I believe Will, that realistically Trump had no time to do mortal combat with the trio of killers before him, and mentally process the cutting insults, and then respond with bullet points on the meaning of LEVERAGE.
No way. That was no place for Trump to shine, last night, with his arms in splints fighting thugs.
They didn’t ask him if he committed to not running as a third party candidate. They asked him if he would commit to supporting whoever the candidate was. And he answered no. Nothing about 3rd party was even mentioned so I think a lot of people are assuming that was what he meant. That is a big difference.
It was unfair, but he could do it if he had the facts, I think he's still relying too much on his original talking points. There is so much he could add to several of them. People will begin to roll their eyes after hearing the same phrases a certain number of times.
And he had answered the third party question several times before, so that was an old question for him. He just hadn't added the powerful facts to it he could have, the topic of this thread. (All the "Big Donors" trying to keep him out of the debate, and demanding that the other candidates take him out") Talk about not being treated fairly, which he did mention, but without those Big Donor stories.
He does need to flesh out some of his talking points and add more examples and facts. Strong supporters are beginning to say that.