Trump Media share price plunges following disastrous debate as criticism of ABC moderators continues

The share price of Trump Media plunged more than 10 per cent a day after majority shareholder Donald Trump gave a widely panned presidential debate performance against Vice President Kamala Harris.

The company’s stock price closed at its lowest level since the Truth Social app owner began publicly trading as DJT on the Nasdaq in late March.

Investing in Trump Media stock is often seen as a way to bet on the political fortunes of Trump, the former president and current Republican nominee.

Trump Media has said its business hinges at least partly on Trump’s popularity, and analysts say the company’s value will rise or fall based on his electoral prospects.

The stock drop Wednesday could signal that some Trump’s supporters were not pleased with what they saw at Tuesday night’s debate in Philadelphia.

Liberal and conservative political commentators said Harris appeared more prepared, articulate and even-keeled than Trump, who repeatedly bit on bait that she tossed to throw him off topic.

Harris’ team, projecting confidence, challenged Trump to another debate right after the first one ended.

Trump said he may not agree to that. In a Truth Social post Wednesday, he repeated his claim that Harris only wanted another debate because she was “beaten badly.”

“Why would I do a Rematch?” he wrote in the post.

That’s despite earlier telling Fox News host Sean Hannity in a post-debate interview that he would possibly do a second debate “on a fair network” after Hannity suggested such an event in October.

“I think it would be fair. You would be fair, actually, you want to know the truth,” Trump told him.

The criticism of the perceived bias of ABC moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis, who both fact-checked Trump on some of his claims in several instances has continued in the wake of the debate, with noted conservative commentator Megyn Kelly leading the charge.

“I’m disgusted. I’m ashamed of those moderators at ABC News. They did exactly what their bosses wanted them to do,” she said.

“I think it was so bad, their bias against him and towards her, that it’s going to backfire. I actually think the American public is going to see through this and there’s probably going to be some empathy for Trump.”

She also lambasted Taylor Swift for the pop megastar’s Instagram endorsement of Harris, telling her: “You can kiss your sales to the Republican audience goodbye, Taylor. Hope you enjoyed them while you had them.”

Trump Media had surged as much as 10 per cent during trading earlier on Tuesday, possibly indicating optimism about how Trump would fare in the debate.

The company’s gains on Monday and Tuesday were a respite from a weekslong rout that saw the stock price sink as much as 75 per cent from its intraday high in late March, when then-privately held Trump Media merged with a blank-check firm.

The slump coincided with President Joe Biden dropping out of the presidential race and endorsing Harris to replace him at the top of the Democratic ticket.

It also came in the run-up to the date when Trump and other company insiders can start selling their shares.

Trump owns nearly 57 per cent of the company’s stock. That stake at Wednesday’s closing price was worth about $US1.9 billion ($2.8b).

It is unclear if Trump plans to start selling off his stake when a lock-up agreement lifts on September 19.