Igor Bobic<\/span> Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Thursday complained that he received unfair treatment from NBC News anchor Lester Holt, who moderated the first presidential debate in New York on Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cDuring the debate the other night, I had to put up with the anchor and fight the anchor all the time on everything I said,\u201d Trump said at a campaign rally in New Hampshire. \u201cWhat a rigged deal. I tell you we\u2019re in such a rigged system. It is terrible. What\u2019s going on in this country is so sad.\u201d<\/p>\n During the debate, Holt pressed Trump over a number of issues, including his support for the Iraq War and the years he spent pushing a debunked conspiracy about President Barack Obama\u2019s birthplace.<\/p>\n But when a CNN reporter asked Trump about Holt\u2019s performance immediately after the debate on Monday, Trump gave the veteran newsman high marks.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought Lester did a great job. Honestly, I thought Lester did a great job,\u201d Trump said<\/a>, adding that Holt\u2019s questioning as moderator had been \u201cvery fair.\u201d<\/p>\n The GOP nominee\u2019s impression of Holt gradually degraded over the next several days, however, amid numerous polls that showed him losing the match-up against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Trump also appeared angry<\/a> with a number of his campaign aides,who fretted \u2015 anonymously<\/a> \u2015 in an article published by The New York Times about his unwillingness to prepare for the debate.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, the morning after the debate, Trump said on Fox News that Holt appeared \u201cmore than a little<\/a>\u201d biased against him. The following day, in an appearance on Fox News\u2019s \u201cThe O\u2019Reilly Factor,\u201d\u00a0Trump said that Holt earned a \u201cC\u201d grade<\/a> and that his opinion had changed after the debate.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I first did it, I thought he was fine, I wasn\u2019t thinking about it, but when I reviewed it and when I saw all of the commentary \u2014\u00a0because a lot of people thought he was terrible \u2014\u00a0and I looked at all of the commentary, I realized he was much, much tougher on me than he was on Hillary, it was like day and night,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Holt wasn\u2019t the only target of Trump\u2019s anger. On Tuesday, he complained about a faulty microphone, which he suggested might have been set up to undermine his performance.<\/p>\n \u201cI wonder if it was set up that way,\u201d he said<\/a>. \u201cIt was terrible.\u201d<\/p>\n Editor\u2019s note: Donald Trump regularly <\/em>incites political violence<\/em><\/a> and is a<\/em>serial liar<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>rampant xenophobe<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>racist<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>misogynist<\/em><\/a> and <\/em>birther<\/em><\/a> who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims \u2014 1.6 billion members of an entire religion \u2014 from entering the U.S.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n<\/a> <\/span>Associate Politics Editor, The Huffington Post<\/span><\/p>\n