Elections

An Aggressive Donald Trump Uses Debate To Show Critics He Isn’t Leaving Race

REUTERS/Saul Loeb/Pool

Alex Pappas Political Reporter
Font Size:

ST. LOUIS — Donald Trump survives.

Coming at a harrowing time for his campaign, the Republican nominee entered the presidential debate here Sunday night facing calls from members of his own party to step aside. But Trump used an aggressive performance against Hillary Clinton to signal to those critics in the Republican Party that he has no intention of going anywhere.

Following the debate, Trump allies expressed optimism in interviews with The Daily Caller that the candidate’s strong debate performance will be effective in fighting back against those critics.

“I think tonight, there’s a shot of enthusiasm that’s been sent out, where you’re going to see Republicans realize this is the fighter, this is the agent of change that we need,” Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller said in the spin room. “And we are going to see a lot of energy, a lot of wind in our sails tomorrow.”

Asked about those in the party trying to push Trump out of the race, Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, one of Trump’s closest advisers, said: “Well I think if they’ve watched this debate, they’ll see why he absolutely shouldn’t withdraw. And why Republicans can win this election.”

“He favors every agenda item of the Republican party,” Sessions said. “Tell me what he doesn’t believe. He believes in lower taxes, less regulation, strong national defense… border security, and effective trade agreements,” he said, also listing off other positions, including on the debt and foreign policy.

“I’m just a bit baffled by this,” Sessions added. “I’d say the choice couldn’t be clearer. And I believe the Republican voters are going to see that, and I believe he’s going to see a big surge in his support among Republicans after this night.”

Neurosurgeon Ben Carson, Trump’s former primary rival and now surrogate, said of those pushing the Republican to step aside: “I’d say to them: are you a person who has read the Republican platform and the Democratic platform? And do you realize that there is a stark difference between the two? And do you want to align yourself with the Democratic platform? And if you do, then continue down that path.”

During the debate, Trump survived questioning from moderators Anderson Cooper and Martha Raddatz over the surfacing of a 2005 video of Trump using graphic language to describe an unsuccessful attempt at sleeping with a female television show host. More than 25 Republican lawmakers have called on Trump to withdraw from the race because of those comments.

Asked by TheDC in the spin room if the Clinton campaign leaked that video to the Washington Post, Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon simply responded “no.”

“This was locker room talk,” Trump said during the debate, when pressed on the issue. “I’m not proud of it.”

Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton went on the attack, saying Trump “has said that the video doesn’t represent who he is but I think it’s clear to anyone who heard it that it represents exactly who he is.”

Trump played offense, invoking Bill Clinton sexual abuse accusers Juanita Broaddrick, Kathleen Willey and Paula Jones while accusing his opponent of working to silence those women.

For the rest of the townhall-style debate, Trump and Clinton moved on to other issues, including her emails, his taxes, Russia and Syria without the issue of the 2005 video coming up again.

Follow Alex on Twitter

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel