Trump Gaslights Twitter About How Americans Viewed Debate Performance
President Donald Trump says he won Tuesday’s presidential debate even though critics and even members of his own party slammed his performance and polls deemed Joe Biden the victor.
Trump took to Twitter Thursday to falsely proclaim himself the winner.
Really. See?
I won the debate big, based on compilation of polls etc. Thank you!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 1, 2020
In reality (which, as a reminder, we still live in ― for now, anyway), Biden came out on top in numerous polls.
FiveThirtyEight.com said only 39.1% of voters thought Trump won the debate. Only 28% said so in CNN’s survey.
Meanwhile, a CBS News/YouGov poll said 41% thought Trump did a good job, while Data for Progress reported only 39% preferred the president’s performance.
Many Twitter users took the president to task for gaslighting.
Oh you're out of your goddamn mind https://t.co/o5MABDFnJP
— rachel leishman (@RachelLeishman) October 1, 2020
It's opposite day. https://t.co/If4gLdUBU3
— Emily C. Singer (@CahnEmily) October 1, 2020
Others brought receipts.
The only "polls" showing a Trump win were online and unscientific. https://t.co/bgHtjcZZxq
— Nick Weig (@tbweig) October 1, 2020
Who won the debate?
CBS/YouGov: Biden 48, Trump 41
CNN post-debate poll: Biden 60, Trump 28
CNBC post debate poll: Biden 53, Trump 29
But by all means cite the non-scientific, easily manipulated online polls like Telemundo. https://t.co/zWHI67luTZ— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) October 1, 2020
https://t.co/6gVvpMRc8u https://t.co/Pjbo1TUQWo pic.twitter.com/8uK1Ep5T5c
— Eli Yokley (@eyokley) October 1, 2020
Others wondered if the president actually conferred with his team before posting the tweet.
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Have you informed your own team of this, let alone any of the pollsters?
"A source familiar with the President's debate prep told CNN's Dana Bash that they wanted him to be aggressive, but not act like Jason Voorhees from the 'Friday the 13th' movies." https://t.co/fua1RHFEqW https://t.co/dzKyhjQnMT— Andrew Bates (@AndrewBatesNC) October 1, 2020
One woman was pretty sure he was just pulling things out of his ass thin air.
You didn’t. You know you didn’t. We know you didn’t. The World knows you didn’t. Your compulsive narcissistic complex will finally make you kiss your own reflection in the Potomac . And we all know how that ends. https://t.co/a4e0pcYSPz
— frances Barber (@francesbarber13) October 1, 2020
Based on the same compilation of polls, the weavers have finished the emperor's new suit, and it is deceptively marvellous! https://t.co/sr0CAZ4ERs
— Mitchell Kutney (@MKutney) October 1, 2020
A surprising number of people felt sorry that a nice little word like “etc.” had to be mixed up with a guy like Trump.
The word "etc" has never done so much work https://t.co/5eAHHliz1u
— Chase Mitchell (@ChaseMit) October 1, 2020
dying at the "etc."
this is a very low-effort lie lmao https://t.co/i1EX8WuPKq— George Zornick (@gzornick) October 1, 2020
One person was willing to give the president the benefit of the doubt with the help of alternative facts.
in fairness to our #SoCalledPresident, if you compile the results of just three major polls (CNN, with less than 40% calling the #debate for #Trump; CBSNews/DataGov, at 41%; DataProgress, at 39%), it adds up to, like, 120% in his favor - that's pretty good, right?#math! #facts! https://t.co/66NMTBUPgn
— Daniel Paisner (@DanielPaisner) October 1, 2020
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.