Trump praises debate rivals, CNN: ‘I was very impressed’
Donald Trump says all of the candidates who participated in Wednesday’s primetime Republican presidential debate performed well.
Yes, you read that correctly: everyone.
“I think really everybody did well,” Trump told CNN’s Chris Cuomo immediately following the debate. “There was nobody that did poorly. … I was very impressed.”
The Republican frontrunner said he is “very happy” with his performance in the debates so far.
“The first debate went very well for me,” Trump continued. “They both went very well. They’re saying very nice things — I mean I just had a few people come up to me and say, 'Wow, that was great.’”
The real estate mogul, who got into heated exchanges with nearly everyone on stage at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., said the vibe was different when the cameras were off.
“We were tough on each other, and yet there wasn’t a lot of tension during the breaks,” Trump said on “Fox & Friends” Thursday.
Trump even had some kind words for Carly Fiorina, who won the biggest applause of the night when she was asked about his controversial comments about her face.
“I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said,” Fiorina said.
“I think that Carly did well,” Trump said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Thursday. “But I didn’t see it as standout.”
The former “Celebrity Apprentice” star, who complained that he was treated unfairly by Fox News’ Megyn Kelly during last month’s GOP debate, says he was “treated fairly” this time around — mainly because the focus was on him.
“I felt badly for everybody else,” Trump said on MSNBC. “Every question had to do with me. … I mean, everything was about Trump. And then they go into this debate, and there was split screens all over the place. I’ve never seen anything like it. It was a little bit unfair to a lot of other people, frankly. But from my standpoint, I was treated fairly.”
Trump compared the debate to a WWE wrestling match.
“Vince McMahon would’ve loved it,” he said. “I was involved with virtually every question. So it was really a little bit wild. Actually a couple of [candidates] came up and said, ‘You know what Donald — can I hit you so that I can get a little bit more time?’ Because some of these guys I felt badly — a lot of them are friends of mine, and they got no air time last night.”
There was one thing Trump didn’t like about the debate: its length.
“Three hours is too much for a debate,” he said on “Morning Joe.” “It’s a long time to be debating, but I think it’s even worse for people that have to sit. If this were a two-hour debate, it would’ve been a great debate. Three hours is really unacceptable.”
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