"I think he misspoke," Sen. Tim Scott, R-South Carolina, a supporter of the President's, told reporters on Capitol Hill.
"I think he should correct it," Scott said. "If he doesn't correct it, I guess he didn't misspeak."
Later, Trump made an attempt at clarification, telling reporters at the White House he'd never heard of the extremist group Proud Boys, whom he told to "stand by" the previous evening.
"I don't know who Proud Boys are," he said, departing for a campaign rally in Minnesota. "But whoever they are they have to stand down, let law enforcement do their work."
But pressed on whether he welcomes support from white supremacists, Trump said only, "I want law and order -- it's a very important part of my campaign."
I wonder if that counts as "correcting it" to Tim Scott.
I doubt it does privately. I wonder what he will say publicly.
Then there is this:
Still, even that reaction hasn't prompted widespread discussions inside the White House about issuing a clarifying statement.
"I don't think that there's anything to clarify. He's told them to stand back" White House communications director Alyssa Farah said Wednesday morning, without mentioning Trump's other call for them to "stand by."
His staff has told him that it was the greatest debate performance in the history of presidential debates.
The next format is town hall and he has done better in those, but it might be that Biden's presence triggers him somehow.
We'll see, as both sides have already said they would be there.