Posted on 08/07/2015 11:58:16 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
He pleased fans with his blustery defiance, but others saw anger and ego.
Much like the past two months of the presidential campaign, the first Republican debate on Thursday night featured all the hallmarks of a Donald Trump production. But after two hours of blustery denunciation and defiance from the former “Apprentice” star, voters may be inching closer to changing the channel.
From the opening bell, the Fox News moderators and his Republican rivals made Trump the center of attention, hammering him with contentious questions — which he would complain afterward were “not nice” — and frontal attacks. So far, the real estate mogul has thrived on the attention, positive or negative, and he made no catastrophic mistakes on Thursday. But the debate raised the question of whether exposure alone can keep propelling his candidacy.
“Those that supported him found much to like in his forcefulness, conviction and disdain for political correctness,” said Bruce Haynes, a South Carolina Republican strategist and co-founder of the moderate political consulting firm Purple Strategies. “Those who dislike him were reminded why.”
What about the undecideds? “He hurt himself with people who are still forming an opinion,” said Haynes. “They probably had a very visceral reaction to his bombast, his negativity, his pessimism. It stood in real contrast to folks like [Marco] Rubio and [Chris] Christie.”
“I don’t think it’s going to play real well with the voters who haven’t taken a good look at him, so the question is whether he starts to lose voters,” said Patrick Murray, a Monmouth University pollster. “But of course we’ve been wrong about this before.”
The debate began with a moment of high drama when Fox moderators asked any candidate who was not ready to pledge his support for the eventual Republican nominee to raise his hand, a question aimed squarely at Trump, who has held out the possibility of a third-party run. He was the only candidate whose hand went up. Trump’s answer prompted boos from his audience in Cleveland, which in turn prompted an exaggerated shrug from Trump.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul then tore into the mogul before any questions had been asked, saying “He buys and sells politicians of all stripes … He’s already hedging his bet on the Clintons.”
But for Trump’s sizable group of supporters, many of whom flocked to the hotel and golf course magnate out of disenchantment with their party, his show of disloyalty may have mattered little. “Not every conservative is a flag-waving Republican and many of them related strongly to that answer,” said Haynes.
Moderator Megyn Kelley then confronted Trump about comments he has made about women he dislikes, calling them “fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals,” to which Trump cracked, “Only Rosie O’Donnell.” The retort drew laughter from the audience and a rebuke from Kelly, who responded, “No it wasn’t.”
Trump pivoted to his standard theme of “I don’t frankly have time for total political correctness,” which played well with the audience.
The moment was reminiscent of Trump’s performance last month in Iowa at the Family Leader Summit, a conservative Christian confab in Iowa, when he was booed by many attendees for his attack on Sen. John McCain’s war hero status but quickly had them laughing and cheering again at his one-liners. Many predicted Trump’s support would collapse after those comments drew almost universal anger, but his lead in national polls and key early states only increased.
This time, said Murray, Trump could lose some support among women, a group he is currently winning by a slimmer margin than men. At times, Trump appeared to be pitted more against the Fox News moderators — Kelly in particular — than against his rival candidates.
After Kelly asked him about his negative comments about women, he told her, “I’ve been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be, based on the way you have treated me.”
Later, Kelly came after him again, confronting him about his prior liberal positions on abortion rights and gun control, and asking him, “When did you actually become a Republican?” He compared himself to Ronald Reagan, saying “I’ve evolved.” (After the debate, in the spin room, Trump complained that “Megyn behaved very nasty to me,” and that “the questions to me were not nice.”)
“You’re living in the world of make believe,” he told Chris Wallace after the Fox reporter confronted him about his use of strategic bankruptcies for his businesses.
Wallace for his part, asked Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Florida Sen. Rubio to address Trump’s comments about immigration, and his allegation that the Mexican government was actively encouraging illegal immigration to the U.S. by its undesirable elements. But both candidates opted to focus more on their own messages than attacking the front-runner.
“We need to take lessons from Donald Trump … Donald Trump is hitting a nerve in this country,” said Kasich, prompting Wallace to try to get a rise out of Rubio. “Let me see if I can do better with you,” he said.
Trump’s shadow loomed over the debate until the end.
In his closing statement, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee addressed the businessman’s inescapable presence with his trademark humor. “It seems like this election has been a whole lot about a person who’s very high in the polls, that doesn’t have a clue about how to govern. A person who has been filled with scandals, and who could not lead,” said Huckabee. “And, of course, I’m talking about Hillary Clinton.”
At the conclusion of the debate, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, the Republican candidate who has done the most to defend Trump in recent weeks, embraced the billionaire on stage.
Following the debate, Republican messaging guru Frank Luntz — who was interviewing Trump last month when the mogul disparaged McCain in Iowa and predicted Trump’s candidacy would collapse if he didn’t immediately apologize — went on Fox to showcase a focus group that had turned sharply against Trump during the debate, citing his refusal to pledge support for the eventual nominee and his contentious interactions with Kelly. One man on the panel called him “angry,” “mean” and “bombastic.” A woman called him a “narcissist.”
Haynes, though, was skeptical that Luntz’s focus group would prove representative of Republican voters. He said that such groups, if conducted in a certain way and by a charismatic moderator like Luntz, could be open to suggestion. “We do focus groups. We have a big research division, and I can get 20 people in a focus group to go any place,” he said.
Even if there appears to be little political upside left to be gained from this latest round of free publicity, it appears even more unlikely that he will implode imminently.
“Every time you think one of his comments or performances will be the end of the ride, it’s proven wrong,” said Matt Strawn, a former chairman of the Iowa Republican Party who is staying neutral at this stage of the primary. “So I think we’re going to have to find out together whether tonight’s performance has had any effect.”
Luntz is a fraud.
Drudge and Time showed Luntz to be a fraud
“Are voters ready to tune out Donald Trump?”
Wishful thinking by the politico.
“ready to tune out Trump”
I hope not!
Notice the absence of that lib/soc/media phrase...
“...THE DISCUSSION THAT NEEDED to be made...”
(or whatever their b-s phraseology was)
Over two selfish individuals who think their own importance is more than our Country....I don’t think so....
If I were Trump I would make my own news network and have the candidates come there to debate...and have people like Rush and a few others to be the commentators...then the people would hear good questions and the candidates would have a chance to talk to us about their opinions and what they would do...
Luntz works for special interest groups with an agenda....it’s been that way for the past six years. People who viewed his pieces with Fox shouldn’t be shocked or surprised, it was obvious.
The whole Fox Debate, Guests and Forum group was a set up to
take Trump out.
It was a planned and organized hit job from start to finish.
Self selecting internet polls prove nothing. If they did Ron Paul would be a three term president.
The polls in the next few days will be interesting.
Paul never saw this kind of lead on Drudge and Time
Newsmax and Rightscoop all had similar results as well, usually with Trump at top, followed either by Cruz or Carson.
Again self selected. I’ll be interested in what the actual polls say. Should be a bunch out Monday and Tuesday.
Donald Trumped
Glenn Beck - “Megyn Kelly is not stupid. she’s wicked smart!”
No, she’s trash
okay, BlazeTV is the leftist Glenn’s network. His words, “Kelly is wicked smart!”
They were the winners. The media are underplaying Carson. He came across intelligent and personable. Rand Paul completely imploded. What a has-been!
Dr. Carson did very well from what I saw.
“Are Voters ready to tune out Politico?”
Who???
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