Trump Says He ‘Won the Debate Big’ – According to Imaginary Polls

In these increasingly divisive days of the dwindling Era of Trump, there are rarely matters that achieve anything approaching a consensus. However, the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden has managed to produce a fair amount of agreement that Trump’s behavior was disruptive, petulant, asinine, and harmful to both his candidacy and the nation’s pride.

Donald Trump

Despite the overwhelmingly negative response to Trump’s incessant and insolent interruptions, Trump himself is pleased with his performance and is celebrating the aftermath of the muddy mess he made Tuesday night. That’s to be expected of a malignant narcissist who is incapable of forming any connection to reality. Consequently, on Thursday morning Trump tweeted this…

Notice that Trump didn’t bother to cite even a single poll that reported his allegedly big win. But there’s a good reason for that. There aren’t any. He is thanking an imaginary compilation of polls that exist exclusively in his diseased brain. These pseudo-surveys are in stark contrast to the actual polls released since the debate that all show Joe Biden crushing Trump by substantial margins ranging from seven to 32 points. Here are five of those polls:

  • 538/Ipsos: “Biden got higher marks (59.7-32.9%) for his performance.”
  • CNN/SSRS: “Six in 10 debate watchers said former Vice President Joe Biden did the best job in Tuesday’s debate, and just 28% say President Donald Trump did.”
  • CBS/YouGov: “Forty-eight percent said Biden won, while 41% thought Mr. Trump was the winner.”
  • Politico/Morning Consult: “The survey, conducted the day after the candidates’ clash in Cleveland, found that 50 percent of debate watchers surveyed said Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, performed the best during the debate. Just 34 percent said the same about the Republican incumbent”
  • Vox/Data for Progress: “A new poll by Data for Progress provided exclusively to Vox shows that viewers thought Democratic nominee Joe Biden decisively won Tuesday’s first presidential debate against President Donald Trump, by a 52-39 margin.”
  • CNBC/Change Research: “A CNBC/Change Research poll conducted Tuesday night and Wednesday found 53% of likely voters nationwide said Biden did a better job in the debate, compared with 29% for Trump.”

So where did Trump get his fantasy polling results? From Fox News, of course. Sean Hannity giddily reported the “instant polls” that some media conduct by simply asking the opinions of whoever happens to be reading their tweets at the moment. “I’m sure the mainstream media will have corrupt polls,” Hannity cackled, “as they always do, but those [CSPAN and Telemundo] are the two flash polls that we have already.” And Trump’s Minister of Propaganda (aka press secretary), Kayleigh McEnany, tweeted much the same thing:

None of these numbers that the Trump toadies are touting are rooted in statistical reality. They have no scientific basis and represent nothing more than the ditzy clicking of amped up Internet Trolls for Trump. But it is all that Trump can cling to given the stinging truth that he is profoundly unpopular and widely despised. Which is what the real polls show conclusively.

With specific regard to the debate, Trump’s abysmal personality was so glaringly on display that there can be no escape from the well-deserved deluge of disgust he’s receiving. After acting out like a psychotic toddler, refusing to denounce white supremacy, lying every time he opened his mouth, and reaffirming his loathsome reputation for belligerent incoherence, Trump is lucky he wasn’t carted off to the psyche ward. Which, according to another recent poll, is something that a majority of the American people would deem appropriate.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.