1. Mr. Trump, one of the things people love about you is you speak your mind and you don’t use a politician’s filter. However, that is not without its downsides, in particular, when it comes to women. You’ve called women you don’t like “fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals.” ... Your Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women’s looks. You once told a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president, and how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton, who was likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women?
2. Mr. Trump, it has not escaped anybody’s notice that you say that the Mexican government, the Mexican government is sending criminals — rapists, drug dealers, across the border. Governor Bush has called those remarks, quote, “extraordinarily ugly.” I’d like you — you’re right next to him — tell us — talk to him directly and say how you respond to that and — and you have repeatedly said that you have evidence that the Mexican government is doing this, but you have evidence you have refused or declined to share. Why not use this first Republican presidential debate to share your proof with the American people?
2a. Mr. Trump, I’ll give you 30 seconds — I’ll give you 30 seconds to answer my question, which was, what evidence do you have, specific evidence that the Mexican government is sending criminals across the border? Thirty seconds.
3. Mr. Trump, ObamaCare is one of the things you call a disaster. ... Now, 15 years ago, uncalled yourself a liberal on health care. You were for a single-payer system, a Canadian-style system.Why were you for that then and why aren’t you for it now?
4. Mr. Trump, it’s not just your past support for single- payer health care. You’ve also supported a host of other liberal policies. Use — you’ve also donated to several Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton included, Nancy Pelosi.You explained away those donations saying you did that to get business-related favors. And you said recently, quote, “When you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do.” ... So what specifically did … they do?
5. Mr. Trump, you talk a lot about how you are the person on this stage to grow the economy. I want to ask you about your business record. Trump corporations — Trump corporations, casinos and hotels, have declared bankruptcy four times over the last quarter-century. In 2011, you told Forbes Magazine this: “I’ve used the laws of the country to my advantage.” But at the same time, financial experts involved in those bankruptcies say that lenders to your companies lost billions of dollars. Question sir, with that record, why should we trust you to run the nation’s business?
5a. No, but the concept sir… that’s your line, but your companies have gone bankrupt.
5b. Well sir, let’s just talk about the latest example … which is Trump Entertainment Resorts, which went bankrupt in 2009. In that case alone, lenders to your company lost over $1 billion and more than 1,100 people were laid off. ... Is that the way you'd run the country?
6. Mr. Trump, in 1999, you said you were, quote, “very pro- choice.” Even supporting partial-birth abortion. You favored an assault weapons ban as well. In 2004, you said in most cases you identified as a Democrat. Even in this campaign, your critics say you often sound more like a Democrat than a Republican, calling several of your opponents on the stage things like clowns and puppets. When did you actually become a Republican?
7. Mr. Trump, 30 seconds to respond (to Jeb Bush's original question, which related to Trump's name-calling)
8. Candidates, you may not have seen the late developing news today our Fox Pentagon team broke earlier this evening about a top Iranian general traveling to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. His name is General Qassem Soleimani, he's blamed for hundreds of U.S. troops death in Iraq, and Afghanistan. His trip to Russia appears to directly violate U.N. Security Council resolutions to confine him to Iran. So, Mr. Trump, if you were president, how would you respond to this?
9. Mr. Trump, closing statement, sir.
Of these, really only #5 seemed out of place. #1 was aggressive, sure, but (as Kelly noted) it is an issue that Clinton (or whoever is the Dem nominee) will surely raise, so I see no problem asking Trump how he would respond to that...
You’re not separating the personal from the political which is a trap that many fall into. It is not true that everything personal is political or vice versa.
The questions asked of Trump were personal or were worded as to be unanswerable. The other candidates were not questioned in this manner.
For example, when Wallace pressed Trump on ‘proof’ that the Mexican government was sending their criminals into the USA, there is a clear legal distinction between ‘proof’ and ‘evidence’. The notion of ‘proof’ rarely exists in legal or international settings because it can only be elicited by confession or undercover spying. And the confessions comprising ‘proof’ must come from the top otherwise it’s hearsay. Wallace knew this but he was on a mission to take out Trump. And this is not a case of splitting hairs over meanings of words for he could have asked Trump for evidence to which Trump responded with Border Control Officers comments. The evidence is not ‘proof’ when Border Control Officers arrest, detain and question illegal aliens who tell them they were released from Mexican prisons and told to go north across the border. But Trump responded with evidence yet Wallace pressed for ‘proof’. If Trump had said the ‘proof’ was in the Border Control Officers comments to him, he would have caught hell for calling hearsay to be ‘proof’ or he could have exposed the officers to legal action for unauthorized disclosures.
