The debate turned into a slugfest with front-runner Donald Trump in particular feeling the heat.
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He may not have imagined, however, that he’d be asked mean questions.
“The question on the women, I didn’t say many of those things”, he said.
Was Trump serious when he told me he would only run as a Republican, or was he serious on Thursday night when he said he wouldn’t rule it out? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section at the bottom of the page. “Does that sound like the temperament of a man we should elect as president?”
“It taps into a perception that’s been around for decades now that the challenges that different groups of women face are not front and center for the GOP and that Democrats will take these concerns more seriously”, he adds.
“Those had nothing to do with politics, unlike what you’re doing by cutting speeches on the floor of the Senate, then putting them on the Internet within half an hour to raise money for your campaign”, Christie said. Trump seemed put off by the query.
Kasich had the lowest poll numbers of the GOP candidates going into the prime-time debate, but he received a warm welcome from his home state crowd and won praise for a series of answers that stood out, including his response about same-sex marriage.
“Wow, @megynkelly really bombed tonight”. “Trump was a clown show”, tweeted Fox News contributor Stephen Hayes. Indeed, the premise of Trump’s candidacy is that he will use leverage to make sure America stops “losing” to the likes of China, Japan, and Mexico.
With Fox News having the exclusive telecast, viewers who don’t have cable were forced to look elsewhere for videos streams and clips. Commenting on the Planned Parenthood dispute, he said: “I’m not sure we need a half-billion dollars for women’s health issues”.
“If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t even be talking about illegal immigration, Chris”.
Before dawn, he had retweeted a post calling Kelly a “bimbo”.
Even Breitbart’s Ben Shapiro, who agreed that Trump “looked like a victim, not an aggressor”, found the candidate lacking in conservatism: “Trump’s leftist positions and ideological incoherence were exposed”.
“I’ve always had a positive experience around Donald”. Perhaps he might have used that charm on Twitter rather than devolving to a slight teenage-level tantrum.
Of course instant, constant bombast is Trump’s brand, so one could argue that these tweets were entirely on-message.
Last night, the first official GOP debate was filled with many, many disheartening moments. So the dodge may work, despite the uproar in the Twitterverse, after the Trump exchange. Oh, did my local farmer get pilsner from his cows this morning?
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Though it surely wasn’t his intention, Trump was illustrating the key problem with the current campaign finance system.
