As you know, the final Republican debate before the voting actually begins on Monday went ahead without the clear Republican frontrunner, Donald Trump. Let’s review what we learned from seeing how these guys (and they were all guys, as Carly Fiorina, along with Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee, didn’t make the cut) performed without Trump’s outsized presence on stage with them.
In a word, they were awful. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio spent much of the debate trying to tear each other apart to prove how soft the other one was on immigration. Rubio also had a couple of especially bizarre moments when he declared that he was not a savior; that the only savior was (I believe this is an exact quote) “Jesus Christ who came to earth and died for our sins”; and that he was hoping to spend eternity with his Creator; all the while speaking in the exact same rapid-fire monotone that he uses to talk about tax policy. You’d think he could muster something resembling a human emotion when discussing what is presumably the core of his faith. It was strange and unappealing. He did himself no favors last night, IMHO.
Cruz, for his part, did not weather the assault on his supposedly consistent conservative principles well. He was on the defensive most of the night, and he looked it. The consensus reaction, as far as I can tell, is that Cruz failed to capitalize on what should have been a big opportunity for him to control the stage without Trump and to solidify his generally decent poll numbers. Didn’t happen.
The others? Good Lord. We were reminded of just what a bullying, boorish, unpleasant person Chris Christie actually is – he’s just been overshadowed by Trump’s even more outlandish behavior. I can’t imagine anyone walked away from last night’s debate thinking, gosh, it would be great to hear from this guy every day for four years. Rand Paul, as usual, made some decent policy points, but in a peevish, whiny way that is distinctly un-presidential. Carson … well, he didn’t make any more sense than he did the last time, and his closing statement consisted of reciting the preamble to the Constitution (and screwing it up, saying “benefits of liberty” instead of “blessings of liberty”). So, enough said on that.
Kasich, as usual, came across as a generally decent guy who isn’t totally clear on why he’s running for president. His positions are too conservative for anyone left of center to consider him, but too moderate for the GOP. He’s a man without a party, and he will not be the nominee.
Which brings us to Jeb!. Everyone thinks – and I agree – that last night was by far his best debate performance. But the reason is painfully clear: it’s because Trump wasn’t there. Jeb simply cannot handle Trump, and you can’t be president if you can’t function in the presence of an unpleasant guy in your own party. So, even though Jeb had a good night, he also had a bad one.
In short, nobody on stage last night made a credible case for why voters should pick him rather than the guy who didn’t show up. All indications so far seem to be that Trump did, indeed, win the debate by skipping it. Polls still have him ahead in Iowa, and the murmurs are growing ever louder within the GOP that if he wins it, he’ll win it all, especially given his much larger lead in NH.
What a year.
One thing I would add would be that Christie is desperate and had to throw that anti-abortion stuff out there in one last quest for base votes. It sounded forced, though I know he’s been staunchly Catholic/anti-abortion all along.
With Kasich picking up steam, there’s not many votes left for Christie.
Trump has generated a lot of interest in this race. It would be a snooze fest otherwise.
Jeb might be picking up steam, or Kasich, or the ghost of Eisenhower. The polls are a mess.
I thought Christie had the best moment of the debate when he pointed at Rubio and Cruz arguing who supported what when and called them Washington guys. Don’t think he capitalized on it well enough, though. Christie has been good in debates at implicitly siding with the viewer “get a load of these guys”, but hasn’t been able to build a following on that the way that Nick Clegg did at one point in the UK.
legislatures face with all the procedural votes and whatnot. They just have to learn not to talk like Senators.
The Ghost of Eisenhower has been a registered Democrat since late 1999.
Kelly is good at her job. She got Christie on a good Yay NSA rant, and then went right to Rand, thus generating an exchange that was actually illuminating. Same thing with one of the immigration exchanges with Rubio and Cruz. I did not expect to think that.
Trump will be their nominee and the Republican Party will dissolve into bedlam.
We progressives need to take advantage of this opportunity to unite behind our nominee, whoever that is, then focus our resources to win back a more progressive Congress to move our country forward.
Fred Rich LaRiccia
Debate 12.5 vs. all channels covering Trump combined at 2.5.
While it’s not the 22 million number, but by comparison the last Republican debate was 11 million. So Fox did well.
Did the candidates take that opportunity, well that’s a different story.
Many things can still happen. For example, once candidates start dropping out the power of those that remain will grow significantly. Trump has passionate supporters, but they are a 2-1 minority of Republicans. A strong majority can’t stand him. The only reason he’s gotten as far as he has is that the field is so fragmented, and the media can make money by building him up into a colossus with the help of his hair and his hate. Things will look very different in six weeks and, I predict, worse for Trump.
While it’s of course true that Trump commands only a plurality of GOP voters, it’s a bigger plurality than anyone else, and the likelihood of anyone other than him who is polling halfway decently (i.e., Cruz or Rubio) dropping out any time soon is negligible. Sure, if Carson, Christie, Paul, Kasich, Jeb, and the rest of the bottom of the pack all drop out after Iowa or NH, and none of those voters goes to Trump, maybe Cruz or Rubio ends up looking a lot better. But, honestly, I think that’s unlikely. They’ve come this far; personal pride (to say nothing of their SuperPAC donors) won’t let them bail that quickly. More likely, they stick it out, keeping a fragmented field in place, with Trump continuing to lead. Remember, while he and Cruz are close in Iowa polling, Trump is way ahead practically everywhere else.
yet I fear you are wrong.
I believe Trump is the most dangerous demagogue in America today and that he will be the standard bearer for the Republican Party.
I hope I am wrong yet I fear I am right.
Fred Rich LaRiccia