Inside debate spin room, Trump talks to theGrio and is confronted by Exonerated Five member
In the spin room following the presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump in Philadelphia on Tuesday, theGrio caught up with high-profile Democratic and Republican officials about where they feel the election stands after the prime-time showdown.
U.S. Senator Laphonza Butler, D-Calif., a close friend of Harris and campaign surrogate, told theGrio that while it was clear Trump “lost” the debate, she was bothered by the fact that he did not call Harris by her name, instead opting to call her “she and her.”
“If he can’t respect the person who is the vice president of the United States, he can’t respect the person who is standing right next to him enough to call her by name … Why would the American people … trust him to be the commander in chief?” said Butler.
During the debate, some American voters got a chance to better know Harris, who is Black and South Asian. The vice president notably did not address her race or gender but did share her personal story of being raised by a single mom who bought their first home when she was a teenager.
Senator Butler acknowledged that some voters are “Kamala curious” after Harris quickly emerged as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee. A recent New York Times poll found that 28% of Americans want to learn more about America’s potential first female president.
Harris also laid out some of her economic policy proposals, including child tax credits, federal funding for first-time homebuyers and tax deductions for small businesses. By contrast, Trump pivoted from the economy to discussing immigration, claiming migrants are taking jobs from Black people.
Harris retorted that Goldman Sachs and the Wharton School of Business back her economic plan. Contrastingly, she pointed out that experts say Trump’s plan would “invite a recession.”
Former third-party presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump, told theGrio while in the spin room that Trump is the better candidate for the economy.
“President Trump is the first president in 40 years that has raised the real wages for the American worker,” Kennedy told theGrio when asked about his father, former Sen. Robert F. Kennedy Sr.’s shared desire with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to combat poverty before they were both assassinated.
However, Democrats in the spin room declared Kamala Harris the clear winner of the debate.
Even former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy seemed to intimate as much when asked about the debate. He told theGrio, “I think [Trump] did good for the conditions that were served up.”
After the one-hour and 45-minute debate, Donald Trump surprised reporters with an appearance. The presidential hopeful apparently wanted to spin the narrative that he lost the debate.
A swarm of reporters encircled the 78-year-old former president and lobbed questions as he answered, walking around the large circle. Trump told reporters it was his “best debate” to date.
TheGrio asked Trump, “What do you think about the Black voters? What do you think they saw [tonight]?” The former president responded, “I love the Black voters, and I love them. They love me too.”
Not long after, a reporter asked if the president thought he would lose the Haitian vote after he and his vice presidential running mate, JD Vance, claimed Haitian immigrants were eating dogs in Springfield, Ohio.
“I mean, I really don’t know. All I do is say the truth. And I lose votes or gain votes, I really don’t care,” said Trump.
During the debate with President Trump, brought up the issue of his false and debunked claims of Haitian migrants eating dogs and cats in Springfield. ABC News debate moderator fact-checked Trump, pointing out that the city manager reported thatc claim is not true.
Another question followed from Dr. Yusef Salaam, a Harlem, New York city councilman, as well as a member of the Exonerated Five. The group of four Black and one Latino boys at the time were wrongly imprisoned for the assault of a Central Park jogger. Trump took out a full page ad, calling for the death penalty. After years of imprisonment, the five men were released and found innocent due to DNA evidence. Trump has refused to apologize.
On Tuesday night, Salaam attempted to confront Trump.
“Mr. President I am a member of the Exonerated Five, Dr. Yusef Salaam,” said the city council member. Trump then replied, “Oh, are you with me?” Salaam replied flatly, “No!”
Salaam recounted the moment, saying Trump “put his hand up and walked away.” Before the debate, he told theGrio that being a Harris surrogate was a full-circle moment for him.
Salaam said his vote against Trump is personal, but it’s also about choosing “the best candidate” – which he believes is Harris – and preserving America’s democracy.
Kwame Kilpatrick, the former mayor of Detroit, was also in the spin room. The former Democrat is a surrogate for Trump, who as president commuted his 28-year sentence in 2021 after Kilpatrick served seven years in prison for corruption and racketeering while in office.
Kilpatrick said supporting Trump in the 2024 election is personal for him to support Trump and that politics is personal for everyone. However, he acknowledged for that for Yusef and the other four members of the of the Exonerated Five, it’s also personal for them.
“But as the same brothers’ experience … I experienced being in solitary confinement for 225 days, being treated like a dog, being selectively and manipulatively, and I mean, just horribly prosecuted in a system that’s unjust,” Kilpatrick told theGrio. “And then you have somebody [Trump] that comes and gets you.”
He continued, “You also have a personal notion that this person cares about what’s going on, and then championing the First Step Act and getting more than almost 40,000 people out of prison. It wasn’t just Kwame Kilpatrick.
Throughout the election cycle, polling has indicated that Trump has seen a small but noticeable increase in support among Black male voters.
Kilpatrick said that in Michigan, Trump’s Black male support is about 9%, which he said is up from seven percent. He added, “It goes up when you have issues that matter to real people.”
U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., a staunch Trump supporter, told theGrio, “Personally, I do believe the numbers [Black male voters for Trump] are increasing.”
In response to Donalds, Salaam said, “I think that people have been hoodwinked and bamboozled and run a muck just like our good leader Malcom X said.”
The impassioned Harlem city councilman emphasized, “We need to make sure that we understand the truth about things … as we rely on word of mouth.”
Salaam implored Black voters to do their “research” and remain committed to “reading” the truth.