CNN’s Jake Tapper talks to Kristen Holmes and Priscilla Alvarez about how Harris and Trump’s camps are reacting to the ABC debate Vice President Kamala Harris may have won the debate, but she could still lose the election. Today, the Harris campaign says despite any momentum from last night's performance, they still consider this a 5050 race, a coin flip and with just 55 days to go, the Harris campaign says they're not taking their feet off the gas. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump is claiming he had the best debate of his life. Let's bring in CNN's Christine Holmes, who covers the Trump campaign, and Priscilla Alvarez, who covers the Harris campaign. Kristen, to you first, on this day after the debate, Trump is claiming victory. Although many in the Republican Party have a much more realistic assessment of what happened last night. That's right, Jake. Of course, it's going to depend on what Republican, you ask. Some of Donald Trump's most ardent supporters still say that he won the debate. They blame the moderators, the setting, pretty much anything about the former president. But when you talk to some of his own allies within the Republican Party, many of them are disappointed in his performance. A lot of the people that I spoke to leading up to the debate, who were talking to Donald Trump on a regular basis, had told me that they were encouraging him to stay on the issues that multiple people had warned him that Kamala Harris was going to try to get under his skin, was going to try to go to him and to stay away from getting angry or from using personal attacks. And obviously, as we saw that advice really went unheeded by the former president, who did take the bait from Kamala Harris on multiple occasions, particularly on things that seemed obvious, like his crowd size. So we're talking to these various Republicans. They do say they don't think this is going to move the needle in any significant way, but they were disappointed in the fact that he one took the bait to seem to get angry, and he couldn't stick to those core issues that they believe are going to help him win in November, namely immigration, the economy and crime. Jake. Priscilla, the Harris campaign is claiming a cautious victory. What's their plan from here? Well, I've been talking to aides and allies who were very delighted with what they heard last night between the vice president, the former president. But they are also aware that this may not move the needle much. So they plan to try to build momentum off of some of those key moments on the debate stage. That includes on abortion and health care, and we might start to get a glimpse of that tomorrow. The vice president heading to North Carolina, a crucial state for the campaign and one where they have been trying to capitalize on reproductive rights so that message is one that we expect to hear from her directly tomorrow, and then she'll follow on to Pennsylvania. But certainly the the campaign's messaging over the course of the last several weeks has, has been that they are the underdogs. And even if they are pleased with the vice president's performance last night, that is the message, a narrative that they're going to continue on the campaign trail, noting that this is going to be a very close race. Now, of course, the Harris campaign did get welcome news at the end of last night, one that aides tell me they certainly didn't expect. And that was the endorsement of Taylor Swift. So that gives them a boost going into the next several weeks. But every aide and ally I've talked to is well aware that it's going to be close and that they need to keep momentum going on some of the issues where they think that former President Donald Trump just couldn't articulate a vision on last night. And again, the two that come to mind for many is going to be on abortion, health care and even on Ukraine. Interesting. All right. Priscilla Alvarez covering the Harris campaign. Kristen Holmes covering the Trump Podcast host Angela Rye and journalist Gretchen Carlson discuss where the presidential race may go in the wake of the debate campaign for us. Thanks to both of you. With me now to discuss Gretchen Carlson and Angela Rye. Thanks so much for being here. Good to see you guys. It's a special little treat. I don't get to see either of you as much as I'd like. Where does the race go from here? Well, there's 55 days. and it is a sprint. It is not a marathon. I think of Joe Biden had still been in the race. We would be talking about a marathon. maybe in some ways a drag. And I think every single moment counts. From the moment that Kamala Harris left the her after party last night, from the from the debate that she clearly won. She is on back on official duties for 9/11 commemorations in New York, in Pennsylvania and then back to DC. So she's got to sprint for official duties as well as for campaign. All right, Gretchen, you posted on Instagram last night, quote, I met Donald Trump the first time when I was competing for Miss America. No, he didn't own it. That was miss USA. And subsequently I interviewed him many times over the years. I met Vice President Kamala Harris for the first time when she was running for president. More recently in 2022, when I was with President Biden, as he signed the first bipartisan bill I championed into law, having to do with, NDAs. you know, both of them. What did you think last