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Republican debate: Donald Trump still focus of campaign after sprawling fight – as it happened
Republican debate: Donald Trump still focus of campaign after sprawling fight – as it happened
(6 days later)
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We’re going to close out our live coverage of the debates, but you can read a summary of the main event here, a summary of the consolation debate here, and a story on the debate, by the Guardian’s DC bureau chief Dan Roberts, here.
We’re going to close out our live coverage of the debates, but you can read a summary of the main event here, a summary of the consolation debate here, and a story on the debate, by the Guardian’s DC bureau chief Dan Roberts, here.
4.57am BST
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Donald Trump was a crowd favorite at Red State Gathering, an annual conservative conference in Atlanta, Georgia on Thursday, but that doesn’t mean he’s the candidate that these GOP activists plan on voting for.
Donald Trump was a crowd favorite at Red State Gathering, an annual conservative conference in Atlanta, Georgia on Thursday, but that doesn’t mean he’s the candidate that these GOP activists plan on voting for.
Trump drew oohs and aahs for all of his one-liners and braggadocio but there was underlying skepticism that he really was the type of conservative that the GOP needs.
Trump drew oohs and aahs for all of his one-liners and braggadocio but there was underlying skepticism that he really was the type of conservative that the GOP needs.
Martha Moore, who came to the event from Boerne, Texas, told the Guardian that while she thought Trump was “saying a lot of things that need to be said”, she didn’t trust his conservative bona fides. “I can’t really imagine us voting for him.”
Martha Moore, who came to the event from Boerne, Texas, told the Guardian that while she thought Trump was “saying a lot of things that need to be said”, she didn’t trust his conservative bona fides. “I can’t really imagine us voting for him.”
Her husband Pat was more of a Trump fan, however. He liked the real estate mogul because “he doesn’t back down”. But he had real concerns about Trump’s past support for “single-payer healthcare and other liberal things”.
Her husband Pat was more of a Trump fan, however. He liked the real estate mogul because “he doesn’t back down”. But he had real concerns about Trump’s past support for “single-payer healthcare and other liberal things”.
Perhaps the ultimate nightmare for Democrats was personified by a Trump fan named Pam Alayon. A Puerto-Rican American mother from Atlanta, Alayon had never voted but became engaged in politics by Trump’s candidacy. She had always thought all politicians were equally corrupt. In her mind, Trump was different: “He doesn’t give a shit.”
Perhaps the ultimate nightmare for Democrats was personified by a Trump fan named Pam Alayon. A Puerto-Rican American mother from Atlanta, Alayon had never voted but became engaged in politics by Trump’s candidacy. She had always thought all politicians were equally corrupt. In her mind, Trump was different: “He doesn’t give a shit.”
But after watching the debate, she had become far more skeptical about Trump’s candidacy. “He kept on repeating the same things,” she said. Instead, she was far more intrigued by Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz now. She felt they had more polish and answered questions in more appropriate ways. And even if some of the attraction of Trump had worn away, his candidacy had insured she would vote for the first time in her life this year. The real estate mogul had been the political version of “a gateway drug”.
But after watching the debate, she had become far more skeptical about Trump’s candidacy. “He kept on repeating the same things,” she said. Instead, she was far more intrigued by Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz now. She felt they had more polish and answered questions in more appropriate ways. And even if some of the attraction of Trump had worn away, his candidacy had insured she would vote for the first time in her life this year. The real estate mogul had been the political version of “a gateway drug”.
-Ben Jacobs
-Ben Jacobs
Updated
Updated
at 5.09am BST
at 5.09am BST
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The twist that all the Republican hopefuls for presisent [sic] have been dreading. John Kasich will be devastated.
The twist that all the Republican hopefuls for presisent [sic] have been dreading. John Kasich will be devastated.
I got my selfie!!! I really loved hearing her speak & hearing her goals for our country! #HillaryForPresisent pic.twitter.com/U1aqIzsvSu
I got my selfie!!! I really loved hearing her speak & hearing her goals for our country! #HillaryForPresisent pic.twitter.com/U1aqIzsvSu
This also at last suggests that Clinton really wasn’t watching the debate, as she emailed supporters earlier in the night to say. Or if she was it was with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, whose political acumen (and likely donation dollars) will no doubt carry her to the White House. Or the West House. One of them, at minimum.
