Trump jolts first GOP debate, rivals scramble for attention

It was one of the most highly anticipated questions ahead of Thursday night’s opening Republican presidential campaign debate: Now that Donald Trump, the billionaire populist, is the party’s front-runner – and an untested, egocentric rookie politician facing his first major test of the campaign – which version of him would show up in Cleveland? That’s code for saying he didn’t think he could get the GOP nomination if he continued to hold a position that’s toxic among most of the Republicans who vote in the party’s presidential primaries.

And there were plenty of personality conflicts, too.

The five others in the first debate heat struggled to distinguish themselves in what turned out to be a sedate affair.

Trump’s performance cooled down as the debate went on, but it still left little room for his Republican rivals to stand out on a night where each appeared to arrive with a clear strategy to do just that. “If we do not”, the report said, “our party’s appeal will continue to shrink to its core constituencies only”. “I will not make the pledge at this time”, Trump said when pressed by one of the moderators. “He’s already hedging his bet on the Clintons, OK?” said Kentucky Sen.

From former Texas Gov. Rick Perry to former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, several of the so-called “happy hour debate” candidates swung at Trump for his policy positions and his association with the Clintons.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who has been trailing in second place behind Trump in the polls, addressed the issue by stressing that he did not support “amnesty”. Seventeen Republicans are seeking the party’s nomination, but only 10 were invited by debate host Fox News to participate in the main event based on their showing in recent polls. “We’re not going to win by doing what Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton do every day – dividing the country”. He also cited his experience as a businessman negotiating health-care benefits to explain his newfound opposition to government-sponsored health care – and swatting away a Rand Paul challenge in the process.

Christie shot back: “You know, when you’re sitting in a subcommittee just blowing hot air, you can say things like this”. He continued, invoking an infamous interaction between Christie and Obama during the 2012 campaign: “I know you gave President Obama a big hug, and if you want to give him a big hug again, you go right ahead”. He said that although he personally opposes same-sex marriage, he accepts the Supreme Court’s ruling as the law of the land, recently attended a friend’s gay wedding and would love his daughters if they were lesbians. Her message for the candidates: “Tell me how you’re going to solve our problems”.

Christie, a former U.S. attorney, was dismissive.

However, Bush certainly didn’t prove himself as the unequivocal frontrunner that many in the Republican establishment once believed him to be, as other candidates like Kasich and Florida Sen.

He also defended his remarks that Mexican “rapists” and criminals were crossing illegally into the US.

Rubio also earned some of the loudest applause of the night when he offered up one of his well-used zingers to mock Clinton. And honestly, Megyn, if you don’t like it, I’m sorry. “He’s blessed the Republican Party with some very good candidates”, he said. “It never happens in the dial research that we do”, said Luntz. I couldn’t do anything about the rules and I certainly wasn’t going to have any influence over what people asked. The former Texas Senator reportedly mispronounced GOP icon and the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan – “Ronald Raven”.

Surprisingly, none of the candidates at the prime-time debate mentioned Benghazi, despite the widespread GOP criticism of Clinton related to the September 11, 2012, attack on a U.S. compound in Libya.