night? What do you think happened? Well, I think, from a big picture point of view, that Donald Trump made a lot of mistakes with regard to only placating to his MAGA base. We all know that independents and undecideds are going to basically decide this election. So that was a mistake in my mind. But for Kamala Harris, look, there was a lot of talk about whether or not she would command the stage, whether or not she would have leadership skills, even about her height. And as a short one myself, I can relate to being underestimated from time to time. She came out on that stage. She reached for his hand, she wanted to shake it, and she introduced herself to him. And at that moment, that is when the power shifted to her. She was exquisitely prepared for this debate, and I think that this is a bigger message for a victory for women. I mean, take politics away from this for a moment. We're not talking today about whether or not Kamala Harris commanded that stage, or whether or not she exhibited leadership skills. We're saying she won that debate and we're now maybe closer to having a woman actually be the president of the United States. So we need to stop talking about women's height, whether or not they can lead and whether or not a woman can be president. We need to just go back to this debate and see how she performed. Yeah, I don't understand the height thing, too. I saw I saw some conservative women and conservative commentators on social media last night talking about how, I mean, who cares? Who cares? It has nothing to do with your brain, right? Well, I think what is really very frightening is they're still trying to find ways to say where she is deficient, instead of looking at all the many deficiencies. The fact that Kamala Harris is bar for competition yesterday was very different than Donald Trump's, as it always is. He could get up there and spew lies from what people eat for dinner to what his accomplishments were in the white House, to him firing very bad people. And she has to go up, command the stage, get to know voters who still don't have a clear vision of who she is and what her vision is for the country, as well as talk about policy prescriptions in a digestible way for the American people to embrace them and understand that the bar was sky high and she hurdled it. And she did it with the moderators not enforcing the rules against Donald Trump, but enforcing them against her. I don't know that I and I don't know anything about that, but but I do think in terms of the moderators, I do think it's interesting, Jake. You know, you watch the lead here. He jumped in just like I did with you, just. Well, but they also turned them like that. But they also they also fact checked the fact checked him three times. Well, whatever it is, my only point is I think they probably, by the rules, had to give him more time because of that, but I don't let's just talk about Harris and Trump. if we could, one of the things that I thought was interesting about the performance is like how often she baited him, and how often he took the bait. It was we know this about Donald Trump, right? I mean, we know that that's how you get to him. Now, I'm sure his adviser said to him, don't don't take the bait. She's got to mention John McCain. Don't take the bait. Look, he could have insulted her much more than he did last night, right? I mean, if you watch his rallies, he's insulting her and calling her stupid. And she's not smart because she's a woman. That's the nice stuff. That's the nice stuff is on social. truth. Social. Exactly. But he didn't drop to that level. He didn't look at her. He didn't want to shake her hand. And that was very disrespectful. But I think at least on that regard, he he stayed somewhat in line. And with regard to having more talk time. Look, if he had been talking about substantial policy, then maybe I would have a problem with the fact that he had five minutes more. But I think he just made a grave error about really not jumping on any policy talk whatsoever. You know, he did. I sorry, you wouldn't say. I would say where he also made an error is he never looked at her and never said her name. Right. He caught her. He I mean her she and and her boss. He never referenced Kamala Harris. Madam vice president, vice president. Harris. Harris. Kamala. Nothing. He only said her and she would. She dominated him. Back to my original point. She dominated him last night more than anyone else has in a decade. Yeah, and that is the biggest thing that will get under his skin. Hillary Clinton did a you know, she she did a great did a good job against Donald Trump, too and still ended up losing the election. But but, why do you think she that that she was able to do such a good job last night. She is not as experienced on the debate stage as he, but she's a prosecutor. You think that's what it is? Yes. And as I said before, she was superbly prepared for this. It was very obvious, but. And sometimes she was too scripted. I mean, let's just call a spade a spade there. But, you know, I don't think he prepared much at all. In fact, he bragged about the fact that he wasn't going to prepare. And when you go into something like this, I don't care who you are. Preparation ships, do you think that she needs to do more to mix it up with voters? Congressman Clyburn was on the show earlier, and he said he'd love to see her talking to voters, at town halls