This also at last suggests that Clinton really wasn’t watching the debate, as she emailed supporters earlier in the night to say. Or if she was it was with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, whose political acumen (and likely donation dollars) will no doubt carry her to the White House. Or the West House. One of them, at minimum.
Updated
Updated
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at 4.56am BST
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Google has released its search data from during the debate, and the winner is … the same man who’s been winning search traffic for weeks, Donald Trump.
Google has released its search data from during the debate, and the winner is … the same man who’s been winning search traffic for weeks, Donald Trump.
The most searched for candidates between 9-11pm ET:
The most searched for candidates between 9-11pm ET:
The trove of data also reveals that most Americans wanted to know how old or tall Jeb Bush is, how old Ben Carson is (and who is he, and is he running for president), and how much does Chris Christie weigh.
The trove of data also reveals that most Americans wanted to know how old or tall Jeb Bush is, how old Ben Carson is (and who is he, and is he running for president), and how much does Chris Christie weigh.
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Steven W Thrasher
Steven W Thrasher
We shouldn’t be surprised that #BlackLivesMatter would get short shrift in the first Republican debate, but seriously: less than one minute dedicated to the biggest social movement of our time? Just three days before the one-year anniversary of Mike Brown’s death, which began a new civil rights movement?
We shouldn’t be surprised that #BlackLivesMatter would get short shrift in the first Republican debate, but seriously: less than one minute dedicated to the biggest social movement of our time? Just three days before the one-year anniversary of Mike Brown’s death, which began a new civil rights movement?
The moderators essentially did not address any issues of criminal justice during the #GOPDebate.
The moderators essentially did not address any issues of criminal justice during the #GOPDebate.
It was 10:36pm on the East Coast by the time Megyn Kelly (who had been asking good questions most of the evening) posed one of the most awkward questions of the night. She directed her single debate topic on race and policing toward Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, asking him if it was a movement of our time, but really framing it around what to do when policing gets out of hand.
It was 10:36pm on the East Coast by the time Megyn Kelly (who had been asking good questions most of the evening) posed one of the most awkward questions of the night. She directed her single debate topic on race and policing toward Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, asking him if it was a movement of our time, but really framing it around what to do when policing gets out of hand.
Kelly addressed the question just to one man, and right before the commercial break – unlike many other sprawling topics from the debate, which were directed to really more candidates, with hopes of invoking the 30-second rebuttal.
Kelly addressed the question just to one man, and right before the commercial break – unlike many other sprawling topics from the debate, which were directed to really more candidates, with hopes of invoking the 30-second rebuttal.
Walker answered, predictably, that bad cops should face consequences, but that most cops are good. The governor dodged racism entirely.
Walker answered, predictably, that bad cops should face consequences, but that most cops are good. The governor dodged racism entirely.
And then, Fox News cut to commercial, playing a trailer for the Straight Outta Compton movie in at least one market.
And then, Fox News cut to commercial, playing a trailer for the Straight Outta Compton movie in at least one market.
Later on, the last question before closing statements was about race relations, and was addressed to Ben Carson. Again, it was only given to one person – the only black man on stage – and the debate moved on quickly after he dismissed the role of black skin in American society.
Later on, the last question before closing statements was about race relations, and was addressed to Ben Carson. Again, it was only given to one person – the only black man on stage – and the debate moved on quickly after he dismissed the role of black skin in American society.
So the pressing question of how Black Lives Matter was given less than two minutes, and was clearly not of much importance to the Republican Party. It still isn’t.
So the pressing question of how Black Lives Matter was given less than two minutes, and was clearly not of much importance to the Republican Party. It still isn’t.
—Steven W Thrasher
—Steven W Thrasher
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While all three moderators received much deserved praise tonight for strong questions, there was one significant omission.
While all three moderators received much deserved praise tonight for strong questions, there was one significant omission.
Just one day after top aides to Rand Paul’s superPAC, including the campaign manager of his 2010 Senate campaign, were indicted, there was no mention on the debate stage.
Just one day after top aides to Rand Paul’s superPAC, including the campaign manager of his 2010 Senate campaign, were indicted, there was no mention on the debate stage.
While Paul’s campaign claimed prosecutors were politically motivated, he has yet to address the substance of the charges. Tonight would have been a good time to bring it up and moderators didn’t.
While Paul’s campaign claimed prosecutors were politically motivated, he has yet to address the substance of the charges. Tonight would have been a good time to bring it up and moderators didn’t.
