What an unexpected GOP debate
Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks, as Republican presidential candidates, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., left, and businessman Donald Trump attempt to interrupt, during the Republican presidential debate sponsored by CNN, Salem Media Group and the Washington Times at the University of Miami, Thursday, March 10, 2016, in Coral Gables, Fla. Republican presidential candidate, Ohio Gov. John Kasich is at right. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee) Credit: AP
Didn’t expect that, did you?
After weeks of increasingly nasty debates, with the stakes higher than ever and half of the four remaining Republicans in the presidential campaign on life support with a slate of five key states looming on Tuesday, everyone behaved.
Go figure.
And the result of all the civility on the stage at Thursday’s night debate at the University of Miami probably will be the same result of all the debacles that preceded it: Donald Trump wins.
The votes still need to be counted in Florida, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri and North Carolina, but Trump was able to parry most of the blows directed at him. He struggled with foreign policy once again, and did not back off on his deplorable Islam-hates-us comment. But he was able to cast himself effectively as the person who knows best how to fix a corrupt political system because he knows it well as the ultimate insider who’s spent 40 years buying politicians. And he was able to act as a leader by calling for party unity.
Afterward, Trump called it a “very elegant debate, very substantive” and correctly noted that Republicans needed that — especially after the grotesque clown show last week in Detroit.
It was all so strange that Ohio Gov. John Kasich did not stand out at all. He was as steady and optimistic as ever, but with everyone else acting sanely for a change, he was no longer the only adult in the room. It was a brilliant way to neutralize him going into the critical primary in the Buckeye State next week.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who ditched the potty mouth and morphed back to being the aspirational man-with-a-dream, scored some points but probably not enough to save Rubio’s sinking campaign or to put Cruz on equal footing with Trump.
And Trump seemed to sense that. He never responded to any of Cruz’ biting invitations to get snarky, and graciously said that whoever has the most votes when they all get to the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July — even if it’s not a majority of votes and even if it’s not him — should win. But he clearly expects that to be him.
And that’s how he finished the evening. Trump had the last word by making the final closing statement, and he made the most of it. He was the only candidate to remind voters about the opening on the Supreme Court and the importance of electing a Republican to fill it. He invoked the “millions of people” he’s drawing to the polls. And he urged the party to seize the opportunity those voters presented.
“These are great people, fantastic people, people who love our country, people who want to see America be great again,” he said. “Embrace these people who for the first time ever love the Republican Party. Be smart and unify.”
Sounded downright presidential.
