People close to Trump are admitting he got thrashed by Hillary Clinton on Monday. But they're doing so on condition of anonymity and pharaoh is displeased.

In a conference call with surrogates Wednesday afternoon, Trump aides made clear the Republican nominee is upset that his allies publicly acknowledged they pushed him to change his preparation and tactics before his next bout with Hillary Clinton. And he wants them to stop it immediately. The message was "not subtle," a source familiar with the call said. Trump wants his supporters to make an energetic defense of his performance and refuse to concede that he didn't nail it.

The hope among his aides was that the shellacking (YouGov had her 57/30 percent, CNN 62/27 and PPP 51/40) would convince him to study for the next one, but in Trump's view, the only debate poll that mattered is the WhiteCultureDefenseAndPepeMemes.com javascript clicker and it had him way ahead.

Accompanying this lurid shitshow is a) the suspicion it's all a ruse and that Trump really is going to prepare for the next one, and b) the knowledge that none of it matters anyway.