Rubio was at ease with the crowd and recalled his first visit with the conservative activists in 2010, when he was a longshot Senate candidate in Florida.
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Donald Trump set the tone, repeating some of what he’d said before about Mexicans as criminals flooding across the border.
High media blitz surrounding the controversial Donald Trump helped rocket the first Republican presidential debate into cable network program history.
Numbers were also huge for the second-tier debate which took place earlier and featured the seven low-polling candidates who failed to make the cut for the prime-time event.
“You’ve called women you don’t like fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals”, said Kelly before she was cut off by Trump.
Trump’s presence was noticeable to those on the other side of the political aisle, too.
After the debate, Trump’s Twitter feed began filling up with retweets of praises toward himself and disparaging comments toward mediator Kelly. “I cannot say. I have to respect the… person that wins”, Trump insisted, before joking: “If I’m the nominee, I will pledge I will not run as an independent”. “I wonder what the ratings would have been if I wasn’t in the mix”, he said. Rand Paul and Gov. Christie clashed on spying by the NSA.
Republican presidential candidates (L-R) New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Sen.
“Let’s bring the party back together because ultimately, by them infighting the way they do, they’re giving the election to the Democrats”. She didn’t have a choice because I gave. “However, that is not without its downsides, in particular, when it comes to women”, Fox News personality and moderator Megyn Kelly said.
Past primary debates have drawn a fraction of Thursday night’s audience, CNN said.
Will Donald Trump’s Comments at the GOP Debate Cost Him?
Kelly confronted Trump during the debate on a number of his past comments, including remarks aimed at women.
“I’m extremely proud of all of the moderators – they asked tough, important questions and did their job as journalists”, Ailes told Politico.
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Amid all the fireworks, there was little to no chatter during the GOP debate about an issue which Republicans have obsessed for months: Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of state and the deadly 2012 attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
