Politics The GOP Debates ... or Donald Trump's New Reality Show

The Fox News machine took sharp aim at GOP front-runner Donald Trump at the first Republican Primary Debate, Thursday night in Cleveland. Earlier that evening, second tier candidates who did not qualify for the ten spots on the big stage had a chance to trade barbs in a special, 5 p.m. “happy hour” debate at the same venue.

The crowd at the Quicken Loans Arena was amped up and ready to reward those who hit the ideological high notes. A wall at the southern border, calls to get tougher on ISIS and anything that had to do with repealing Obamacare or shredding the recent nuclear agreement with Iran got reliable woot-woots from the crowd (not literal woot-woots, but the conservative equivalent).

The first thing that became clear was that Fox News does not like Donald Trump and has no interest in seeing him get the GOP nomination. 

Fox anchor Bret Baier opened Thursday night’s prime time debate with a “raise your hand if” question, asking who among the 10 participants would not pledge to support whoever the party nominates and not run an independent campaign against the eventual nominee. Trump was the only candidate to raise his hand.

Baier tried to add emphasis to the question, to which Trump assured him he understood completely. The Donald went on to make it clear that he was winning, intended on getting the GOP nomination but would only pledge support to himself.

Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly followed up, asking Trump whether he, as “part of the War on Women,” would have a hard time against Hilary Clinton in a general election. Kelly reminded Trump that he’d at various times publicly called women “fat slobs, dogs and disgusting animals.” Trump laughed off the charge, joking, “That was only Rosie O’Donnell.”

The billionaire real estate developer and reality TV star seemed poised in every answer he gave and usually got the biggest pop from the crowd. The reality is, Trump might not be the perfect presidential candidate—or even close—but he is, without question, the candidate best suited to survive the reality show, throw-red-meat-to-the-crowd, vote them off the island ordeal that has become the GOP Presidential Primary, and he showed that Thursday night.

Trump’s ability to suck the air out of a room notwithstanding, the large stage made it somewhat difficult for any other candidate to stand out. Nonetheless, here are some general observations I made while watching:

• Chris Christie was the most polished politician on the stage and was the candidate best able to deliver detailed answers that addressed the actual question asked without devolving into rhetorical talking points. Surprisingly, Marco Rubio was second.

• Jeb Bush continued to look less and less like a top tier candidate and did little to distinguish himself in the field, while Rubio now seems the clear candidate from Florida with the best chance of winning the nomination, a turn that seemed all but impossible just months ago.

• Donald Trump is the worst thing to happen to Ted Cruz’s candidacy. Cruz’s position as the brash and radical alternative to the GOP mainstream has been gobbled up by the Don.

• Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee aren’t in the race now and probably won’t be able to get any momentum going forward.

• Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson is still woefully unprepared to be a candidate for President of the United States.

While the happy hour debate initially seemed like a pretty weak consolation prize sounding the death knell for its participants, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina definitely proved a big winner on the small stage. Fiorina is still a long shot at best, but probably leapfrogged at least five of the candidates on the evening stage and may have saved her candidacy. Meanwhile, Texas Governor Rick Perry and Senator Lindsey Graham gave better than expected showings and likely fared much better than the lower tier candidates who were largely forgotten of the prime time debate.

There are 11 GOP debates scheduled. Next stop is the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, CA, September 16 on CNN. Democratic candidates will have their first debate October 13 in Nevada.