-Ben Jacobs
-Ben Jacobs
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4.06am BST
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04:06
Mike Huckabee. “A lot of this election is about a person who’s high in the polls, who doesn’t have an idea how to govern, whose past is full of scandals. Of course I’m talking about Hillary Clinton.” Trump shouts “thank you” from afar.
Mike Huckabee. “A lot of this election is about a person who’s high in the polls, who doesn’t have an idea how to govern, whose past is full of scandals. Of course I’m talking about Hillary Clinton.” Trump shouts “thank you” from afar.
Scott Walker. “I’m a guy with a wife and two kids … one article called me ‘aggressively normal.’” He beat up some unions and won a recall election. “It wasn’t too late for Wisconsin, and it’s not too late for America.”
Scott Walker. “I’m a guy with a wife and two kids … one article called me ‘aggressively normal.’” He beat up some unions and won a recall election. “It wasn’t too late for Wisconsin, and it’s not too late for America.”
Jeb Bush. “We’re at the verge at the greatest time alive.” Immigration is broken but could be an economic driver. Embrace the energy revolution. “We can restore America’s leadership in the world so that everybody has the chance to rise up. I humbly urge you to vote whenever you get the chance to vote.”
Jeb Bush. “We’re at the verge at the greatest time alive.” Immigration is broken but could be an economic driver. Embrace the energy revolution. “We can restore America’s leadership in the world so that everybody has the chance to rise up. I humbly urge you to vote whenever you get the chance to vote.”
Donald Trump. “Our country is in serious trouble We don’t win anymore.” We don’t beat China or Mexico or Japan, those countries make so many cards. “We don’t do anything right. Our military has to be strengthened.” Trump.
Donald Trump. “Our country is in serious trouble We don’t win anymore.” We don’t beat China or Mexico or Japan, those countries make so many cards. “We don’t do anything right. Our military has to be strengthened.” Trump.
And it’s over. Even the moderators seem surprised. The candidates’ families shuffle onto stage, then slowly leave it.
And it’s over. Even the moderators seem surprised. The candidates’ families shuffle onto stage, then slowly leave it.
Updated
Updated
at 4.09am BST
at 4.09am BST
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Closing statements
Closing statements
John Kasich goes first. He was in the military. He helped budget a federal budget while in Congress that one time. He really wants people in Ohio to feel hopeful.
John Kasich goes first. He was in the military. He helped budget a federal budget while in Congress that one time. He really wants people in Ohio to feel hopeful.
Chris Christie goes second. He’s from New Jersey. His dad made ice cream at a factory. He says he put terrorists in jail after September 11. He ignores the time limit ding, and he says he really doesn’t worry about being respected.
Chris Christie goes second. He’s from New Jersey. His dad made ice cream at a factory. He says he put terrorists in jail after September 11. He ignores the time limit ding, and he says he really doesn’t worry about being respected.
Rand Paul. I’m a different kind of Republican. He filibustered for 10-and-a-half hours to defend “your right to be left alone”. He went to Ferguson and Baltimore because he wants Republicans to be “bigger and better”.
Rand Paul. I’m a different kind of Republican. He filibustered for 10-and-a-half hours to defend “your right to be left alone”. He went to Ferguson and Baltimore because he wants Republicans to be “bigger and better”.
Marco Rubio. His parents were born poor on Cuba, his father was a bartender. Let’s expand the American dream, everybody, and make a “new American century” while we’re at it.
Marco Rubio. His parents were born poor on Cuba, his father was a bartender. Let’s expand the American dream, everybody, and make a “new American century” while we’re at it.
Ted Cruz. “The first hting I intend to do is rescind every illegal action taken by Barack Obama.” The second thing he’ll do in office is investigate and prosecute Planned Parenthood. Then he’ll defend religious liberty. Then he’ll tear up the Iran deal, and then he’ll move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
Ted Cruz. “The first hting I intend to do is rescind every illegal action taken by Barack Obama.” The second thing he’ll do in office is investigate and prosecute Planned Parenthood. Then he’ll defend religious liberty. Then he’ll tear up the Iran deal, and then he’ll move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
Ben Carson. “I’m the only one to separate Siamese twins.” He’s going to “pick up the baton of freedom.”
Ben Carson. “I’m the only one to separate Siamese twins.” He’s going to “pick up the baton of freedom.”
Updated
Updated
at 4.10am BST
at 4.10am BST
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Marco Rubio answers the question by saying that the Republican party is “blessed” to have so many good candidates when “the Democrats can’t even field one.”
