The fourth Republican debate in the search for a 2016 presidential nominee was characterized by a steady stream of attacks against front-runner Donald Trump and mistake-free performances by Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas, two up-and-coming USA senators in the race.
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Both Donald Trump and Ben Carson will again be center stage during tonight’s main stage GOP debate on Fox Business Channel, but the person feeling the most heat may be Jeb Bush.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, also well behind, focused on Florida Sen.
Former CEO of Hewlett-Packard Carly Fiorina criticized Trump for being naïve about the threat Putin posed, and said she would not negotiate with the Russian president.
John Kasich speaks during Tuesday’s GOP debate. Around 50 percent of voters in several recent national polls prefer Trump, Carson or Fiorina, all of which have never held elected office. Carson took a milder tone during most of the contentious policy debates of the night.
Here are a few other takeaways from the Milwaukee matchup.
“We need to control the border, just like people have to control who comes in and out of their house”, Kasich said.
“We either have a country or we don’t have a country”, Trump said.
Trump hit back by saying: “We need borders”.
“For the 11 million people, c’mon folks”.
“They’re doing high fives in the Clinton campaign now when they hear this”, he added.
“You should let Jeb speak”, Donald Trump chastised John Kasich to no avail as the OH governor talked over Jeb Bush, who had politely waited his turn. “Think about the children”. Carson has faced a series of reports in the past week casting doubt on his stories about his violent outbursts as a youth and a scholarship he said he was offered to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
“How can you be conservative and be for unlimited military spending?” Paul asked, pointing to Rubio’s plans to expand the military.
Cruz interjected that there’s a way to “split the difference”. “Dwight Eisenhower. You don’t get nicer, you don’t get friendlier.
Try not defending it”.
The responses from candidates sent a firestorm of reaction from protesters on social media, along with supporters who do not want a minimum wage increase suggested by the #FightFor15 cause. “Some people needed to have a great night and didn’t”. Kasich and Cruz had a testy exchange late in the debate on whether big banks should be propped up with federal help as they fail. He said the deal would harm US workers and stressed the danger in allowing China to continue to manipulate its currency.
Opposing Trump’s deportation plan might have been a risky move; earlier this year, Trump’s plan has had support among Republicans paying attention to the debate. Though the moderators and candidates certainly got along better than in the last go-round, it wasn’t all smooth sailing on stage.
“Hillary Clinton has said that Barack Obama’s policies get an ‘A.’ Really?”. “It’s not the best America can do”.
In what has now become the norm in Republican debates, the candidates lined up on their respective sides in the immigration conversation. Yet moderators touched only lightly on that topic. “What I do have a problem with is being lied about”.
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He argued he’d been scrutinized more than Clinton, successfully pivoting the discussion from himself to the Democratic front-runner.
