CNN presents Beto O'Rourke with brutal headlines about his 'lackluster' debate performance

Former Congressman Beto O'Rourke faced some brutal questions about the state of his campaign in a series of post-debate interviews on Wednesday morning.

O'Rourke spoke to CNN's New Day after participating in the Tuesday presidential debate, with host John Berman informing O'Rourke that The Texas Tribune published a headline that "may not be as flattering as you would like." That headline, which was subsequently put up on the screen for all to see, read, "Beto O'Rourke delivers subdued second debate performance, avoids stumbles of first round."

Twisting the knife even further, Berman pointed out that, "It wasn't just The Texas Tribune. The Washington Post called it lackluster." The question for O'Rourke then became, "what do you need to do" to change this "perception"?

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"I don't know," O'Rourke responded. "Maybe talk to the headline writers at The Texas Tribune and The Washington Post." O'Rourke argued that he actually performed quite well last night.

"I felt good," he said. "I felt strong. I felt very engaged."

The former Texas congressman also faced some tough questions in an interview on MSNBC's Morning Joe, with Mika Brzezinski pointing out that he is "sticking to" his presidential campaign rather than running for Senate as so many would prefer while asking, "What is it going to take to break through and raise those poll numbers above two percent?" O'Rourke's response was to argue that he's still the strongest candidate to defeat President Trump in Texas, where he narrowly lost a Senate race last year.

Watch the CNN segment below. Brendan Morrow