Making a surprise appearance before reporters minutes after being pushed to the limit by Kamala Harris during their debate on Tuesday, Donald Trump provided his own after-sales service.
As the confrontation comes to an end, cries of surprise rise from the entrance to the press room.
Former President Donald Trump has just made a surprise entrance into the “spin room,” the room where candidates’ spokespeople and supporters usually gather to try to influence the opinion of the journalists present.
Cameras and microphones in hand, dozens of reporters crowd behind thin ribbons in order to be as close as possible to the candidate.
Pushed around during a particularly bitter debate against Democrat Kamala Harris, the Republican billionaire took questions one after the other from the journalists crowded in front of him, who, in the crush, sometimes had to be held back by the candidate’s security detail.
“What about black voters?” asks a reporter who manages to stand out in the surrounding hubbub.
“I love them and they love me,” Donald Trump replies.
Amid the cacophony, other reporters tried to get his take on the 90-minute debate, during which the 59-year-old Democrat attacked him relentlessly.
“Haven’t seen that in years”
“I think it was a great debate,” Trump said. “I thought it was my best performance, actually… but I don’t even consider it a performance.”
“Our country is in decline. We are a nation in decline. And I think when we put that out there, she was unable to defend herself from it,” he added.
After a few minutes, Donald Trump, still followed by dozens of journalists, walked around the room and finally disappeared behind black curtains.
“The fact that he showed up in the media center and the spin room at the end … we haven’t seen that in years,” said Aaron Kall, director of debates at the University of Michigan.
According to him, this shows that the Republican candidate wants to “change the subject, as quickly as possible.”
Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are returning to the campaign trail on Wednesday, less than two months before the election, scheduled for November 5. They will participate separately in ceremonies honoring the memory of the victims of the September 11 attacks, notably in New York.