Moderator confronts Donald Trump about misogynistic comments in most heated

Donald Trump steals the spotlight at a rowdy Republican presidential debate. His startling declaration left his onstage rivals scrambling to compete for attention the rest of the night. “I can totally make that pledge”, he said.

Kelly also mentioned that Trump had once told a contestant on NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees.

Before the debate on Thursday night, seven Republican presidential candidates who have lower support in public opinion surveys gathered. Sanders and populistus like him may not put it the same way as Trump, but they’re as comfortable with rhetoric that suggests countries like China are “beating” the U.S. because of free trade as Trump is. Many of them strongly criticized Hillary Clinton.

That should not have come as a surprise, given his many statements of independence in the past, but it had a different ring to it on this stage on this night.

A Fox spokeswoman confirmed the problems and said “an unprecedented, overwhelming demand caused server issues in the debate live stream”. “We’re not going to win by doing what Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton do each and every day: dividing the country, saying, creating a grievance kind of environment”.

“The great majority of people coming here have no other option”, Bush said.

No one won big Thursday, and no one doomed their campaign.

While the others caught their breath, Mr Trump returned to talk about building a wall along America’s border with Mexico to tackle illegal immigrants.

Trump didn’t deny it. And when Kelly was undeterred by his attempt to laugh off her question with a joke about comedian Rosie O’Donnell, he fired back. Having devoted several days to debate preparation, he came off as scripted in what was his first formal debate in more than a decade.

For the sake of comparison, the highest-rated Republican primary debates in 2011 and 2012 were watched by approximately 5% of households.

After the candidates had had their chance at convincing the audience of why they would make a good Republican nominee, it was the turn of their spin-doctors.

Fox News used national polls to determine which 10 candidates would be on the stage, and several candidates were grouped together in the single digits – most separated by a number smaller than the polls’ margin of error.

The argument between the two men showed the tension within the Republican Party.

Chris Christie and Rand Paul, however, were determined to be heard and went into battle against each other over mass surveillance and fighting terrorism. He said he wanted to collect more information from terrorists, not law-abiding Americans. “Listen, senator, you know, when you’re sitting in a subcommittee, just blowing hot air about this, you can say things like that”, he said. But none of that has gone to former governor Jeb Bush or current Florida Sen. “This election can not be a résumé competition”.

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, surgeon and tea party favorite Ben Carson and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee rounded out the debate lineup.

The crowded field meant limited talking time for candidates, many of whom were introducing themselves to Americans for the first time. Sure, there were minimal follow up questions and candidates largely were able to recite their canned responses but the debate did a decent job of highlighting the contrasts in personality, temperament and positions of the candidates.