So Wallace set Trump up to answer the unanswerable. Trump responded with ‘evidence’ but Wallace pressed him for ‘proof’; shameful.
Contrast the traps like these with asking Walker to explain his political flip flops or asking Paul for his view on the issue of religious liberty and it becomes clear that Fox News was gunning for Trump.
Sure Fox asked the other candidates good questions but the questions asked Trump were ugly gotcha questions that were either personal or unanswerable.
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You are right that your #5 question was out of line (you missed the 1st question of pledge and how the Fox moderators tried to savage Trump who remained polite despite the hardball commentary/questions; the question was designed for Trump but hidden in a smokescreen of asking all to raise their hand). Your #5 question again was a bunch of slanted one-sided views wrapped in a finance question to Trump. It was a loaded question of yellow journalism. A much better question would have been “The United States is insolvent (going bankrupt). You have a successful record of taking insolvent companies through the bankruptcy process. Briefly what steps would you undertake as President to make the United States solvent again?”. But Wallace had to try and paint Trump as a failure because he exercised Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring protection for only four companies out of hundreds of other successful companies.
Here’s a brief point plan for a controlled ‘bankruptcy’ of the United States (the US cannot declare BK as it is sovereign):
1. Delete (discharge) the federal Reserve debt (that doesn’t mean discharge the foreign debt).
2. Propose to Congress to pass a Balanced Budget Act and demand simultaneously that Congress proposed a Balanced Budget Amendment otherwise leverage support to the Article V State movement to amend the Constitution.
3. Eliminate 8 of 15 departments in the executive branch.
4. Mandate a minimum level of spending on national defense and military research. Authorize covert funding of intelligence activities that bypasses Balanced Budget laws (as is done now but make its authorization open keeping its specifics secret).
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Baier’s first question was anchored in comments that Trump made 15 years ago as a businessman which is a long time ago. People can and do change their POV e.g. Ronald Reagan changed his view on his 1986 immigration reform after he was out of office. Hindsight is 20/20 and clearly Donald Trump has corrected himself as he now says he is for market based solutions to healthcare but first the grip that large healthcare companies have on politicians must be broken and the artificial lines to competition must be taken out. The question to Walker on his flip flops is fair because it happened a short while ago. A much fairer question to Trump would have been “15 years ago as a businessman you were not happy with the US healthcare system and you mentioned the success of single payer in Canada and Scotland. What are your views now?”. But Baier went on trying again to paint Trump as a democrat supporter. A better followup question would have been “Mr. Trump you have contributed to many democrats and republicans but many think you favor democrats. Why did you choose to run as a republican and not as a democrat?”. But Baier was too blind to see a truly good question because his marching orders were to malign Trump.
The bottomline is Trump came out ahead and continues to grow stronger in the support of the voter.
You don’t have to be a Trump fan or anti Bush to agree that the demeanor of the moderators and tone of their questions were unprofessional and highly disappointing.... http://www.westernfreepress.com/2015/08/10/how-fox-news-failed-us/
I actually received two replies directly from Bret Baier, to an email I wrote to him about the debate debacle today.
I replied to his response, as additional comments needed to be addressed based on his response.And he replied back, very civilly.
We discussed these questions and the genesis for them. He insisted he came up with the first one himself, the one where he asked for the candidates to raise their hands if they would support the party’s nominee.
I let him know I respected him for replying to me directly, but the Fox audience is owed an apology for the debacle last Thursday night, and the way it was handled.
And that Fox stays off in my home until the apology is made.
He said he would work to regain my trust.
I have to give him props for replying to me twice. That was unexpected.
But Fox is still off the TV.
The remark by Wallace “your line” is NOT what I heard that night. I thought he said to Trump, “you’re lying”. I went looking for transcripts later and couldn’t find that remark.
It’s possible he said “your line” but that sure isn’t the way I heard it.
