Donald Trump says Mike Bloomberg’s first debate was bad enough to knock him out of the race

President Trump panned former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s first Democratic debate performance as a “stumbling, bumbling” mess.

The president tweeted late Wednesday night that Mr. Bloomberg’s appearance in Las Vegas was “perhaps the worst in the history of debates, and there have been some really bad ones.”

“He was stumbling, bumbling and grossly incompetent,” Mr. Trump tweeted. “If this doesn’t knock him out of the race, nothing will. Not so easy to do what I did!”

The billionaire was on the defensive for much of the night against his Democratic rivals over his wealth, his record with female employees and his support of stop-and-frisk policies as mayor.