and more. Talking directly to people. Real people. Not like me. I'm not a real person, about, about issues that they care about. Do you want to see that as a supporter? Absolutely do. And and as a friend and I, I will say to me, Kamala Harris is sweet spot. Are those one on one conversations and the small groups. The reason for that is she is not afraid of sitting with a team of rivals. She's not afraid of sitting with people with different points of view. And she's reasonable. She can hear your perspective and even figure out how to integrate that into some of her policy positions in her platform. I've seen her do it multiple times on justice reform, talking about abortion, talking about immigration reform. That is where she is remarkably skilled. And I think it's not just that she's a prosecutor. She's also a very skilled legislator. I agree with that 100%. However, I'm not sure I would recommend to her if I were advising her to do another debate because the bar was so high for her last night and she excelled, that I think she could only do as well or not as well. And Trump could only do better. But I agree, I agree, I think she should do it and I think she should absolutely do it. I think from media interviews to get into the meat of the policy that I think she should do more debates. She should absolutely do more media interviews, and she should do a lot more roundtable. She's killing it at the rallies that people need to see her more. Yes. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer talks to his political panel about whether or not there will be a second Trump-Harris debate I also have some new information on the post-debate strategy advising going on inside the Harris campaign. CNN senior White House correspondent M.J. Lee has been working your sources for us. MJ, what are you learning? Well, Wolf, the Harris campaign was certainly on a high last night after the debate. But today, back in Wilmington at the campaign headquarters, it very much is back to work. Even as the campaign has been trying to strategize on ways to capitalize on the momentum that the campaign felt last night. The campaign does not believe that the debate fundamentally changed the trajectory of the race. In other words, they still believe that this election is going to be incredibly close. And they also believe that a lot of the hard work is still to come. In the weeks that are left until Election Day. This is how a senior campaign aide I spoke with earlier put it. They said it will be incredibly close. We cannot take our foot off the gas even when the moment feels really good. That, of course, again is a reference to last night. Nobody on the Harris team, Wolf, right now is saying all of a sudden they feel like this is a race that is a 45, 55 race. They still believe this is going to be incredibly close. A 5050 race practically. And this is a team. Remember that very well. Remembers that the 2020 election was decided by tens of thousands of votes in a number of key battleground states, and that is, of course, why we are going to see so much time and resources and effort being poured into a number of those battleground states. You take a look at the states that we are going to see the vice president and her running mate traveling to in the coming days, states there like Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Michigan and Wisconsin. It kind of tells you where the focus of the campaign is and where they believe this election is going to be decided. Of course, the vice president herself is going to be hitting the campaign trail and also attending a number of significant fundraisers in the coming days. We'll also see whether the campaign got a fundraising boost coming out of last night. And lastly, that big Taylor Swift endorsement coming last night. We are told that the campaign did sell out of the friendship bracelets that the campaign started selling last night. The campaign is being very tight lipped about whether they might try to do some kind of event, something to capitalize on that endorsement, but clearly very happy about that, very happy indeed. As they should be reporting for us. Thank you very much. There's certainly a lot to unpack with our political experts. And let's start with David Chalian. The Harris campaign clearly thinks they had a very good night last night. They did have a very good night. But they're also tempering, as we just heard MJ report, tempering expectations about how much this currently changes the race. Right now. What's your analysis. Yeah. Well first of all we don't know if it's going to change the race or not. So they're obviously being cautious in their approach to assume that it's not going to change the trajectory of the race. But there are two things there. One, obviously guarding against complacency, making sure that I think about it, Wolf, in all the battleground states and all the structure and organization that they've built on the ground, the ground troops up through the party leadership, they want everyone working every day. You saw it from all their high level surrogates on social media immediately, you know, the Michelle Obama's and Hillary Clinton's and Barack Obama's, the world that we saw at the convention were out saying, yeah, she did great, but now it's time to get to work. So they were all sort of singing from the same songbook, the other pieces. It's reality. It is going to be a close