GOP candidates clash over natl security in 5th debate

Let’s start with Jeb Bush and Donald Trump. “Our country is out of control”, Trump said.

At another point, Bush told Trump, “You’re never going to be president of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency”. This morning all the overnight polls and social media are pointing to him winning this debate.

As with each of the previous GOP debates, there will be a “first debate” at 6:00 p.m. ET during which Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, Lindsey Graham and George Pataki will have their say.

But not every candidate took the bait.

It wasn’t supposed to happen this way.

BUSH: … imagine what it’s going to be like dealing with Putin or dealing with President Xi. All nine had relatively strong showings, and none committed gaffes, meaning the debate may leave Tuesday’s pre-debate pecking order in place. Still, his weak poll numbers haven’t moved.

While each Republican candidate has sharpened their comments on national security in the wake of the California shooting, none has gone as far as Trump.

With tens of millions remaining in the bank behind Bush, however, there were modest signs of optimism after Tuesday night’s debate performance. “He has a wonderful temperament”, said Trump, laughing as he tried to explain why he called Cruz a “maniac” who should not be president a few weeks ago.

Since the GOP candidates last debated on November 10, ISIS murdered 130 in Paris, its sympathizers killed 14 in San Bernardino, and jittery Los Angeles Unified School District officials today shuttered all of its schools after receiving an email threat. “But he’s a chaos candidate”.

As was the case Tuesday in Las Vegas, Bush’s rivals have adopted a more measured approach with Trump recently, declining to attack him too aggressively while embracing the anti-establishment sentiment fueling his candidacy. Trump added that soon Bush may be pushed off the stage.

The immigration topic provided a bit of humor as well, courtesy of Cruz, who said he planned to build a wall along the Mexican border, and then pledged to “get Donald Trump to pay for it”, a tip of the cap to Trump who has also promised to build a wall – and to get help Mexico to foot the bill. But no one condemned the plan more pointedly than Bush. “If you think this is tough and you’re not being treated fairly, imagine dealing with Putin”, Bush said, referring to Russian leader Vladimir Putin. And he’d be a chaos president. The claim comes from a proposal Mr. Cruz offered during the debate to strip out citizenship rights, but to leave intact the ability for illegal immigrants to obtain some legal status. Marco Rubio, his fellow Floridian.

Cruz and Rubio, both the 44-year-old sons of Cuban fathers and both rising conservative stars in the party, battled over Cruz’s proposal to “carpet-bomb” areas of the Middle East controlled by Islamic State militants, also known as ISIS.

With less than two months until voting begins, Cruz is trying to pitch himself as a more electable alternative to Trump.

And Trump seems more than happy to engage with Bush.

He promised he would not run as an independent, which many have feared might split the Republican vote and hand the presidency to Hillary Clinton.

“Oh, you’re a tough guy, Jeb”, Trump shot back mockingly.

With only 47 days to go before the first nominating contest – the February 1 Iowa caucuses – Trump remains the frontrunner, according to a slew of recent polls. Are you going to apologize, Jeb?