Substance has been all but absent for the vast majority of the debates so far, with policy getting tossed aside for yelling and name-calling.
Most of the reasonable and mature folk (that is to say, Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore, New York Governor George Pataki, and Sen. Rand Paul) dropped out of this race long ago. Evangelical long-shots Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee popped in to remind us they think gay people are an abomination, then crawled back under the rocks from whence they came. Carly Fiorina became all-consumed with those doctored Planned Parenthood videos and dropped out of the running. Jeb Bush, the red-headed stepchild of the field, finally got tired of begging for applause at his own rallies and packed it in. Jersey loudmouth Chris Christie grew tired of antagonizing Marco Rubio on stage and left the rest of the field to do so. And somewhere, on a prior debate stage, Dr. Ben Carson is still asleep, blissfully unaware that Super Tuesday has come and gone.
This leaves us with the top two candidates,
So with the field pared down significantly, the three candidates who still have an actual shot of being their party's nominee and John Kasich met in Detroit Thursday night to mostly insult and talking over each other as prodded by the anchors of Fox News, whom occasionally interjected a few actual questions about policy.
Leading off the night, Chris Wallace asked the reality star about the less-than flattering comments Mitt Romney had made about his campaign, challenging him to do so "with substance, not insults." If you thought that would actually happen, you clearly haven't been paying attention. Literally the first words out of his mouth: "Well look, he was a failed candidate, he should have beaten president Obama very easy." And there you have it: Even when the instructions literally state not to throw out insults, he can't help himself.
He then went on to talk about trade, and threw out some ridiculously incorrect numbers. "With China we're going to lose $505 billion in trades. You just can't do it." You can't, but, of course, we're not; the actual figure is $366 billion "Mexico, $58 billion." That one... is actually accurate. "Japan, probably about, they don't know it yet, but about $109 billion." Well, he was right about not knowing it, anyway; the actual figure is less than $69 billion. "Every country we lose money with." Except Brazil, the Netherlands, Belgium, Singapore, Australia, Argentina... the list goes on.
Wallace followed that up by asking Trump about the controversy surrounding his failure to denounce the endorsement of white supremacist leader David Duke, and his views on the KKK and white supremacists, and he disavowed them. Bret Baier then asked Marco Rubio about comments he made about not wanting to get into personal attacks, before he unleashed personal attacks on Trump days later. Rubio countered by pointing out that Trump has been the king of personal attacks since he began his campaign: "If there is anyone who has ever deserved to be attacked that way, it has been Donald Trump, for the way he has treated people in the campaign." Trump, naturally, followed with the back-handed insult; "I also happened to call him a lightweight, OK? And I would like to take that back."
This is where things went off the rails. "Nobody has hit my hands. I have never heard of this," referring to Rubio's crack at the size of his hands. Of course, that's not true; current Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter did just that over 25 years ago in the pages of Spy magazine, which prompted an interesting response from the man: "To this day, I still receive the occasional envelope from Trump.There is always a photo of him - generally a tear sheet from a magazine. On all of them he has circled his hand in gold Sharpie in a valiant effort to highlight the length of his fingers." But then Trump dropped this: "And if he referred to my hands, if they are small, something else must be small. I guarantee you there is no problem." You read that right, folks: The 2016 GOP primary campaign has now become a literal dick-measuring contest.
From there, Megyn Kelly tried to get things back on track by asking Cruz about his lack of popularity with his conservative and evangelical base. Cruz went on a tangent about Obamacare killing jobs (which isn't true, but more on that later), before the whole thing devolved into Trump, Cruz and Rubio arguing about poll numbers, the highlight being Rubio correctly pointing out that on average, Trump fares worst of any of them in a one-on-one with Hillary.
Finally, for the first time of the evening, Kasich gets to speak, as Baier asks him about the possibility of throwing his support behind Rubio in Florida to increase the possibility of a brokered convention, which is realistically the best shot Kasich has at the nomination. He side-stepped the question, but did come through with this gem: "People say everywhere I go, 'you seem to be the adult on the stage.'" It's nearly impossible to disagree with that assessment. He went on to claim his success at bringing 400,000 new private sector jobs into Ohio, which is technically true, but at 9.3%, it still falls behind the national job growth rate, which is at 11.7%.
At long last, we now get to actual questions of policy. Wallace throws out another one of Rubio's attacks on Trump, having called him a "con artist," then asks how many jobs Rubio has created. Rubio made the point that his belief is that it's not the government's role to create jobs, then accused Trump of inheriting $100 billion from his father, while Trump stuck to his claim of only getting one loan for $1 million from his father. Essentially, both are lying here. Technically, Fred Trump's will left about $20 million to be split between his four children, but that fails to take into account that the elder Trump also had valuable political and financial connections that his son used to get himself established, not to mention that there was at least one loan for $3.3 million, made in December 1990 through his Atlantic City casino, which was highly illegal and would cost the casino $65,000. Rubio went on to attack Trump's merchandise being manufactured overseas, and his many failed business ventures, while Trump referred to him as "little Marco" and went after his voting record.