race. This we haven't lived in a world without close races. We are a closely divided country. There are seven states that will determine this election, probably, you know, just tens of thousands of votes across those seven states will determine the outcome. And winning the debate is not the same thing as winning an election. That's a good point. As we know from history. Indeed, Jamie Gangel Kamala Harris immediately proposed another debate. A second debate. Trump is being wishy washy on this, even though earlier he wanted more debates. Now he's not necessarily committing what's going on. It's it's amazing the difference one day can make. We're not hearing any time, any place, any anymore. And that's because he lost last night. It was a bad night for him. And it's a it's a place where he's not used to losing. If you go back to 2016, when Donald Trump just eviscerated 16 other Republicans, he usually feels very strong about a debate. So he has to be no matter what he says about it wasn't fair. Now he has to be rethinking the next debate. That said, I'm not sure that he can get away with not doing another debate. I think we may see one. Yeah, let's we'll find out fairly soon. We're told Van Jones, the former new Jersey Republican governor, Chris Christie, says he thinks the Harris campaign is making a mistake in calling for another debate. Listen and watch this. I saw her campaign put out a challenge for a second debate right after the debate. Please stop. Yeah, that's happened. Do it. They're not toilet perfect. Don't do that. Really? Seriously. Like you get in the ring against the guy who has had more presidential debates than anybody in history, and you knock him around? Yeah, raise your arms. Go to two rallies a day, raise some money and go home. Man. So what do you think? what's your reaction? Do you agree with him? Well, I mean, I I'm still just so happy from last night. It's hard to even think clearly. you know, they they call their a day, candidate. Well, the day I hire whooped the trust fund, baby. and and people are still just giddy. And so, I don't know if she wants to do it again. I think she could. She could help them again. honestly, Donald Trump is a diminished, player. he was not able to do the stuff. Is usually able to do. Near the end of the debate, he was almost incoherent. He was talking about stuff. Even his friends that know what he was talking about. So, she's not scared of him. but to me, before you do another debate, get out here and talk to us in the press. I mean, don't be scared. Now, she has shaken off any ghost, any sense of doubt that anybody could have. This is a world class contender. Talk to everybody, interview everybody. Debate this guy 20 more times. What you saw last night was a masterful class. And she's not scared of him. She shouldn't be. Yeah, she was impressive. Indeed. David urban, what are you hearing from Republicans about how Trump potentially can turn the page after last night? Will he try to do something big to change the story? Yeah. You know, Wolf, what I'd recommend to the campaign is just keep grinding it out. Right. It is. Donald Trump is best when he's out on the stump, when he's out meeting people, doing small events. doing off the record stops the otters, you know, going into stores and doing retail. And look, you heard James Clyburn. I think James Clyburn came out today and said he'd recommend that Kamala Harris does the same. He recommend her. She gets out of her plastic bubble and goes out and meets people and talks to people and explains her positions. Because, you know, van, I think is suffering for what David Axelrod earlier called a little irrational exuberance. maybe that was before then has a little irrational exuberance after that, after last night, but pretty rational, you know. Okay, but but but you know, people still, you know, people still want to know what she's about. They don't they don't really. Look, she punched him and no, she won the debate last night. It's clear. but it is not clear to people what she stands for. And I think that she needs to get out on the stump. Look, she's going to Pennsylvania. She on the schedule a bunch. She's going to be out there trying to replicate what we did in 16 by going to these small counties and convincing people. I think that's what she should do. Listen, that's what I advise President Trump to do. Visit a lot of places in Pennsylvania, in small places, manufacturing shops, restaurants, you know, shaking hands and kissing babies. You know, running for president is like running for governor in 50 different states. That's how you approach this. Maggie Haberman talks about what Trump may be thinking about his debate performance, and how his campaign will decide whether to agree to a second or not The Trump team is touting the former president's debate with Kamala Harris as a big success. Their words big success, even as the reaction from viewers and pundits suggests otherwise. We're joined now by CNN political analyst and longtime Trump watcher Maggie Haberman of The New York Times. And, Maggie, thanks for joining us. Trump claims last night was his, quote, best debate performance. We saw him go to the spin room immediately afterward. Do you think he knows he lost? No, I think he knows that he may not have performed so optimally. well, considering how we have seen him aggressively pushing back on any criticisms and declaring that