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| GOP debate: Trump challenged on his policy ideas | |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| Billionaire Donald Trump struggled to explain his policy ideas – and his decision to make his Trump-branded clothing overseas, in spite of his calls to revive American manufacturing – as both the moderators and his rival candidates turned up the pressure on the front-runner in Thursday’s GOP debate. | |
| At one point, after questions from moderator Chris Wallace, Trump appeared to promise that he would move that manufacturing to U.S. factories. | |
| “I will do that,” he said. | |
| “He’s not going to do it,” Sen. Marco Rubio said. | |
| That set off a round of cross-talk and insults, with Trump saying to Rubio, “Don’t worry about it, little Marco.” | |
| Wallace interrupted them, trying to bring order back to a debate that had already – even in its first half-hour – featured a joke about genitals, an insult about Trump Steaks, and candidates repeatedly interrupting one another. Even in this campaign, in which the insult has been the main currency of political discourse, this stood out as an ugly debate. | |
| “You’ve got to do better than this,” Wallace said. | |
| Rubio returned to a line of attack that he hoped – in vain – would sway voters before Super Tuesday, saying that Trump was a phony savior. “He has spent a career convincing Americans that he’s something he’s not, in exchange for their money,” Rubio said. “Now he’s trying to do it in exchange for their country.” | |
| Wallace himself had one of most powerful moments of the early going, pressing Trump to explain a claim that he would save $300 billion from Medicare drug purchases, when the U.S. only spends $78 billion total on Medicare drug purchases. Trump seemed to dodge the question, despite Wallace’s repeated efforts to pin him down. | |
| *************** | |
| Thursday night’s Republican debate began with a question for billionaire front-runner Donald Trump. Earlier Thursday, Mitt Romney — the 2012 Republican presidential nominee – had called Trump a “phony,” and challenged Trump to campaign without insults. How did Trump respond? | |
| With an insult. | |
| “Well, look, he was a failed candidate,” Trump said of Romney. “He failed miserably.” | |
| [The Fox News GOP debate transcript, annotated] | |
| That, it turned out, was the most high-minded portion of the early minutes of Thursday’s debate. Within its first 10 minutes, Trump had made what may have been the first reference – although a slightly veiled one — by a presidential debater to his or her own genitals. | |
| “He hit my hands. Nobody has ever hit my hands,” Trump said, referring to Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), who had indeed said that Trump’s hands were small in recent days, and intimated the same another part of Trump’s anatomy. Trump noted that: Rubio, he said, had implied “Something else must be small.” | |
| Trump spoke to the national TV audience. “I guarantee you there’s no problem,” Trump said. | |
| This debate was a particularly raucous one, with audiences booing and cheering the attacks between the candidate, and Trump and Rubio talking over each other. | |
| Rubio, in a moment that was only slightly less unprecedented than Trump’s self-assessment, defending his strategy of personally attacking Trump. Effectively, he said Trump had started it. | |
| “Donald Trump has basically mocked everybody with personal attacks,” Rubio said. “If there’s anyone who’s ever deserved to be attacked that way, it was Donald Trump.” | |
| Also onstage was Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. | |
| The debate, which is being televised on the Fox News Channel, began at 9 p.m. It is being held in Detroit, where voters there and across Michigan will vote in the state primaries on Tuesday. | |
| Earlier in the day in a speech in Utah, Romney echoed a criticism that Rubio and Cruz have been making for a week: That Trump is a con artist, selling Americans on promises he can’t keep. | |
| “Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud,” Romney said in a speech Thursday morning at the University of Utah’s Hinckley Institute of Politics. “His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University. He’s playing the American public for suckers: He gets a free ride to the White House, and all we get is a lousy hat.” | |
| [Romney: Trump is ‘a phony, a fraud.’] | |
| Trump struck back within hours, with a personal cutdown of Romney — whom Trump had endorsed during the 2012 GOP primary. He called Romney a “choke artist” and a “failed candidate.” | |
| “You can see how loyal he is,” Trump said. “He was begging for my endorsement. I could’ve said, ‘Mitt, drop to your knees,’ and he would’ve dropped to his knees. He was begging. True. True. He was begging me.” | |
| Trump may also face questions about a Washington Post report, published Thursday afternoon, which found that Trump has only given away about half of the $6 million he said he’d raised for veterans’ groups during a fundraiser in Iowa in January. | |