Well, it was worth a shot. Wallace again attempts to rein the candidates in by asking Trump about his tax cuts and specifically what he would cut to make them happen. He responds with agencies that don't exist ("The Department of Environmental Protection") and "Common Core." Wallace calls BS on this almost immediately, noting that the entire budget for the Department of Education is $78 billion, the EPA is $8 billion, and given that the deficit is over half a trillion dollars, the cuts don't add up. Trump goes on about Medicare and saving $300 billion by negotiating drug prices, but Medicaid currently only spends $78 billion on prescription drugs.
Wallace follows that up by asking Cruz how, if he abolishes the IRS, tax revenue will be collected and deductions will be figured. He points to a postcard on his website and says the Treasury Department will still handle these things, while criticizing Trump for not offering enough specifics and offering this appeal to Trump supporters: 'For 40 years, Donald has been part of the corruption in Washington that you're angry about." Trump responds to earlier criticism of his supporting liberals by pointing out that he's supported and donated to candidates on both sides, and referring to the current state of affairs in Washington as "total gridlock." Interesting contrast being presented here; Trump wants to paint himself as a deal-maker in opposition to obstructionist Cruz, who appears to view negotiation and reaching across the aisle as compromising on his principles.
Next, Wallace asked Kasich about raising the minimum wage, which he pointed out he'd be in favor of on a state level, then touted his experience at balancing the federal budget. Finally, a question that didn't devolve to childish bickering. That didn't last long, as Kelly's question to Cruz about Sen. Jeff Sessions' endorsement of Trump after Cruz repeatedly brought up his own work with Sessions on the immigration issue resulted in Cruz rattling off several Democrats Trump supported.
From there, Kelly hit Trump with a report that in an off-the-record interview with the New York Times' editorial board, he'd expressed willingness to be flexible on his immigration policy. Trump denied it, once again made his ridiculous claim that "Mexico is gonna pay for the wall." Kelly then asked Rubio about his support for an eventual pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants. Rubio offered a half-hearted defense of his actions then turned it around on Trump, calling for him to release the tapes from that interview. Oddly, Trump defended Rubio more than Rubio did:"He is talking about a little give and take and a little negotiation. And you know what? That's OK. That's not the worst thing in the world."
After a break, Kelly called Trump out on his flip-flopping on worker visas, to which Trump admitted he'd softened from the position he took on his website. Kelly then called Cruz out for his reversal of position on those same worker visas, having been in favor of quintupling the number of them before calling for a suspension of them. Cruz did his best "I voted for the visas before I voted against them" move, before calling out Trump for hiring foreign workers, which Cruz, Trump, and Rubio then shouted over each other about.
From there, the topic turned to terrorism, as Baier asked Rubio whether he was willing to increase the number of U.S. troops on the ground in Iraq, Syria, and Libya, which he claimed he was and always had been, which he'd not really mentioned before this debate. When asked the same question, Kasich had much the same answer, while touting his experience on the Defense Committee and criticizing Hillary Clinton for working to depose the Gadhafi regime there.
On the same topic, Baier pointed out to Trump that several foreign policy experts, including a former CIA director, signed a statement refusing to support him because of his support of waterboarding and more extreme forms of torture, and asked what he'd do if the military refused to enforce his illegal orders. Trump, in his usual fashion, blustered "They're not going to refuse me, believe me," then went on to claim that he supports worse torture than waterboarding and repeated a false claim that the wife of one of the 9/11 hijackers was in the United States until two days before the attacks and knew what was about to happen, even though none of the hijackers were married or had brought family with them into the country in the first place. Cruz then got a good jab in at Trump: "I think the American people understand that yelling and cursing at people doesn't make you a tough guy."
Cruz was then asked about his position on Edward Snowden, as Cruz had offered in 2013 that perhaps he'd performed a public service, but in the words of moderator Baier, "it took you until January of this year to call him a traitor and say that he should be tried for treason. Why the change of heart? And why did it take you so long?" (Do I detect a bit of subtle editorializing from Baier there, perhaps? Maybe I'm reading to much into it.) Cruz justified his decision by saying that "I believe you should start with the facts and evidence first before ending up with the verdict," explaining he felt that Snowden's behavior afterwards suggested that his weren't the actions of a whistleblower. Trump was then asked about his deflection on foreign policy, and his claim that he'll ask the best people for advice, and specifically whom those people would be. Trump named a few names (former director of policy planning for the Department of State, Dr. Richard Haass; current NBC military analyst Col. Jack Jacobs; and former Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Jack Keane), and went on to claim that he'd been saying all along Snowden was a spy. Kasich then jumped in to point out that he'd been voted by military policy experts as the best choice for foreign policy of the candidates.
After another break, Kelly called Trump out on a few inconsistencies and things he'd completely changed his positions on; namely the war in Afghanistan, accepting Syrian refugees, and whether president George W. Bush lied to get the U.S into the Iraq war. He started off by claiming he'd always been against the Iraq war, although there was no proof he'd opposed it before the war began, and that he was in favor of Syrian refugees before he knew how many there were, adding "you have to have a certain degree of flexibility." Kasich jumped in to point out that as governor of Ohio, he managed to do the things he'd promised he'd do, like balancing the budget and cutting taxes.
