What Happened in Cleveland

It all went down in Cleveland, Ohio.

It was the most watched primary debate in the history of mankind, netting roughly twenty-four million viewers. In the massive basketball stadium, Donald Trump was center stage, and in the first couple of seconds, it was boom, bam, pow, all about him. That was the way he wanted it. Trump refused to pledge that he would support the Republican Nominee, no matter who it was. But then after that, Trump lost the debate.

Oh, it was a lot of fun. There was a lot of screaming, especially when he attacked Mr. Obama and Rosie O’Donnell, but in the end, Donald Trump had very little of substance to say. In the end, while not being polished, and pretending not to be a politician, Trump ended up being the biggest and most “in the old mold” politician on stage on Friday, saying things he knows will drive the media, and get people to scream at their televisions “tell it like it is!” But what did Trump say? Not much besides proving what we already know, he likes to argue, he likes to be controversial. He didn’t prove that he would make an even decent president.

Trump needed to make the debate about him, he needed everyone to attack him so he could bang their heads together, scream that they were being unfair, call them names, wrap their heads around the podium until when they woke up, the debate was over, and Trump had walked even higher in the polls.

Another loser was Jeb Bush. Of course, nobody’s candidacy was destroyed, least of all Jeb’s, but there was no big move by him. Not rhetorical flourishes, and no new policy ideas we haven’t already heard of before. Nothing about Bush’s performance is likely to cause people to suddenly grow enthusiastic about the so called heir-apparent.

Those who did well included Mike Huckabee, he gave some good shots and got some massive applause lines in. Ted Cruz did his best to take back the mantle of the straight talker, but trying to out straight-talk Donald Trump is like trying to outfly a bird. Donald does it for a living, guys.

Rand Paul and Chris Christi went after each other, but Rand got Christi angry, which is what he needed to do, and Christi didn’t do so well. Rand did his best to solidify his base, although his 4:51 of talking time was the least of any candidate. Rand overall only had an ok night, when he really needed to win the whole thing, so troubled is his campaign at the moment.

While Scott Walker was pretty much so-so, he did have some of the best lines of the night, including saying the Chinese, with their recent hacking of government systems, know more about Hillary Clinton’s emails than congress do.

Carson had one or two good lines, especially when he said that someone must have beaten him to removing half of Washington DC's brain. Yet he did little that will likely help him in the polls. His comments about taxing everyone 10% because "God is a pretty fair guy" sound nice and pious, but I don't see any studies or math that Carson is using to prove his plan is actually workable.

John Kasich, perhaps invigorated by home-field advantage, had an interesting night, in which he asked Trump for a campaign donation on stage, and then, in front of a room full of Republicans, whose party platform says that they are officially against gay-marriage, said he would and has gone to a gay wedding. You can already hear the sound of Kasich's numbers, small as they are, (he barely even made the primetime debate) dropping in Southern States.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio

Rubio also had some good lines, and can move on from his debate performance knowing he didn’t hurt himself. He may have had the best line of the night saying God has blessed the GOP by giving it many good candidates, while the Democrats can’t find one. Rubio was not the only winner, but he was certainly one of them, answering every question well, never faltering, and even proving he is not afraid to take on both the moderators and his old friend and mentor, Jeb Bush.

But let’s not forget that there was the early debate, in which the lower seven candidates in the polls participated. The only real news there was that Carly Fiorina did very well, while Rick Perry, while not dominating, did well enough to show that he is  certainly a serious enough candidate to keep going in this race.

Now, they are back on the trail. Donald Trump is getting back to what he does best, sticking both feet in his mouth. Immediately after the debate, Trump went after FOX Newswoman and debate moderator Megyn Kelly, saying she had blood coming out of her face, and that he has no respect for her, “she’s a lightweight.” Trump has now been kicked out of the RedState summit.

There were many different opinions, even among my friends, as to who won. Some think it was Cruz, others say Kasich. Many say Rubio was the hands down winner, although I’d say while he did really well, he did not dominate the stage enough to be say that. Nobody got killed, although Jeb Bush in many ways lost because, to quote one commentator, “nobody’s talking about him.”

There will be more debates, more winners and losers, and eventually there will be one winner. Candidates will rise in the polls and candidates will fall in the polls. Like trying on coats at the store, Americans will like first one and then another, and with this far from even the first voting-state, we can’t know which coat will be worn out of the store. Until then we can only guess what is really going on in the mind of the American voter.

Andrew C. Abbott