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Trump, Cruz, Rubio and Kasich square off in Republican debate – live
Republican debate: Cruz calls out Trump for checks to Hillary Clinton – live
(about 1 hour later)
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Sessions named Trump campaign adviser
Cruz to Trump: 'release the tapes'
Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, who endorsed Donald Trump in advance of his state’s Super Tuesday primary, will serve as Trump’s top adviser on national security, the Trump camp has just announced. Sessions is a longtime member of the armed services committee.
“Donald, you could resolve this issue very easily by simply releasing the New York Times tapes.”
It’s some pretty serious muscle for Trump, who has attracted little support from elected officials and won the support of zero other senators.
They’re now all operating on the assumption that the tapes exsit.
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“If in fact you went to Manhattan and said, ‘I’m lying to the American people,’ the people have a right to know,” Cruz says.
01:25
“You’re the liar,” Trump says. “I’ve given my answer, lyin’ Ted.
The Guardian’s Sabrina Siddiqui is at the scene of the protest outside the debate at the Fox Theatre in Detroit:
Flint protesters outside debate say GOP presidential candidates have completely ignored the issue and are covering for Rick Snyder.
Here are Trump and Rubio arguing over immigration earlier:
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As protesters outside the debate call for boosting the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour – up from its current $7.25 an hour – here’s where the candidates who will take the stage stand. They’re all totally closed to the idea except Ohio governor John Kasich:
Trump: 'People don't want' short-term service jobs.
Rubio:
Rubio and Cruz attack Trump over a New York Times report that more than 300 Americans applied to Trump’s Palm Beach Florida club, Mar-a-Lago, but only 17 were hired and other positions were filled by immigrants
If I thought that raising the minimum wage was the best way to help people increase their pay, I would be all for it, but it isn’t. In the 20th century, it’s a disaster.
Trump says he’s had tens of thousands of people working for him. He says the Mar-a Lago club has a November through March season. “People don’t want a short-term job,” Trump says. “So we will bring people in, we bring them out.”
Trump:
Cruz hits him with a question for the audience: “How many people here have worked as a waiter or a waitress?” he asks. Lots of applause. “Marco’s dad started as a bartender, mine started washing dishes.”
We’re not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is. People have to go out, they have to work really hard, and they have to get into that upper stratum. But we cannot do this if we are going to compete with the rest of the world, we just can’t do it.
Cruz is starting a refrain: “Release the tapes.”
Cruz:
“This is all just rhetoric for the voters... simply release the tape. His record right now... is one of repeatedly hiring illegal aliens.”
Every time you raise the minimum wage, the people who are hurt the most is the most vulnerable.
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Kasich:
02:46
Have it be reasonable... I wouldn’t get into numbers right now.
Trump's unashamed "I'm changing" on skilled visas is a foretaste of how he'll handle the shift to centre once he's the nominee #gopdebate
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Trump: 'I'm changing' on visas for skilled workers
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They’re back. Trump is challenged again, on his changing views about admitting highly skilled workers. His web site says the practice is wrong, but in a recent debate he said it was OK.
Large protest by low-wage workers outside debate
“I’m changing,” Trump says. “We need highly skilled people in this country. And if we can’t do it, we’ll bring them in.
In protest of the Republican opposition to a minimum wage increase (elaboration: John Kasich has supported a “reasonable” minimum wage increase, which the other candidates oppose), low-wage workers are staging a giant march outside the Fox Theatre in Detroit. (Michigan’s primary is on 8 March.)
“I’m changing it, and I’m softening the position because we have to have talented people in this country.”
#Break: HUGE protest outside Fox Theater where GOP Debate is taking place... pic.twitter.com/jBt9B7B9nT
Kelly points out that the Art of the Deal – Trump’s book – talks about the power of “Playing to people’s fantasies.” Is that what Trump is doing here?
Here’s a periscope view of the crowd. It’s big. People are chanting, “Whose streets? Our streets! Whose streets? Our streets!” and “What do we want? $15! When do we want it? Now!”
“I’m not playing to anybody’s fantasies,” he says.
The protests is organized by the Fight for $15 group, which has sent this press material:
2.46am GMT
As presidential candidates from both parties converge in Michigan less than one week before the state’s primary, fast-food workers from Detroit and Flint who are demanding $15/hour and union rights announced they will walk off the job Thursday, and will join more than 1,000 underpaid workers to wage back-to-back protests outside the GOP and Democratic presidential debates in Michigan this week.
