This claim and many others were quickly fact-checked and debunked by ABC News anchors and debate moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis, a fact that clearly further infuriated Trump.
Almost immediately after the debate ended, Trump reiterated the theory that the debate had been “rigged” by ABC News and that he himself has been promoting for the past week.
“I think that was my best debate, EVER, especially since it was THREE AGAINST ONE,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, where he attempted to defend his claim about immigrants eating pets by sharing links to unsubstantiated rumors.
This line of attack was echoed by leading Trump supporters. “It’s weird how the moderators hacked… [ABC News] “They’re just ‘fact checking’ Trump and allowing Kamala to lie non-stop,” Donald Trump Jr. wrote on X. “Fake News is the enemy of the people!”
“The moderators might as well be on the DNC payroll,” wrote Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah on X. “This is ridiculous. This is the worst moderated debate in history.”
“Someone please cancel moderation on this debate and then send the journalists to Guantanamo,” wrote Sean Davis, executive director of the Federalist, on X.
Charlie Kirk, co-founder of Turning Point USA, called the debate “a show trial where the judge, jury and executioner is ABC News,” while Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Republican congresswoman from Georgia, called it “an outright attack on Trump.”
Despite his online bravado, Trump seemed concerned about the reception of his debate performance as he entered the Post-debate press room As he randomly shouted out poll numbers — “90%, 60%, 72%, 71% and 89%” — Trump again claimed it was “my best debate ever.”
It’s an unsurprising response from a man who seems to be isolated from reality by A group of flatterers within the Republican Party and his campaign team, and an army of servile supporters on social media platforms.
On Tuesday night, supporters on these platforms echoed Trump’s complaints about ABC News’ decision to fact-check her in real time and continued to attack and spread conspiracies about Harris based on her gender.
Many of the comments used deeply misogynistic and racist language to refer to Harris, questioning her ethnicity and reinforcing the conspiracy that her success was based on sleeping with powerful men.
“I hope he calls her a stupid bitch to her face,” wrote one member of a pro-Trump message board, while another added: “I bet she had a lot of abortions.”
On Telegram, a member of a Proud Boys channel responded to Harris, who called the group a “militia” during the debate, writing: “We live rent-free on this bitch’s head.”