The debate deteriorated within minutes into a name-calling shouting match mostly devoid of substantive talk about issues and policies, in large part because Trump incessantly interrupted and hectored Biden. Those close to the campaign said they worry that Trump came off as too aggressive, particularly with his attacks on Biden's son Hunter's drug use.
With his interruptions, Trump was trying to "correct the record," said a source close to the campaign, who said that the approach had been planned but that it came off poorly. "The intention was right, but the delivery could have been better," the person said.
Other people familiar with the internal discussions said Trump hurt himself by not letting Biden talk more so he might trip up, commit a gaffe or lose his train of thought. For the next debate, they said, they are hoping Trump will step back.
"Let [Biden] talk, and let him melt on his own," one of the people said.
Trump created a controversy of his own when he failed to denounce a white supremacist group, telling the group, the Proud Boys, to "stand back and stand by." He tried to clear up controversy surrounding the comments Wednesday before he left the White House for a campaign rally: "I don't know who Proud Boys are, but whoever they are, they need to stand down and let law enforcement do their work," he said.
At the same time, Trump failed to lay out why voters should choose him, unlike in 2016, when he had a clear message about what he planned to do in office — "drain the swamp," "build the wall," "repeal Obamacare," "bring back jobs." With 34 days to go until the election, Trump has yet to articulate what a second term would entail, aside from bringing back an economy that he says is already on the rebound.
Those close to the campaign said it will take a day or two for the full effect of Tuesday's faceoff to shake out, but one person noted that donations in the hours after the debate haven't been as robust as expected.
"That was a colossal waste of time for the two candidates," said another person familiar with the situation, adding that the hope is that the debate didn't result in any voters' being moved.
While Biden didn't have a disqualifying gaffe, as many on the Trump team had hoped, those close to the campaign believe he didn't have a winning performance, either, and that may have been Trump's main accomplishment Tuesday night.
"Trump did what he set out to do," Republican donor Dan Eberhart said. "He knocked Biden off his game. The reaction to the debate has been almost universally against Trump — again, it's a rejection of his style. But Biden came off the worse of the two."
Another positive effect of the night for Trump, said the former White House official, could be to deter people outside Trump's core base of supporters from voting, which pollster Frank Luntz said he saw in a focus group with undecided voters in key states.
"They felt like the candidates behaved as though they didn't deserve to be president," Luntz told CNBC on Wednesday. "I would have said that we're going to have the biggest turnout ever. What happened last night actually encouraged people not to vote."