Marco Rubio answers the question by saying that the Republican party is “blessed” to have so many good candidates when “the Democrats can’t even field one.”
Then he talks about Veterans Affairs. It’s not clear why, or even what he’s saying, but A for effort at bringing up an otherwise ignored issue.
Then he talks about Veterans Affairs. It’s not clear why, or even what he’s saying, but A for effort at bringing up an otherwise ignored issue.
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The final question, from Facebook: “I want to know if any of them have received a word from God on what they should do and take care of first.”
The final question, from Facebook: “I want to know if any of them have received a word from God on what they should do and take care of first.”
“I’m blessed to receive a word from God every day,” says Ted Cruz. “I’m the son of a pastor and an evangelist.” He quotes scripture, “we should know them by their fruit,” and says that the party needs “consistent conservatives” to win the election.
“I’m blessed to receive a word from God every day,” says Ted Cruz. “I’m the son of a pastor and an evangelist.” He quotes scripture, “we should know them by their fruit,” and says that the party needs “consistent conservatives” to win the election.
Thankfully he does not describe his fruit.
Thankfully he does not describe his fruit.
John Kasich gets the same question, and meanders a bit – his father was a mailman, we’ve really got to unite communities over this policing issue – before landing on a declaration about how God “wants America to be strong, he wants America to succeed.”
John Kasich gets the same question, and meanders a bit – his father was a mailman, we’ve really got to unite communities over this policing issue – before landing on a declaration about how God “wants America to be strong, he wants America to succeed.”
Scott Walker get sacramental: “I’m certainly an imperfect man, and it’s only by the blood of Jesus Christ that I’ve been redeemed from my sins.”
Scott Walker get sacramental: “I’m certainly an imperfect man, and it’s only by the blood of Jesus Christ that I’ve been redeemed from my sins.”
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03:51
And we’re back to questions about military/foreign policy.
And we’re back to questions about military/foreign policy.
1. How weak is the American military? Is it weaker than it’s ever been since 9/11? Since 1940? Or since 1917?
1. How weak is the American military? Is it weaker than it’s ever been since 9/11? Since 1940? Or since 1917?
2. Which war must come first? In Ukraine, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Russia, China, Isisland or all of the above?
2. Which war must come first? In Ukraine, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Russia, China, Isisland or all of the above?
3. How would you strengthen the US military? Planes, boats, troops, missiles, sharks with frickin’ lasers?
3. How would you strengthen the US military? Planes, boats, troops, missiles, sharks with frickin’ lasers?
4. [finally! this question] Israel, yeah? Or very yeah?
4. [finally! this question] Israel, yeah? Or very yeah?
-Jeb Lund
-Jeb Lund
3.48am BST
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03:48
03:48
In case you missed it, Mike Huckabee’s magnanimous opinion about LGBT rights in the US military.
In case you missed it, Mike Huckabee’s magnanimous opinion about LGBT rights in the US military.
Huckabee on trans people: "The military is not a social experiment. The purpose of the military is to kill people and break things." Christ.
Huckabee on trans people: "The military is not a social experiment. The purpose of the military is to kill people and break things." Christ.
My colleague Ben Jacobs is keeping score.
My colleague Ben Jacobs is keeping score.
Mike Huckabee has now mentioned pimps, prostitutes and the B-52s tonight
Mike Huckabee has now mentioned pimps, prostitutes and the B-52s tonight
Updated
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at 3.49am BST
at 3.49am BST
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3.46am BST
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Bret Baier asks Rand Paul about his first ever budget proposal for Congress, which cut foreign aid to Israel.
Bret Baier asks Rand Paul about his first ever budget proposal for Congress, which cut foreign aid to Israel.
Paul says he’s for cutting aid to countries “where they burn the American flag.”
Paul says he’s for cutting aid to countries “where they burn the American flag.”
“Israel’s not one of those, but even Binyamin Netanyahu said they’re going to be stronger when they’re independent. We shouldn’t borrow money from China to send it anywhere.”
“Israel’s not one of those, but even Binyamin Netanyahu said they’re going to be stronger when they’re independent. We shouldn’t borrow money from China to send it anywhere.”
He says that “out of your surplus you can help your allies.”
He says that “out of your surplus you can help your allies.”
“We cannot give away money we don’t have. We do not project power from bankruptcy court. We’re borrowing a million dollars a minute, it’s got to stop somewhere.”
