Donald Trump Stands by As His Debate Rivals Hit One Another

It was an odd mistake, on Cruz’s part, to tell a lie in front of the person whose abeyance on this issue he needs if he is to move on, especially since Carson, who is usually somewhat cryptic, had hurt written on his face.

.. The other candidates seem to have become franchisees of Trump’s brand of personal attack. He just sits back and collects the political equivalent of licensing fees. What may be more damaging to the G.O.P. is that Trump’s ideology seems to have been franchised as well. The hyper-nationalism, the insinuations of treachery at the highest level of government, the disdain for civil rights and international accords, the fetishizing of military force, and the raw bigotry—all have somehow become part of the Republican Party’s normal back-and-forth.

.. Rubio’s talking point, for example, was striking in its repetition, but all the more so in its content. When he said that Obama knew what he was doing, he meant that “all this damage that he’s done to America is deliberate. This is a President that’s trying to redefine this country.”

.. Cruz said that he would, although he thought that the torturers should be senior people—those at “low levels” handled it badly.

 

What You Missed in the Debate

• After Mr. Cruz said he would not implement waterboarding “in any sort of widespread use,” Mr. Trump made clear he would not hesitate to turn to the practice often — and then some. “I would bring back waterboarding, and I would bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding,” Mr. Trump said.

.. “He continues to put out this fiction that there’s widespread systematic discrimination against Muslim-Americans,” Mr. Rubio said.

.. Mr. Cruz boasted in his closing statement that he won Iowa despite opposing an ethanol mandate that his peers defended, casting himself as the candidate best positioned to take on Washington. Mr. Trump could not resist a dig, alluding to the Texas senator’s tactics in Iowa. “That’s because he got Ben Carson’s votes, by the way,” Mr. Trump said.

We Have a Serious Problem

“This is not possible,” Trump snarled. “You know I’m a draft dodger, right? Only Cheney got more deferments than I did. The closest I’ve ever come to fatal combat was when I ran into Rosie O’Donnell in a men’s room. So here I am, a known draft dodger, and I go on TV and question the courage of a genuine American war hero, John McCain, and, instead of drumming me out of the race so I can get back to my empire, my numbers have gone up again?”

.. “Let’s review,” Trump said. “I said that Megyn Kelly was menstruating. I insulted Carly Fiorina’s face. I did a routine about Ben Carson’s belt that should have provoked a psychiatric intervention. I proposed internment camps for the Muslims already here, and then I said that we should bar all other Muslims from entering the country. And you’re telling me that my numbers are what?”

“The highest ever,” Jeff said, dropping behind a club chair as a platinum blow-dryer shot past him.

Trump wandered over to the window. “We have a serious problem,” he said, almost not eating the pizza. “I might win.”