“Obviously, it was a very different dynamic tonight because we were missing the frontrunner, who decided not to come”, is how Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly began her conversation on Donald Trump with presidential hopeful Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Ohio Gov. John Kasich stand for a group photo befpre a Republican presidential primary debate, Thursday, Jan. 28, 2016, in Des Moines, Iowa.
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Cruz later faced sharp questions on immigration, national security and, perhaps most importantly, whether he was trustworthy. About one out of four of those surveyed, the largest segment being Democrats, said they wouldn’t support Trump as the nominee. If there is another drop, Trump will most likely credit his absence for the dip.
Cruz and Rubio had several exchanges during the two-hour debate.
The accidental victor, though, was Ted Cruz.
He says he likes Twitter because, “if somebody hits me, I hit them back”.
Floridian senator Marco Rubio also took the chance to lash out at Trump – accusing Mr Cruz of trying to “trump Trump” with his hardline stance on immigration.
“The only budget that Ted has ever voted for is a budget that Rand Paul sponsored that brags about cutting defense spending”.
“I think it’s important that when we’re running for the highest office in the land that we recognize that we’re living in risky times and we have to be serious about it, that our words have consequences”, Bush said. “It has to be with our friends in the Arab world and our friends in Europe, the coalition that we had when we went to the first Gulf War”, Kasich said.
Perhaps a more fair comparison would be CNN’s December 15 debate, which had 18 million total viewers, or to Fox’s August 6 debate, which had 25 million. Christie used the question as an opportunity to talk about how he would defeat IS and defend religious liberty. “And if we capture them alive, they are going to Guantanamo”.
He tells supporters that on Monday “you are going to show, as am I, that real leadership matters, that strong leadership matters and that the people of Iowa know how to pick a strong leader”. He was encouraging the other candidates to hurt one another.
“Let me say that I’m a maniac and everyone on this stage is stupid fat and ugly, and Ben, you’re a bad surgeon”, Cruz said, gesturing at retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.
Christie is part of a crowded field of more mainstream candidates who have struggled to break through in an election year where Trump, and increasingly Cruz, have tapped into voter anger with the political system. “But the fact is, every single engine of government has to move when you see a crisis like that”.
Rubio parried nicely: “Don’t worry, I’m not leaving the stage, no matter what you ask me”. “And especially what these programs are asking us to pass that will do nothing to help the environment, but will be devastating for our economy”. The last thing we need is another thin-skinned president of the United States.
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The candidates will only have to wait eight days between now and the next GOP debate.
