Trump tries to manage expectations for Tuesday’s debate by predicting media will say he was humiliated

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Donald Trump wants his supporters to know that even if he loses his upcoming debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, he really won.

During a rally in Mosinee, Wisconsin on Saturday, Trump prepped his base, telling them that even if he does well in his debate with Harris, he'll still be blasted by the media.

"If I destroy her in the debate, they'll say Trump suffered a humiliating debate tonight," he told a crowd of MAGA faithful on Saturday.

While it's no secret that Trump – who for years has called members of the press enemies of the US and encouraged his crowd to boo them at his rallies — is regularly fact checked by reporters, few people leapt to Joe Biden's defense after his disastrous performance earlier this year.

Biden's poor debate performance — and the resulting pressure from the public, press, and other Democratic lawmakers — led to him ultimately dropping out of the presidential race in July.

Despite that, Trump is insisting that he'll be treated unfairly by the media after his upcoming debate. But that may just be expectation setting by the former president.

In addition to trashing the broader media, Trump has already specifically attacked the network hosting the debate, ABC News, calling it the "worst network in terms of fairness."

Some Republicans are privately afraid that Trump will blow his debate performance, according to a recent report from Politico.

“I think — I pray — he can be disciplined,” Tricia McLaughlin, a Republican strategist, told the outlet.

But she also admitted that her prayers may not be answered.

“If Trump feels like he’s backed into a corner and feels like it’s three on one, that could be a problem,” she said.

Trump's own words suggest her fears may be well founded.

Podcaster Lex Friedman, who tends to be friendly to right-wing guests, recently spoke with Trump and encouraged him to share a "positive vision of the future" rather than criticizing his opponent.

Senator Lindsey Graham expressed a similar position in a New York Times op-ed.

“Every day that the candidates trade insults is a good day for [Harris] because it’s one less day that she has to defend the failures of the Biden-Harris administration,” he said.

Trump disagreed.

“Yeah, I think you have to criticize though,” he told the podcaster. “I think they’re nasty.”

Trump and Harris will face off on ABC on September 10 in Philadelphia at 9pm EST.