| [What ever happened to all that money Trump raised for the veterans?] | |
| Thursday’s debate comes at a crucial point in this entirely unexpected GOP primary. Trump dominated the primaries of Super Tuesday this week, and now he has a significant lead over his top rival, Cruz, in the race for Republican convention delegates. | |
| But in a divided field, Trump has still won less than half of all the delegates awarded so far. That leaves his opponents with a viable — but risky and destructive — strategy. The only way to stop Trump from winning the nomination may be to stop anyone from winning it: dividing up the delegates so that no one has a majority. | But in a divided field, Trump has still won less than half of all the delegates awarded so far. That leaves his opponents with a viable — but risky and destructive — strategy. The only way to stop Trump from winning the nomination may be to stop anyone from winning it: dividing up the delegates so that no one has a majority. |
| Then, the theory goes, the party would head into a chaotic convention — the first true “floor fight” for any party in decades — and hope that a candidate other than Trump would emerge. | Then, the theory goes, the party would head into a chaotic convention — the first true “floor fight” for any party in decades — and hope that a candidate other than Trump would emerge. |
| The front-runner is likely to come under furious attack from Cruz and Rubio, who have sought to portray Trump as untrustworthy. They frequently mention “Trump University,” which was not a school but a series of real-estate seminars and now is the subject of three lawsuits in which students say Trump bilked them with misleading promises. | |
| [What Trump said under oath about the Trump University fraud claims — just weeks ago] | |
| Rubio and Cruz had given Trump a pass for months before turning on him at the last debate a week ago. A few days later, on Super Tuesday, Rubio said that those last-minute attacks had worked, and that they had cut into Trump’s leads in states such as Virginia. | Rubio and Cruz had given Trump a pass for months before turning on him at the last debate a week ago. A few days later, on Super Tuesday, Rubio said that those last-minute attacks had worked, and that they had cut into Trump’s leads in states such as Virginia. |
| The problem was that Trump still won Virginia and six other states. | The problem was that Trump still won Virginia and six other states. |
| Cruz, by contrast, won three of the states up for grabs that night. Rubio won just one. | Cruz, by contrast, won three of the states up for grabs that night. Rubio won just one. |
| In recent days, Trump has hit back against both of his top challengers, calling Rubio a “little senator” and calling Cruz a liar. He has also dismissed Romney, blaming him for the GOP’s 2012 loss to President Obama. | |
| In Thursday’s debate, Trump will also face Kelly, one of the three moderators. In the first GOP debate in August, Kelly asked Trump a question about unpleasant comments he had made about women: “How will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton, who was likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women?” | In Thursday’s debate, Trump will also face Kelly, one of the three moderators. In the first GOP debate in August, Kelly asked Trump a question about unpleasant comments he had made about women: “How will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton, who was likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women?” |
| Trump answered: “What I say is what I say. And honestly, Megyn, if you don’t like it, I’m sorry. I’ve been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be, based on the way you have treated me. But I wouldn’t do that.” | Trump answered: “What I say is what I say. And honestly, Megyn, if you don’t like it, I’m sorry. I’ve been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be, based on the way you have treated me. But I wouldn’t do that.” |
| Afterward, Trump complained that the question was too harsh, and he seemed to blame it on Kelly’s menstrual cycle. “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever,” he said. The next time Fox News hosted a debate, in Iowa, Kelly was again a moderator — but Trump boycotted the event, holding the fundraiser for veterans’ charities instead. | |
| In the lead-up to this debate, Kelly told the Associated Press that she thinks Trump — now a veteran candidate — is better prepared for the hard questions of a presidential debate. | In the lead-up to this debate, Kelly told the Associated Press that she thinks Trump — now a veteran candidate — is better prepared for the hard questions of a presidential debate. |
| “I think at this point in the game he understands better how these things go. He knows he can handle me. He can handle any interviewer,” she said. | “I think at this point in the game he understands better how these things go. He knows he can handle me. He can handle any interviewer,” she said. |
