Trump disinvited from RedState Gathering

Donald Trump pauses at the podium during the first official Republican presidential candidates debate of the 2016 US presidential campaign in Cleveland, Ohio, last week.

The smart ones are, anyway.

And the audience ate it up. Trump pointed to his lack of political correctness.

Whether the debate turmoil will snowball into more may depend on three factors: how broadly the dispute with Kelly circulates, whether it’s seen as part of a pattern of behavior and whether Republican women begin to believe Trump’s disparaging comments are about them, said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, professor at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.

There was an explosion. “I really enjoyed getting to know Donald Trump up close and personal”. This country is in big trouble. We lose to China.

That’s where Trump taking on Megyn Kelly gets risky. “I’ve been very nice to you although I could probably maybe not be based on the way you have treated me“, Trump, whose base of support is overwhelmingly male, said to a mixture of boos and applause. He also refused to apologize for making crude comments about women, defended his changing policy positions and tangled with the debate moderators.

He said he is “not a flawless man”, but he has tried to act with respect. “And that’s what’s happening whether you like it or not”, Trump said. Instead of being lapdogs for GOP positions on issues, they generally lobbed tough questions, especially when the top 10 candidates squared off in prime time.

Hometown Gov. John Kasich had some sturdy moments. Sen.

At the heart of the dispute between the unlikely front-runner for the GOP nomination for president and the television host trusted among conservatives was Trump’s treatment of women – and Kelly in particular. “People are frustrated, fed up”. What I find amusing is that I think these are precisely the two candidates that most GOP voters will NOT vote for.

But Rubio wouldn’t go along with Wallace’s attempt to start a Republican brawl, either.

“The great majority of people coming here have no other option”, Bush said. “We are the most generous country in the world when it comes to immigration”.

Fiorina and her campaign declined to talk about the concrete effects of that performance in terms of campaign fundraising – which has been lackluster thus far – or what they planned to do to take advantage of the extra attention. I felt no passion from the House of Blues crowd for anything he said. To George Pataki, the former New York governor: Who are you again?

The spat ignited during this week’s ratings-record-smashing primary debate, where the bombastic billionaire felt he was unfairly targeted by the Fox crew.

Trump was accused of dooming the fledgling U.S. Football League in 1984 when he insisted it go head to head with the NFL with a fall game schedule.

That will undoubtedly anger some Trump supporters, but after last night’s debate performance and his thin-skinned whining afterward, I wonder if that group wasn’t already in decline. Trump’s reply was, er …

“Lenders aren’t babies; these are total killers”, Trump said.

Trump later told reporters (and anyone else who’d listen) that Kelly’s question was “unprofessional” and “unfair”. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul shouted from across the stage as the crowd booed Mr. Trump.

“You’re having a hard time tonight”, Trump said.

He wasn’t awful, but he wasn’t very good.

The other Republicans on the stage largely avoided direct challenges to Trump, who has rocketed to the top of Republican opinion polls in the 2016 race.

Jeb Bush, by my reckoning, had a fair-to-middling night. Walker’s first answer exposed his extreme anti-abortion views: He wants to ban them even in cases of rape, incest or to save a woman’s life.

Roger Simon is POLITICO’s chief political columnist.