he won a debate, that by every objective voice I've seen, it's widely agreed upon that he did not win. He lost. what that means for the campaign and the election, I think, is an open question. We're going to know more in the coming days. We'll see what the polls show. We'll see if Vice President Harris gets a bump. But, Donald Trump had a rough outing. It was, arguably the worst debate. And certainly, you know, you don't think it was the worst. It was the second worst debate that he has had since he entered the political scene. The the arguably worst one would be against President Biden in 2020. Yeah. It was pretty bad last night for Trump. Trump repeatedly took the bait last night as you know, something his advisers and allies said he wouldn't do. I want to play one of those key moments. Listen to this. All I do is you will see. During the course of his rallies, he talks about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter. He will talk about windmills, cause cancer. And what you will also notice is that people start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom. People don't go to her rallies. There's no reason to go. And the people that do go, she's busing them in and paying them to be there and then showing them in a different light. So she can't talk about that. People don't leave my rallies. We have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics. The question Trump was asked Maggie was about the border, yet he ended up talking about crowd sizes. Did it surprise you how easily he was provoked by Kamala Harris? It honestly didn't surprise me, Wolf. I thought there was a chance of this. Just given that he has such contempt for her, has made that very clear. That immigration non-answer, or at least the question of immigration that he then proceeded to talk about his crowd size about, was actually a mirror image to a problem that President Biden had in their June debate, where he was asked a question on abortion. President Biden's best issue. Just as immigration is one of Donald Trump's best issues, and Biden proceeded to pivot away from abortion and talked about immigration, his worst issue in this case, crowd size is not Donald Trump's worst issue is just an irrelevant issue. And that allows Vice President Harris to say he is only interested in himself and talking about himself. It was a lot of missed opportunities, Wolf. I don't know how much new people learned about Donald Trump, although arguing that immigrants are eating pets from the debate stage probably is going to get some attention. For the most part, viewers have seen this kind of rhetoric from Donald Trump a lot, and he does these things at rallies as well. But this is a moment that millions and millions of Americans were tuning in for. It's just very different. The former president, as you know, Maggie, is also not yet committing to a second debate with Kamala Harris. What does that tell you? And do you think he will see? We will see another debate. I think there's a chance. Well, I mean, I think we're going to see what the polling looks like, and we're going to see if the campaign feels like they need to do it for whatever their purposes are. Look, he he toyed with the idea of dropping out of this ABC debate. That was last night in the days leading up to it. So I expect that we're not going to hear anything concrete from him for a while. We know that Vice President Harris, his team, immediately challenged him to another debate because they believe that they did well and they wanted to try to set the stage for him not agreeing and suggesting that he is scared and worried about doing it. I do think there's a chance he will, we'll wait and see. We will indeed. And perhaps the most bizarre moment, Maggie from last night. Trump seized on that rather wild conspiracy theory that Haitian immigrants were eating pets here in the United States. I want to play that for you. Listen to this. Would you still in Springfield? They're eating the dogs. The people that came in, they're eating the cats. They're eating. They're eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what's happening in our country. And it's a shame. Maggie, what are you hearing from the Trump team about that? Look, publicly, the Trump team is, you know, saying that he had an outstanding performance and they're not surprised, privately, a number of supporters, allies and advisers would rather he not have talked about that, that cats and dogs, you know, conspiracy theory because it just stands out and it's just a moment again where a lot of people are paying attention. This is, an unfounded claim that he is making to demagogue immigrants. But, you know, they're more concerned about the fact, bluntly, Wolf, that he did not make a case tying Vice President Harris, not just tying him her to President Biden, but also making her sort of own their three and a half years in office. That was the goal for this debate. He had one opportunity after another to do it, and he did not do it. Maggie Haberman, thank you very much for joining us tonight. CNN’s Tom Foreman talks to a former FBI profiler about Trump and Harris’ body language during the debate Quote, she crushed him. Hillary Clinton, no stranger to the debate stage with Trump posting this photo of the VP. It's this moment where the VP has her hand under her chin, smiling with satisfaction as Trump took her bait. Tom Foreman is out front