Donald Trump sounds off on Megyn Kelly, Frank Luntz

That notion seems absurd at first glance.

Mr Trump was having none of it though, insisting he’d only taken issue with one woman – liberal actress Rosie O’Donnell – before rallying against political correctness. Basically, Trump did admit that he used those derogatory comments about women, just only in the direction of O’Donnell. As the two hours wore on, the headliner became part of the cast, waiting his turn to speak.

But Friday morning, things aren’t quite so Rosy and Trump is letting his contempt for the unfair way he believes Kelly treated him all hang out.

Until 2008 or so, Trump gave significant amounts of money to both Democratic and Republican causes, but during the last five years he’s turned sharply Republican.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker participates in the Republican presidential primary debate on August 6, 2015 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.

Trump said he could not pledge to support the nominee “if it’s not me”, adding that it would have to be someone he respected.

This is a favoured topic for the businessman but it was the first time he’d mentioned including “a big handsome door” on the wall to let legal immigrants through. All of those donations came during Clinton’s tenure as senator from Trump’s home state of New York, from 2000 to 2009. But even at his most outlandish, he could not eclipse the other personalities onstage in the same way he has done all summer.

The campaign for 2016 has begun with the first GOP debate and it was a good one. He was the guy who didn’t talk like a politician.

In a weird segment where the moderators of the headliner debate were schmoozing live on camera with the top 10 candidates whose debate they were about to moderate, Kelly actually told the assembled candidates that they were lucky they didn’t have to face Fiorina because during the early debate Fiorina had “opened up a can of …” But there are to be nine more debates, and countless media interviews lie ahead.

The most heated exchange of the night, however, did not include Trump. It stemmed from Sen.

Rand Paul immediately jumped in to challenge Trump on his refusal to commit to supporting the party nominee.

Christie defended his support of the Patriot Act and the National Security Agency’s controversial practice of collecting phone records, reflecting on his time as U.S. Attorney in New Jersey and declaring that he “will make no apologies ever for protecting the lives and safety of the American people”. The gap refers to the Democratic party advantage among women voters. GOP hawks are still searching for a contender, and Christie, a former prosecutor, gets them juiced when he dismisses Paul as a libertarian on a “subcommittee blowing hot air”. There are many things that make him stand out from the rest of the Republican field but surely the most striking is that he is already a brand in his own right. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee wants to do away with the income tax entirely and finance the government with sales taxes. It was a charming summation with a neat barb in it, but it was perhaps the only time he broke through all evening.

Democrats did not debate on Thursday night, but Hillary Clinton still snagged some media attention online. Every one of us must fight for it because we’re fighting for our children and the next generation, ‘ he said, to loud cheering. The job in these debates is to act presidential and Huck passed that test with high grades. 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.