I wondered why there was no outrage over that...so maybe I just mis-heard it.....?????
Tough Questions provide a candidate a chance to knock it out of the park
“What kind of ice cream do you like?” is not a tough question.
Trump was in the #1position ..He gets the most tough questions
Bush did a poor job
Trump did an ok job but not great
Most candidates held their own
Plenty of research went into all the questions to all candidates.
The issues raised about Trump should make his supporters nervous..
He has a poor track record for anything but making money using bankruptcy laws.
Rather than ask more hard questions his supporters are having a fit because we have not yet discovered what flavor ice cream he likes,
Fox should be applauded..... not denounced.
The next time they hit Obama with a tough question it cannot be said they are only hard on those who are on the left.
Will they hit those on the left hard ?
yes they will .....
That line is a bald-faced lie. My Facebook news feed EXPLODED during that debate with seething anger towards FOX News and especially Megyn Kelly. Rush and Levin didn't comment until the next day. They added their own flavor to the subject but they were only following the crowd on this one.
and BTW, it wasn't just Trump supporters who were angry. That debate was a travesty no matter how some namby pamby idiots try to sell it.
What I wanted to know in this debate is: What is your plan for immigration reform. Do illegals stay? Do they get welfare, housing and food stamps? What about the Obama invasion - do they all stay? How and when will you secure the border? How will you make sure government employees carry out the immigration laws of this country?
What is your plan for tax reform?
What are your foreign policy priorities?
Will you reform Obamacare, replace it or what? What will you replace it with?
Do you support America’s constitution and Bill of Rights over foreign and domestic opponents? What do you think is the current state of the constitution and rule of law in this nation? What will you do to strengthen it?
What will you do to heal the damage of Obama’s far left race baiting and divisions and violence the radicals have organized and caused? What about the hate crimes they have incited against white people and the NOI’s call for a race war?
Do you support the free exercise of religion guaranteed by the first amendment over any special rights assigned to people of minority sexual practices? What if a Christian baker does not want to serve a gay wedding because it is against their religion or a doctor does not want to commit abortion because of religious obligation not to kill the unborn?
What does equal pay for equal work mean to you and are you committed to that concept and do you practice it?
What does the “New World Order” mean to you? Do you support a UN that has the power to rule over nations and tax nations?
What do you think about Sharia law being introduced in the US among Muslim populations/cities or communities as they have done in Europe?
What do you think of proposed climate change policy?
What do you think of Federal based education power and what do you think of the DOE’s common core requirements?
Are you a strong supporter of property rights for the rich and powerful versus the middle class?
What do you think about men being falsely charged and punished by University committees outside the court system on sex crimes?
What do you think about the UN’s agenda 21? Give an example of where it is being introduced in the US.
What will you do with Obama’s illegal Executive Orders and regulation excesses?
Do you want the US to be more like Europe? Why or why not?
How will you bring jobs and wealth back to the US?
After the debate where real issues are addressed the media show boats can fact check and let the public know TRUE information not covered in the debate about the candidates that the public needs to explore, in the journalists’ opinion.
Instead of a debate on real issues, we garbage and gossip from journalists who could give a hoot about the issues because they are too stupid to understand the issues of interest to voters themselves! They just want to elevate themselves and I don’t care about them and what they think during the debates. We all know Trump is a trash mouth, Cruz believes in God (Does God talk to you?)...that was not up for a real debate on issues. It was infantile.
And, then there was that Luntz fella.
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-08-07/fox-news-couldn-t-kill-trump-s-momentum-and-may-have-only-made-it-stronger
“ His toughest opponents Thursday night weren’t the candidates up on stage, but the Fox News moderators, who went right after him—none with more gusto than Kelly.”
http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/first-read-who-stood-out-first-gop-primary-debate-n405861
“ Fox News and its moderators went after him from the get-go — almost as if Roger Ailes wanted to knock him out of the GOP race.”
And from a VERY establishment reporter (Roll Call):
“Matt Fuller @MEPFuller
Do I have to get a Tetanus shot if I agree with Trump that Fox, from the opening bell, was out to destroy him? “
If the moderators hadn’t been so blatant in their manner they may have damaged Trump instead of getting him sympathy.