Rubio then chimed in to accuse Trump of "telling people whatever you think you need to say to get them to do what you want them to do," bringing up the controversial Trump University debacle, which has been subject to class-action lawsuits from dissatisfied students. Trump claimed an "A" rating from the Better Business Bureau and a 95-98% satisfaction rate per student surveys, but many students are believed to have been coerced into writing positive reviews while still taking classes, and the most recent BBB score available had rated the "University" a "D-." Trump had even tried to file a counter-suit against the lead plaintiff in the original suit, only to have it dismissed and be ordered to pay legal fees to the original plaintiff. Having had Kelly and Rubio both refuting his claims and having been called a con artist by Rubio, Trump then turned on Rubio's absentee record in the Senate, while Cruz made the point that having a nominee in the midst of a fraud trial who'd donated to Clinton in the past would be the worst possible outcome for the party. Trump and Cruz carried on about poll numbers, while Kasich tried to call for an end to the fighting.
The next topic of the night would be the Flint water crisis, as Rubio was asked why the GOP hasn't done more or talked more about the issue, to which he claimed he had, blamed Democrats for making it a partisan issue, and commended Rick Snyder for taking responsibility. (He didn't necessarily, until well after the fact, but that's another issue for later.) Kasich was asked whether Detroit Public Schools should be bailed out, and responded by citing a somewhat similar situation in Cleveland's public schools, calling for more vocational education, and calling for politics to be put aside. Cruz was asked what he'd do to bring manufacturing jobs back to America, and Detroit in particular; he started by invoking the "60 years of failed left-wing policies" narrative, talking about his plan to replace all income taxes with a flat tax, and calling Obamacare "the biggest job-killer in America." (In actuality, over 2.4 million jobs have been gained since it was put into effect.)
Kasich would then be asked about his thoughts on "religious liberty," the code-word these days for "legalized discrimination against LGBT's." He'd made statements prior that he wouldn't necessarily approve of that kind of discrimination, then back-pedaled at that somewhat, making clear his opposition to same-sex marriage and support for religious freedom, but claiming on the latter "I'd rather people figure this out without having to put another law on the books," and ending with a plea to rise above the divisiveness: "Why don't we come together as a country, respect one another, love one another, and lift this country? I think that's what people want."
When asked about whether gay adoption should be legal, Cruz side-stepped the issue somewhat, claiming it should be left up to the states, while declaring he'd never compromise on religious freedom and attacking the Supreme Court's ruling on gay marriage, which he's stated prior that he'd seek to overturn. Rubio was asked what limits he'd put on the Second Amendment; naturally, he said as few as possible. Trump was quizzed on his statements regarding his support for the 1994 assault-weapons ban, which he now claims he opposes. Cruz also stood against any such regulation, attacking Trump for being in favor of nominating "judicial activists" and supporting Democrats, while claiming that a study on the '94 assault weapons ban did nothing to reduce violent crime, which isn't necessarily the case.
The next segment began with Rubio and Cruz arguing over which would be a worse leader in regards to foreign policy, with Rubio accusing Trump of "admiring" Russian leader Vladimir Putin, which... is kind of false? Cruz was asked about North Korea's threats to launch nuclear weapons, blaming Bill Clinton for lifting economic sanctions on that country and calling for a space-based missile defense system. Wallace then tried to get Kasich to call Trump naive about Putin's ambitions, though Kasich wasn't taking the bait, instead going into detail on what he'd do for most of the current conflicts between nations (essentially: try and win Turkey over, keep Jordan and Saudi Arabia as allies, set up in the South China Sea and take out Chinese computer systems if they try to hack American targets again, and arm Ukraine to protect it from Putin).
The final question of the night was a simple one: Will you support whomever wins the Republican nomination, even if it ends up being Trump? Rubio, Cruz, and Kasich all said they would. When asked the same, Trump, not surprisingly, had to ask: "Even if it's not me?" But shockingly, he agreed he would.
All in all, none of the front-runners acquitted themselves very well in this one. Trump, Cruz, and Rubio all came across as petulant children so often during this debate, and over the course of the campaign, that one might confuse this for a race for fourth-grade class president, which would be amusing were we not talking about three people vying to be the next leader of the free world. It's not hard to come to the conclusion that John Kasich is the only adult left in this race, and the only even somewhat sane choice remaining in the Republican field. That's not to say that he's a particularly palatable one; a governorship marked by union-busting, slashing education funding, and stripping reproductive rights from women, is a bit tough to swallow for a lot of liberal-minded independents, but in a race where the front-runners' stock in trade is a great deal of narcissism, smugness, contempt for everyone around them, and very little of substance in general, he's about as rational of an option as any that still exists in this race.
Which is why he still doesn't stand a chance.
So goes the Republican Party these days.
Excellent, as usual.
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