Donald Trump overshadows Republican debate even as he sits it out

With Trump’s absence from the main debate, the spotlight fell on Senator Ted Cruz. “Tonight, it is Donald vs. Trump, or as they are known by their celebrity couple name, Dump”.

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump hosted a fundraiser for veterans in Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday instead of attending a Republican debate on Fox News.

Fox News will still certainly argue that the debate was a big deal for the network as it was the second highest-rated telecast in the network’s 20-year history.

“Now that we’ve gotten the Donald Trump portion out of the way…”

On the plus side for Fox, CNN and MSNBC combined – the two channels that carried most of Trump’s improvised event Thursday night – drew less than a quarter of the debate audience.

Trump has raised the issue of “anchor babies” in the United States more than any other candidate, regularly suggesting in his stump speeches that children born on US soil to undocumented parents should not be USA citizens, as they are today considered under the law.

Fox News was poised to rule television on Thursday night with the Republican presidential debate. And judging by the tough questions Kelly put to Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and other candidates Thursday night, accusing her of bias is a dubious contention anyway.

Trump boycotted the Fox News debate – the final one before the Iowa caucuses – because he objected to host Megyn Kelly and the network’s treatment of him.

“I didn’t want to be here, to be honest, I wanted to be about five minutes away”.

“I’m a maniac, and everyone on this stage is stupid, fat and ugly”, Cruz replied.

Mr Trump’s no-show plunged the presidential race into uncharted waters just days before Iowans vote on 1 February, opening the months-long nomination process to pick the Democratic and Republican candidates for the November election. “When you’re treated badly you have to stick up to your rights…and it’s something our country needs to do”.

Turns out, Fox News didn’t have to worry about its debate ratings without Donald Trump.

“In fact, the entire hour lead up to this there was no conversation about any of the four people on this debate stage”, Santorum said.