02:46
With a devastating water crisis continuing to unfold in Flint, fast-food workers from that city – who were among the first to join the Fight for $15 – will demand that presidential candidates from both parties support higher pay, union rights, and racial justice. More than 46% of workers in Michigan, or some 1.9 million, are paid less than $15/hour.
“The politicians who are failing the people of Flint are no different than companies like McDonald’s that are locking us in poverty – both are abusing their power, and both must be held accountable,” said Tyrone Stitts, 43, who lives in Flint, Mich., and is paid $8.50/hour at Taco Bell. “Fast-food and other workers in Flint will be not silent until we win $15/hour and union rights, and until elected leaders from both parties fight to make sure that all people have a fair shot regardless of what they look like or where they were born.”
Updated
at 1.24am GMT
1.07am GMT
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11 debates is not that many
Mona Chalabi
Mona Chalabi
A reader just emailed us saying “11th debate?! How many more?!!!” - we know how you feel Peter. According to the GOP debate schedule, we should be nearing the end with just two more officially RNC sanctioned debates to go.
They are talking immigration now and it’s an issue that is intimately tied to the economy in the minds of many voters (and, perhaps not coincidentally, in Donald Trump’s rhetoric too). A report from Pew in September last year found that 50% of US adults believe immigrants to the US are making things worse for economy while 28% say they think immigrants improve the economy.
Historically speaking, that’s not so bad. The chart below published by the University of Virginia’s Center For Politics shows that Republicans had 20 debates in 2012. And in 2008, the two parties together notched up almost 40. Oof.
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Ben Carson having a typical debate, doing quite well actually #GOPDebate
From the comments / what to talk about
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We asked you what you’d like in your pre-debate coverage, and we gather that none of you are warming up by watching Fox’s run-up coverage, Real Talk with Greta.
02:40
Anyway here are some of your preferences and ideas:
There’s a commercial break. Where’s everybody at with this debate so far? Rubio’s attacking hard, especially on Trump’s lack of policy specificity – is it working? What about the Cruz attack on Trump writing checks to Hillary Clinton? Will Kasich pick up fans tonight?
Discuss: Donald Trump and the Politics of Resentment
2.39am GMT
Commenters: What do you want to do with the next 95 minutes?
02:39
How about folks read this - it won't take 95 minutes - and discuss?
Trump says he will not consent to release of tapes on immigration
Would Republicans really nuke Trump? Could they?
Kelly asks Trump about a BuzzFeed report that the NY Times has an audio recording of Trump admitting his seemingly rigid and hawkish stance on immigration is actually flexible.
Commenters: What do you want to do with the next 95 minutes?
Trump seems to admit the conversation and praises media interviewing rules – rich for someone who has so forcefully called for new libel laws to sue media companies.
As an international viewer I am perplexed by this nomination process.
“I may have discussed something like that with the NYT. But I would never have released off-the-record conversations. I don’t think that’s fair,” Trump says.
Would the Republican Party really go through with a broken convention just to avoid Trump becoming their candidate (regardless of whether they went for Romney or Cruz/Rubio)? Given Trump would then very likely run independent, probably resulting in a Dem win, isn't this a suicidal tactic? Or is the risk to the GOP reputation too great to allow him to represent them?
“Many of those things were off the record,” Trump said. “I take being off the record as a very important thing... and I would always honor that.”
Or... are we so far into uncharted territory all the above questions are currently unanswerable?
He’s pressed on whether he would call for the release of tapes with the Times editors.
As part of any answer to these questions I’d point out that pollsters who track generic Democrats versus generic Republicans find a mood close to right down the middle this cycle. Even if the Republicans arrive at their nominee in an extremely messy way, it will still only be July (probably) and if the nominee is a big enough name, there’s no reason to think he (she?!?) would be beaten before beginning.
The answer: No.
One caveat here is that contested conventions are rare – the recent precedent most people point to is the Democrats nominating Hubert Humphrey (over George McGovern in a mess) in 1968 – and anyone who assumes there will be one should read a piece such as this from Josh Marshall yesterday: “No, there won’t be a contested convention.”
“I would not do that. I have too much respect for that process... I would not do that.”
Addendum: trust us, dear international viewer – this nomination process is plenty confusing right here in the good old USA.
“In terms of immigration, there always has to be some target.. deal... you have to be able to have some flexibility. Some negotiation,” he says.
Clinton investigations and Trump as commander-in-chief
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>> Commenters: What do you want to do with the next 95 minutes?
