Corey Lewandowski had a lukewarm review for his former boss Trump’s performance in the first presidential debate on Monday night, noting that this initial face-off between the two candidates wasn’t “the end all, be all” for the 2016 race.
Weighing in during a panel on CNN, where he works as a commentator while still receiving severance from his time as Trump’s campaign manager, Lewandowski said that the real estate mogul lost his stride during the second half of the debate. Other conservative commentators have made the same case.
“Break the debate down to two categories,” Lewandowski said. “The first 45 minutes was one category where Donald Trump was particularly strong. He was able to talk about TPP, trade, issues where he could be on the offense there. Clearly Hillary Clinton was on the defense on those issues. The second half of the debate, these are the issues you talked about: you talked about the birther movement, you talked about taxes, you talked about a housing discrimination case from 40 years ago. Right? These are issues that clearly put Trump on the defense.”
Lewandowski, who reportedly still has the candidate’s ear, lamented that moderator and NBC News anchor Lester Holt did not bring up the Benghazi attacks or Clinton’s remark that half of Trump’s supporters belonged in a “basket of deplorables.”
Other panelists, including former Barack Obama strategist David Axelrod, pointed out that Clinton managed to raise issues unflattering to Trump even when Holt did not bring them up.
After a spirited back and forth, Lewandowski denied that he was “blaming the moderator.”
Instead, he said, the night represented just one moment in a very long 2016 campaign.
“The first debate in a presidential cycle isn’t the end all be all,” Lewandowski said. “Let’s see what happens.”
Yep. Corey knows Trump lost.
Hillary’s takedown of Trump’s economic policies was masterful: Trumped up trickle down on steroids.
Be all–check. The end all may take another stake through the heart debate.
We’re just leaving the garlic phase and entering the silver bullet phase now. The stake through the heart comes on November 8th.
Notice the horseshit from so many conservative hacks – the claim that Trump did well in the first half of the debate. First, they claimed post-debate that he did okay at the beginning, then it turned into the first 10 minutes, then 20, then 29, and now Bullshit Mountain is claiming “half.” Sorry, losers, but the whole country watched Hillary clean Trump’s clock from very early on. For at least the last 70-80 minutes, Trump was a babbling, rambling, angry, sniffling, moaning, incoherent mess. “Half” my ass.
When even Corey Lewandowski has to admit Trump got rolled, you know he REALLY got rolled!