| [What to expect in Donald Trump vs. Megyn Kelly, the sequel] | [What to expect in Donald Trump vs. Megyn Kelly, the sequel] |
| Also in the debate will be Kasich, a relative moderate whose best showings in this primary season have been second-place finishes in New England states: Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire. | |
| In the last debate, Kasich did not participate in the attacks on Trump. | In the last debate, Kasich did not participate in the attacks on Trump. |
| Instead, he seemed to be holding his own private event at the side of the stage, ignoring the fighting next to him and trying to speak directly to voters. “Shoot for the stars. America’s great, and you can do it,” he said in his opening statement. | Instead, he seemed to be holding his own private event at the side of the stage, ignoring the fighting next to him and trying to speak directly to voters. “Shoot for the stars. America’s great, and you can do it,” he said in his opening statement. |
| Now, however, Kasich is under increasing pressure to fight or flee the race. | Now, however, Kasich is under increasing pressure to fight or flee the race. |
| His best hope for the nomination was that he could win in the Midwest and begin a last-minute comeback. But now, polls show him trailing badly in Michigan, where Trump is leading with the Republican primary looming March 8. One recent poll showed Kasich losing to Trump even in Ohio, which will hold its vital, winner-take-all primary March 15. | His best hope for the nomination was that he could win in the Midwest and begin a last-minute comeback. But now, polls show him trailing badly in Michigan, where Trump is leading with the Republican primary looming March 8. One recent poll showed Kasich losing to Trump even in Ohio, which will hold its vital, winner-take-all primary March 15. |
| If Kasich wants to win those states, he may have to enter the fray against Trump. | If Kasich wants to win those states, he may have to enter the fray against Trump. |
| If he doesn’t want to enter the fray, he may come under increasing pressure from other Republicans to drop out so that his voters might flow to another Trump challenger. | If he doesn’t want to enter the fray, he may come under increasing pressure from other Republicans to drop out so that his voters might flow to another Trump challenger. |
| This will be the first GOP debate without Ben Carson, who said Wednesday that he did not see a “path forward” for his campaign. Carson — a Christian conservative who last year briefly challenged Trump for the lead in national GOP polls — has not yet formally suspended his campaign. | |
| Instead, Carson said he would not attend Thursday’s debate. On Friday he will make a speech about his future at the Conservative Political Action Conference, a major gathering of conservatives at a hotel in the Maryland suburbs of Washington. | Instead, Carson said he would not attend Thursday’s debate. On Friday he will make a speech about his future at the Conservative Political Action Conference, a major gathering of conservatives at a hotel in the Maryland suburbs of Washington. |
| Carson’s departure may not change the dynamics of the GOP race much: He has won a total of eight delegates, far behind Trump’s 319. But it will change the Republican debates, where Carson had been the anti-Trump: a low-key, cheerful presence on a stage full of big, loud egos. He didn’t fit, and was often proud to point that out. | Carson’s departure may not change the dynamics of the GOP race much: He has won a total of eight delegates, far behind Trump’s 319. But it will change the Republican debates, where Carson had been the anti-Trump: a low-key, cheerful presence on a stage full of big, loud egos. He didn’t fit, and was often proud to point that out. |
| “I’m . . . the only one to operate on babies while they were still in a mother’s womb, the only one to take out half of a brain,” he said in the first GOP debate, in one of the most memorable lines of the primary season. “Although you would think, if you go to Washington, that someone had beat me to it.” | “I’m . . . the only one to operate on babies while they were still in a mother’s womb, the only one to take out half of a brain,” he said in the first GOP debate, in one of the most memorable lines of the primary season. “Although you would think, if you go to Washington, that someone had beat me to it.” |
| For those who remain in the race, there is no time for mistakes: This is the most vital two weeks of their campaign so far. | For those who remain in the race, there is no time for mistakes: This is the most vital two weeks of their campaign so far. |
| The next states to vote will be Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana and Maine, all on Saturday. After that, the next primaries will be Tuesday, when Republicans vote in Hawaii, Michigan, Mississippi and Idaho. |