The Final Four: post-Super Tuesday Debate Recap
Another Republican debate, another vicious, WWE-style, blood-spouting…well, we’ve heard all the adjectives at this point. Here’s what went down:
Donald Trump defended his penis size. Yup, that happened in a presidential debate. This is the world we live in now.
He is running away with the nomination, so all guns were focused on him. He took a lot of attacks as devastating as they were four months too late to make a difference (in all likelihood).
As with the last debate, he stood between Cruz and Rubio, and took damage from both sides. They’ve both gotten better at countering his rudeness and fighting fire with fire, highlighted by this exchange:
CRUZ: But, Donald, please, I know it’s hard not to interrupt. But try.
TRUMP: Yeah, I know it is. But it’s not what you said in the op-ed.
CRUZ: Breathe, breathe, breathe.
TRUMP: Lyin’ Ted.
CRUZ: You can do it. You can breathe. I know it’s hard. I know it’s hard. But just…
RUBIO: When they’re done with the yoga, can I answer a question?
CRUZ: You cannot.
(LAUGHTER)
RUBIO: Unbelievable.
CRUZ: I really hope that we don’t — we don’t see yoga on this stage.
RUBIO: Well, he’s very flexible, so you never know.
If this *were* WWE, he would definitely be being tag-teamed, with Rubio landing a flying bodyslam over the ropes.
The attacks were real and substantive:
He’s a bad businessman. He’s sued for running a fraudulent university. He hired immigrants over Americans at his resorts.
Where were these attacks four months ago? It’s not like any of them are new developments, like the ones Trump put his name on that went bust and cost buyers hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The moderators were tough on everybody but went full force at Trump — following up on his claims of how he’d pay for tax cuts by showing the ridiculous math on a giant screen. Occasional nemesis Megyn Kelley challenged him in the same way she’d been to Rubio and Cruz in previous debates — by showing clips of him making contradictory statements on various issues. This inconsistency was buttressed by the allegation he told the New York Times off-the-record that he wasn’t serious about his deportation plan. He has recordings of the conversation, but refuses to release them, apparently because they are stuck in a box with his tax returns.
In response to the attacks, Trump typically spun excuses, but he also did an unprecedented thing for GOP debates — he admitted he’d changed his mind. Specifically, he said plainly he’d softened his stance on H1B visas for skilled workers, and there was nothing wrong about being flexible (this was before the yoga exchange).
It must madden Cruz and Rubio, who have spent the entire campaign arguing about how they were the most consistent conservative, to hear someone say “well, I’m flexible” and poll at 49%.
Despite the sharp questions, Trump described the debate as “tough but fair,” avoiding speculation of whether Megyn Kelley had you-know-what coming out of you-know-where. Just because he talks about his dick onstage doesn’t mean he’s low-class, guys.
Okay, so enough Trump. How did the other candidates do?
Cruz did well, aside from literally eating a booger — perhaps it wasn’t presidential material? He put on his best statesmanlike demeanor and basically said “I’m in second, it’s me or him,” while attacking Trump for abandoning conservative principles which seemed really important not that long ago. Many in the establishment generally found Trump more palatable than Cruz, but apparently that’s changed in the last week, perhaps after his mysterious one-time refusal to disavow the KKK.
Rubio was decent, but his voice had a tired, raspy tone, like the voice of someone whose tie was half undone staring into a glass of whiskey in a quiet piano bar; perhaps he’ll be there come July. He made all his points well, as he has made them before, but if they weren’t biting then why would they start biting now?
Kasich came across really well, saying people saw him as “the adult on the stage” and the crowd roared in agreement. Has there ever been a party as angry at itself as the Republicans right now?
Since no other candidates bothered attacking him, Kasich didn’t take damage but also didn’t talk much. At times you forgot he was even there, standing to the side of a verbal fistfight that he could have filmed for WorldStarHipHop. However, when he got his turn he generally gave an inspiring defense of his core message he actually has a good, consistent, long record in government and is ready to step in and make progress quickly.
If it were three months ago I’d have thought he was a big winner, and I have to give him credit for repeating the “I succeeded in Ohio, I succeeded in Washington, I’m ready to do it again” line until it is finally getting noticed.
He’s also surprisingly pro-war, given his Andy Griffith persona. He says the mix of air power, special ops that we have so far been employing in Libya and Syria is isn’t going to work and that we need ground troops to be able to win. He may be right that it isn’t going to work, at least in the near term — but what will? Would the cost in lives and money of starting another war be preferable to the cost of occasional, mostly-European terror attacks that come with trying to tip the scales a few itty bitty bombs at a time? It’s a tough sell.
For better or for worse, Kasich has made a difference in this race by causing Rubio to miss the key 20% delegate threshold in a number of states. His hope is if he wins Ohio and it goes to a brokered convention, he could end up a surprise candidate simply by being the one nobody objects to. That said, I can’t see the GOP appointing a candidate over the one who clearly dominated without completely losing the support of the 30-50% of their voters supporting Trump.
The questions are if a) these final salvos against Trump are enough to get to deny him a delegate majority, b) if him running will split the Republican party into two parties (literally, not figuratively like it already has), and c) how much this will hurt them in a general election, if the record turnouts Trump has inspired are outweighed by the number of conservatives who refuse to vote for him or (gasp) pick Hillary instead.
March 15 is supposedly the final day of reckoning, with five states voting including Ohio and Florida. That said, four states vote tomorrow and they are all expected to go heavily for Trump. March 15 might just be the date that the rest of the GOP has to reckon with the fact that Trump will be their nominee — and it doesn’t serve them to be big dicks about it.
