Former Reagan speechwriter on debate: Trump 'cleaned his own clock'

Former President Reagan speechwriter, John Podhoretz, said former President Trump caused problems for himself during the ABC News debate Tuesday night. 

“He cleaned his own clock, and when he didn't clean his own clock, she cleaned his clock, and when she didn't, Muir and David cleaned his clock,” Podhoretz, now working as an editor at Commentary Magazine, said on X Tuesday night. 

“In the end, his clock was cleaned,” he added. “He smudged her clock face a little.” 

Podhoretz’s assessment of the debate comes as a CNN flash poll, conducted by SRSS, found 63 percent of registered voters who watched the debate said Harris outperformed Trump, with the balance saying Trump won the night.

The debate in Philadelphia was the first time the nominees had met in person. Harris had a sharp performance, battling the former president on the economy, immigration, foreign policy, abortion and other policy issues. The vice president's game plan to rattle her Republican rival seemed to have worked, with Trump, at times, looking visibly irritated. 

While Podhoretz, who also served as a speechwriter for former President George H.W. Bush, credited ABC journalists David Muir and Linsey Davis, conservatives criticized the way Muir and Davis handled the Tuesday showdown. Muir and Davis fact-checked the ex-president’s false and misleading claims, something that did not happen during CNN’s June debate when Trump debated President Biden.