On Fox News, Trump’s absence was addressed at the outset of the debate.
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Trump has made similar statements in the past – asking CNN to make a donation to a veterans group or he wouldn’t agree to debate.
Throughout the debate, Gov. Chris Christie passed up opportunities to criticize his rivals for the GOP nomination.
Although Trump leads polls of Iowa Republicans over US Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, many voters remain undecided and are looking to the debate to aid their decision-making.
In a campaign where the front-runner wants to round up all 11 million unauthorized immigrants, Marco Rubio’s initial support of bipartisan legislation to tighten border security and offer a path to citizenship was so unpopular that he renounced his position.
Ben Carson was rumored to be on the stage as well.
The solution for Cruz and Rubio is ramped up military spending, mainly to tackle the Islamic State, which Rubio called “the most risky jihadist group in the history of mankind”, promising that “if we capture any of these ISIS killers alive, they are going to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and we’re going to find out everything they know, because when I’m president, unlike Barack Obama, we will keep this country safe”. The first vote hasn’t been counted. Trump supporters, many of them veterans wearing fatigues, service pins and caps, filled the venue’s 700-plus seats and a Jumbo-tron was set up outside for an excess crowd.
Everyone had their one-liners about Trump as the debate opened.
“I’m a maniac, everyone on this stage is stupid, fat and ugly. And Ben, you’re a awful surgeon”. Contributions to the site will go to The Donald J. Trump Foundation, Trump’s nonprofit charitable organization.
“I was on Trump’s doorstep until this whole thing happened”.
“It’s delicate for the candidates because you have to pull back from attacking a man who is not there”, said Ari Fleischer, who was White House press secretary for President George W Bush.
I also think the war on drugs has disproportionately affected our African-American community, and what we need to do is make sure that the war on drugs is equal protection under the law and that we don’t unfairly incarcerate another generation of young African-American males.
But for most of the night, he was ignored.
Trump’s family joined him at the event and he noted that his daughter, Ivanka, was due to give birth in two weeks.
He told his personal story of injury and recovery to applause.
His rival event – a rally and fundraiser for veterans – caused a split-screen atmosphere for GOP voters and even drew two of his competitors to join him. Rick Santorum, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore – could be the final one of this cycle.
Ted Cruz claimed “God has blessed this country” with a ton of oil and gas.
He survived – but it wasn’t always pretty.
“I would note that that the last four questions have been, ‘Rand, please attack Ted. Jeb, please attack Ted…'”
Some commenters said afterwards that this was the campaign they’d all been hoping for. Cruz managed to recover with a brittle little joke: “If you guys ask one more mean question, I may have to leave the stage”.
Cruz commanded the stage early in the debate, and withstood most of his opponents’ punches – particularly because none were criticisms he hadn’t heard before. But he wasn’t about to let Trump off that easily. Chris Christie, former Gov. Jeb Bush, Gov. John Kasich and Sen. And they were Thursday night.
Others picked up the beat, even when the question was not specifically about Trump.
“Ivanka, it would be great if you had your baby in Iowa”, he said.
Paul virtuously replied, “I don’t blame Hillary Clinton at all for this”-going on to say that in any industry other than politics, Bill Clinton would have been thrown out of office and “shunned”. He pointed to “Judeo-Christian values that encourage us to reach out to the less fortunate”. Here’s what Cruz is talking about. “I was disappointed”, said Bryan Moon of West Des Moines, Iowa, who was attending an event for Republican Marco Rubio. Now you and I and numerous people in this audience, if we get a $100 fine, we can survive it. If you’re living on the edge of poverty and you get a $100 fine or your vehicle towed, a lot of times you lose your job.
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Paul – once an undercard debate-skipper himself and facing the potential for exclusion from ABC News’ debate before the New Hampshire primary – had a good night showcasing his libertarian leanings.
