.

#idiocracy #Trumpaganda #propaganda #disinformation #FauxNews #FoxNews