JANUARY 15, 2016
Thursday night, we got what we were waiting for — Cruz vs. Trump.
For months now, Ted Cruz has been drafting behind Donald Trump, responding to any question about the latest outrageous Trump statement by saying “I like Donald Trump” and then quickly changing the subject. The aim appeared to be that, by not attacking Trump, Cruz could inherit the majority of Trump voters when the billionaire inevitably imploded.
The only problem with that strategy is that it’s now January, less than three weeks from the first votes in the nation at the Iowa caucuses, and Trump has only gotten stronger. The bromance was bound to end, and the break-up happened last night before 11 million viewers at the Fox Business debate in North Charleston, SC.
In the days before the debate, both men telegraphed their punches. The first issue was Trump’s questioning as to whether Cruz is eligible to even become President. There’s no doubt that Cruz is a U.S. citizen, since his mother is American, but the Constitution clearly states that a President has to be a “natural-born” U.S. citizen, and Trump questions whether you can be considered “natural-born” if you were born, like Cruz, in Canada.
Cruz was ready. With a sweep of his hand, he noted that, when they were still bros, Trump had his lawyers look into the question every which way and found that Cruz’s right to run was clearly Constitutional. Time for a dramatic pause. “Now, since September the Constitution hasn’t changed,” said Cruz. “But the poll numbers have.” The hall erupted.
It was the only time in the 6 GOP debates that someone really laid a glove on Trump, probably because Cruz is a trained debater, and that training showed last night. Should Cruz get the nomination, he will be a formidable threat in the autumn debates against the Democratic nominee.
However, Trump had his moment in the debate’s second hour. On the campaign stump in Iowa, Cruz has been trying out a new line of attack against Trump, stating that he understands Iowa values but Trump embodies “New York values.” (Left unsaid was “And you know what that means.”) Trump lowered his voice and asserted that to him, “New York values” were embodied by the brave first-responders charging up the staircases on 9/11 and in the resilience of New Yorkers in the weeks and months afterward.
I just hate it when politicians such as Rudy Giuliani (“a noun, a verb and 9/11”) use the memory of that day for their own political gain. But, for some reason, when Trump evoked it last night, it came off as extremely sincere and heartfelt (from Trump of all people!). At that moment, the audience was clearly in Trump’s corner, and Cruz, knowing he was beat, joined in the applause as well.
Did I mention that there were other candidates on the stage last night? There was Ben Carson, whose snoozy performance will do nothing to stop his sliding poll numbers, Jeb Bush, who seemed rational and reasonable (so of course he was doomed) and John Kasich, who just appeared grateful not to have been kicked down to the kids’ table free-for-all.
The main back-and-forth for the candidates in the establishment lane was between Marco Rubio and Chris Christie. Rubio, another skilled debater, has had several excellent performances in previous debates, but last night, something seemed off. There’s a fine line between being well-prepared and being scripted, and Rubio fell into the scripted side last night. His answers were rushed, and he never engaged with the audience, so his entire performance came off as a bit canned.
Christie, for his part, had his best debate so far, dismissing the President’s rosy picture in the State of the Union address as “Story Time with Barack Obama.” When an argument over entitlements between Sens. Cruz & Rubio got particularly wonky, Christie interjected, “I’d like to interrupt this debate on the floor of the Senate.” When Rubio tried to cut in, a bit of the old Chris Christie emerged with a dismissive “You already had your chance, Marco, you blew it.”
Looking at the epic battle between Trump and Cruz and the comparatively small-ball exchanges amongst the establishment candidates last night, one begins to question whether there really is an establishment lane this year.
Onto the earlier kids’ table debate. Fox Business had ruled that, by poll numbers, Rand Paul did not qualify for the main stage. Paul threw a tantrum, the equivalent of stomping his feet and threatening to hold his breath until he turned blue, but Fox Business said “Take a hike.” And Paul did, boycotting the entire event, instead making himself available to any and all news networks ready to listen to his “It’s not fair” story.
Carly Fiorina was also demoted to the kids’ table, but instead of whining, she delivered a particularly personal attack on Hillary Clinton (“Unlike another woman in this race, I actually love spending time with my husband.”) Mee-ow. Another saucer of milk, Ms. Fiorina? Rick Santorum did a lot of chest-thumping (“I will not let America be trampled upon by these radical jihadists!”). Calm down, Louise. And Mike Huckabee…I can’t remember a single thing he said.
The final Republican debate before the Iowa caucuses will be held on Thursday, January 28 in Des Moines and broadcast by Fox News. Be there or be square!
