By Bradley Dick ’16, Perspectives Editor
Mayweather vs. Pacquiao, Ali vs. Frazier, Fox News vs. Trump? On August 6th, the latest and greatest smackdown occurred when Fox News potentially KO’d business mogul Donald Trump in the first round of the Republican Presidential Debates.
Just one minute into the debate, Fox News’ Brett Baier asked “Is there anyone on stage, and can I see hands, who is unwilling tonight to pledge your support to the eventual nominee of the Republican Party and pledge to not run an independent campaign against that person.” Immediately, in a Ross Perot like fashion, Trump’s hand went up and the thousands of Republicans in the crowd booed.
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul reacted by bringing up the once liberal Trump’s donation to the Clinton Foundation stating “This is what’s wrong! This is what’s wrong. He buys and sells politicians of all stripes, he’s already hedging his bet on the Clintons!”
The punches didn’t end there. Megyn Kelly of Fox News hammered Trump with quotes of his inappropriate and demeaning comments towards women, asking if he contributes to the “war on women.” Trump responded that he felt that the United States as a society has become too politically correct.
While Trump was knocked out for the night. Kasich, Christie and Rubio had the opportunity to put on an impressive show.
Ohio Governor John Kasich came into the debate as an underdog, barely making the cut for the main debate. However, with home-field advantage Kasich was able to shine a few moments in the debate. Most notably when asked about same-sex marriage, Kasich said “The court has ruled, and I said we’ll accept it. And guess what, I just went to a wedding of a friend of mine who happens to be gay. Because somebody doesn’t think the way I do, doesn’t mean that I can’t care about them or can’t love them. So if one of my daughters happened to be that, of course I would love them and I would accept them. Because you know what? That’s what we’re taught when we have strong faith.” The crowd roared with applause.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie had a strong debate performance. Commanding the stage with a presidential persona, his answers were succinct and well thought-out. Not only did he have his way with Rand Paul but was also able to make it out of the debate with little to no personal attacks. Most importantly for him, no one brought up his possible involvement in the Bridgegate scandal.
Finally, Florida Senator Marco Rubio may have come out the biggest winner of the night. He caught the crowd’s attention when asked about immigration and Donald Trump’s plan to put up a wall, stating: “I also believe we need a fence. The problem is if El Chapo builds a tunnel under the fence, we have to be able to deal with that, too. And that’s why you need an e-verify system and you need an entry-exit tracking system and all sorts of other things to prevent illegal immigration.”
Donald Trump wasn’t the only loser of the night. Senator Rand Paul had a weak performance as well. Senator Rand Paul, who was apparently not feeling well, came off as a bit ill-tempered and seemed to put little thought into his answers.
As in many heavyweight fights, a few welterweights squared off in an undercard fight before the main event. In the early debate, Carly Fiorina was able to command the stage like none other. The onetime Hewlett Packard CEO came prepared not only with slams on Donald Trump, but with real responses and plans. Her most notable response came after being asked what her first day in office would look like. Responding that she would make two phone calls, the first to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rebuilding the ties she believes that President Obama has ruined and the second to the Supreme Leader of Iran to command the upper hand in a relationship that she believes President Obama has let Iran take control of.
With lots of ground to make up following the debate, Trump’s campaign set to Twitter to slam Fox News and Megyn Kelly, even retweeting a tweet calling Megyn Kelly a “bimbo.” Just a few hours later strategist Roger Stone left the Trump campaign (it still hasn’t been confirmed whether he was fired or quit) after the social media firestorm erupted and caught the attention of all major news outlets. Even the conservative political blog RedState uninvited Trump to an event they held last weekend in Atlanta.
The debate, with a record 24 million people watching, was just the first step in a long battle for Republicans to take back the White House and regain ground after the party hit rock bottom in 2012. With just a little over a year away until the fight of the decade, the Republican Party’s nomination is still up for grabs, but one thing is for sure: the Trump campaign is dying quickly.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-megyn-kelly-debate-fox-news_55c5f6b3e4b0f73b20b989a7
http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/06/politics/carly-fiorina-republican-debate/
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/07/no-contest-why-rubio-is-clear-winner-of-debate.html
http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/07/politics/republican-debate-john-kasich-gop-ohio-home-field-advantage/
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/donald-trumps-war-on-megyn-kelly-121171.html
Image Source: http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.2317587!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_635/543162940.jpg
