When an Ohio Senate debate devolved into a MAGA shouting match late last week—replete with apparent threats of violence and one candidate accusing the other of being a “pussy”— the Audience of One each of the top-tier candidates has been thirstily trying to emulate for months was not amused.

One source described former President Donald Trump as “baffled” by the exchange. Two others familiar with his reaction to the near-brawl said Trump privately bashed the 2022 Ohio GOP frontrunners Josh Mandel and Mike Gibbons for—in Trump’s characterization—“acting like idiots,” following their public confrontation…

The scene of two grown men on the debate stage yelling in the other’s face attracted the cringes and bad reviews of an array of Trumpworld and conservative luminaries, including Steve Bannon, a former top Trump adviser who is no stranger to fits of trash-talk. Three longtime GOP operatives working on this Ohio race each independently described the debate footage as a “shitshow,” when asked by The Daily Beast.

But the twice-impeached ex-president, aware of the constant Trump-cosplay in the race, remarked that he “never” would have done what Mandel did that day.