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Donald Trump Travels To Florida Following First Presidential Debate

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

And now let's go to NPR's Sarah McCammon who is in Melbourne, Fla., where Donald Trump is holding a rally this evening. Hi, Sarah.

SARAH MCCAMMON, BYLINE: Hi there.

SIEGEL: We just heard Tam Keith talking about how Clinton and the Clinton campaign feel like they got Donald Trump to say things he might regret about taxes or other issues. Is that how Donald Trump sees it?

MCCAMMON: Well, you know, Trump is saying a couple of things that kind of appear to be in conflict. So he's suggesting that the moderator, NBC's Lester Holt, was unfair to ask about those things. He says he should have asked Clinton about Benghazi and the Clinton Foundation, although Trump himself didn't really bring those issues up very much. But last night Trump told us in the spin room afterwards that he thought Lester Holt did a good job, and he said he didn't do a bad job in an interview on Fox this morning.

And Robert, today Trump has had to face questions about his taxes, as we've heard, which, you know, Hillary Clinton has been bringing up and also his rhetoric about women. Clinton criticized him last night for mocking a former miss universe, Alicia Machado's, weight and her Latino heritage. This was when Trump ran the Miss Universe pageant. And he was asked about that on Fox News this morning.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

DONALD TRUMP: She was the winner, and you know, she gained a massive amount of weight. And it was a real problem. We had a real problem - not only that - her attitude. And we had a real problem with her.

MCCAMMON: So there you hear Trump doubling down on this criticism of this woman's weight. And the Clinton campaign is pushing this hard.

SIEGEL: That was this morning. What's Trump saying to voters today? More about this, or is he trying to change the topic?

MCCAMMON: Well, you know, he's saying that he won big, that he won the debate, that it was a big-league event, as he put it in front of a crowd this afternoon of mostly Cuban-American voters in Miami. You know, he did suggest he might have been a little nervous before going onstage. He said he didn't want to hear about the expected record size of this much-watched debate.

But Trump said that polls have him winning. He was very upbeat. He said he felt like he did a good job. And you know, when he says he's winning the polls there, what he's referring to, Robert, are some unscientific online surveys that a lot of media organizations put out asking who won. The Trump campaign has been encouraging his supporters to take those surveys, and he's, you know, talking up the results.

SIEGEL: These are the so-called snap polls done right after the...

MCCAMMON: Right.

SIEGEL: ...Right after the debate. Sarah, thanks.

MCCAMMON: Thank you.

SIEGEL: That's NPR's Sarah McCammon who's in Melbourne, Fla., where Donald Trump is campaigning this evening. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Sarah McCammon worked for Iowa Public Radio as Morning Edition Host from January 2010 until December 2013.
Sarah McCammon
Sarah McCammon is a National Correspondent covering the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast for NPR. Her work focuses on political, social and cultural divides in America, including abortion and reproductive rights, and the intersections of politics and religion. She's also a frequent guest host for NPR news magazines, podcasts and special coverage.