02:33
1. Immunity grant to Pagliano and potential for how this plays out for Clinton2. Trump's continued threats to require military to "just follow orders" and commit war crimes if elected - this would be a constitutional crisis of major dimensions, what would military leaders do
You can watch the debate live here:
We’re enjoying the conversation below the line on this one. See here for the latest on the Pagliano immunity deal.
Why does everyone hate Cruz?
The news coverage in the UK has been dominated by Trump. We don't know much about Cruz over here but I keep reading that he's nasty. What's so bad about him please, Americans?
We’d start the list with the fact that he is disloyal, as when he attacked senate buddy Mike Lee’s criminal justice reform bill; self-serving, as when he brought the senate to a halt to grandstand about “defunding” Obamacare which was not going to happen; underhanded, as when his campaign spread a rumor on Iowa caucus night that rival Ben Carson had dropped out of the race; and a sophist, as when he wondered aloud whether Chuck Hagel was taking money from North Korea during the former’s defense secretary confirmation process.
But read the Atlantic’s Molly Ball on this, “Why DC hates Ted Cruz”.
Updated
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Commenters: What do you want to do with the next 95 minutes? Talk Super Tuesday, and whether Donald Trump didn’t actually do so well? Mitt Romney, and whether he has a secret plan to snatch the Republican nomination in a contested convention? Marco Rubio’s chances in Florida? Bernie Sanders’ path to the nomination? A Trump-versus-Clinton general?
We’re assuming that most of you are reasonably caught up with the news-of-day in US presidential politics. If not, you can get a quickie light roundup in today’s Campaign Minute, an incremental real-time narration in my colleague Scott Bixby’s live blog, or a full briefing delivered in news-story form and collected on our US politics page.
Former top Mitt Romney strategist Stuart Stevens has been going after Trump for saying that Romney begged him, Trump, for his endorsement in 2012:
In '12. @realDonaldTrump begged to moderate debate. Romney said no. He begged to be on campaign plane. No. Begged for convention slot. No.
Update: from Romney’s former body man:
I was with Mitt every time he saw @realDonaldTrump and guarantee Mitt never begged Trump. Wish I would've recorded Trump kissing Mitt's ass
Here’s our news coverage of Romney’s big attack this morning on Trump, in which he called Trump dangerous to the economy and national security, impugned Trump’s intelligence and business acumen and direly warned that “this is the very brand of anger that has led other nations into the abyss”:
Related: Mitt Romney says Trump's 'third-grade theatrics' not worthy of presidency
In other news, Bernie Sanders tamed his famous mane in Kansas, which caucuses Saturday:
Just getting a trim - @BernieSanders stops for a haircut in Lawrence, KS. Press corp in tow pic.twitter.com/yWmhk1BOTn
Updated
at 12.35am GMT
11.27pm GMT
23:27
It's debate night
Hello and welcome to our live-wire coverage of the umpteenth (read: 11th) Republican presidential debate.
There are only four candidates onstage tonight so it should be a quick one. Kidding: it’s scheduled to start at 9pm and run for two hours.
Notably absent from tonight’s debate will be retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who announced on Wednesday that he was rethinking his campaign after an underwhelming Super Tuesday performance (four last places; seven second-to-last places).
What we can count on is another two-pronged attack on frontrunner Donald Trump by the determined senatorial duo of Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.
Remember what happened last time (summary here), just one week ago in Houston? Rubio accused Trump of repeating himself, Cruz tied Trump to Dennis Rodman and Trump called Cruz a “basket case” and a “liar” and said Rubio was a “choke artist”.
Who wouldn’t come back for more? Ben Carson, that’s who. Had he participated tonight, the surgeon would have enjoyed a home-court advantage: the debate will be held at the Fox Theatre (that’s how they spell it, the British way) in Detroit, where Carson grew up and where he launched his campaign.
In the hall tonight for the Guardian will be Sabrina Siddiqui, backed by Ben Jacobs in Washington and a team of reporters and commentators here in New York and elsewhere.
Onstage tonight will be:
Fox News is hosting. Of mild interest tonight is the fact that the moderators include Megyn Kelly, the Fox host who so rankles Trump that he boycotted a January debate sponsored by Fox when the network wouldn’t nix her. Asked about the Kelly rematch Thursday, Trump said: “I’m ready.”
Are you ready? What do you think is at stake tonight? Who do you expect to excel, and who to botch it? As usual, share your thoughts in the comments, please, and we’ll get some in the blog. Thanks for reading and participating!
