The more I watch Trump debate, the more fascinated I get by his obsession with polling. He’s the perfect pop-art reflection of the Nate Silver age, where quantification is what matters most. Trump’s answer to everything: _Hey, this is where I am in the polls; this is where you are. Need I say more? —David Graham
.. The more time that Donald Trump spends on debate stages, the more the novelty of his bombastic charisma will wear off, and the more his recourse to insults will wear thin. He can’t help himself but to be baited into pettiness. I don’t know that Rand Paul’s attack on him helped the Kentucky Senator, but Trump’s response—to mock Paul’s appearance—is the kind of thing that will cause him to lose in the end. —Conor Friedersdorf
.. Tapper keeps asking candidates whether they’d be comfortable with Trump’s “finger on the nuclear codes.” Even leaving aside the bungled metaphor, it’s an oddly out-of-place question. It helped sink the presidential aspirations of Arizona’s Barry Goldwater half a century ago; it took a Californian to combine Goldwater’s conservative faith with a less aggressive demeanor to capture the White House. The risk of Trump shooting off nuclear missiles isn’t what gives most skeptical voters pause. But the query raises another question: Is there a candidate on the stage who can sell Trump’s positions less bluntly, the Reagan to his Goldwater? And even if there is, that actually what people want? —Yoni Appelbaum