“We cannot give away money we don’t have. We do not project power from bankruptcy court. We’re borrowing a million dollars a minute, it’s got to stop somewhere.”
Updated
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at 3.52am BST
at 3.52am BST
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Ted Cruz is now describing some kind of pan-Iranian-Kremlin conspiracy involving a cyberattack on Pentagon computers. He’s very emphatic about it. He was an accomplished debater in college, after all.
Ted Cruz is now describing some kind of pan-Iranian-Kremlin conspiracy involving a cyberattack on Pentagon computers. He’s very emphatic about it. He was an accomplished debater in college, after all.
Ben Carson mumbles his way through a question about foreign policy. Scott Walker, on his left, gives a knowing nod when Carson says “we’ve turned our back” on Israel.
Ben Carson mumbles his way through a question about foreign policy. Scott Walker, on his left, gives a knowing nod when Carson says “we’ve turned our back” on Israel.
Walker gets a question about Ukraine and Russian president Vladimir Putin. He gets in a quip about how Russian and Chinese hackers “probably know more about Hillary Clinton’s email server than do members of Congress.”
Walker gets a question about Ukraine and Russian president Vladimir Putin. He gets in a quip about how Russian and Chinese hackers “probably know more about Hillary Clinton’s email server than do members of Congress.”
He looks proud of that one. Then he gets to the question.
He looks proud of that one. Then he gets to the question.
“I would say weapons to Ukraine, I would work with Nato to get forces on the eastern border of Poland,” and he would even throw in a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic. Back to the USSR for Walker.
“I would say weapons to Ukraine, I would work with Nato to get forces on the eastern border of Poland,” and he would even throw in a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic. Back to the USSR for Walker.
3.39am BST
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03:39
Moderator Bret Baier asks Trump about prisoner swaps with the Taliban and foreign policy in general in the Middle East. “I would be so different from what we have now.”
Moderator Bret Baier asks Trump about prisoner swaps with the Taliban and foreign policy in general in the Middle East. “I would be so different from what we have now.”
“I would say [Obama’s] incompetent but I don’t want to do that because it’s not nice. We get Bergdahl, a traitor, and they get five of the big great leaders of them all,” he says, in reference to Sgt Bowe Bergdahl, an American held prisoner by the Taliban for years, and eventually traded for several prisoners.
“I would say [Obama’s] incompetent but I don’t want to do that because it’s not nice. We get Bergdahl, a traitor, and they get five of the big great leaders of them all,” he says, in reference to Sgt Bowe Bergdahl, an American held prisoner by the Taliban for years, and eventually traded for several prisoners.
Leaders in Washington are “incompetent”, he says. A woman screams. “I agree,” Trump says.
Leaders in Washington are “incompetent”, he says. A woman screams. “I agree,” Trump says.
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03:35
The moderators ask Scott Walker about policing and police abuses, and the Wisconsin governor replies with a fairly milquetoast, if even-keeled, answer.
The moderators ask Scott Walker about policing and police abuses, and the Wisconsin governor replies with a fairly milquetoast, if even-keeled, answer.
“It’s about training, it’s about making sure that law enforcement professionals … have the proper training particularly when it comes to use of force.”
“It’s about training, it’s about making sure that law enforcement professionals … have the proper training particularly when it comes to use of force.”
He does appear to support prosecution in some cases, though, saying that “for the very few who don’t” follow the rules of the US, “there are consequences to show that we treat everyone the same in America.”
He does appear to support prosecution in some cases, though, saying that “for the very few who don’t” follow the rules of the US, “there are consequences to show that we treat everyone the same in America.”
3.31am BST
3.31am BST
03:31
03:31
Bush denies having called Trump “a clown”, “a buffoon”, and a swearword he tries to stop Kelly saying out loud, but he says that the mogul’s tone is “divisive”.
Bush denies having called Trump “a clown”, “a buffoon”, and a swearword he tries to stop Kelly saying out loud, but he says that the mogul’s tone is “divisive”.
This pleases Trump. The billionaire says that Bush is “a true gentleman, he really is.”
This pleases Trump. The billionaire says that Bush is “a true gentleman, he really is.”
But he defends his tone, saying it’s necessary to talk tough when “you have people that are cutting Christians’ heads of, and when you have a world and a border where in so many places it’s almost medieval times.”
But he defends his tone, saying it’s necessary to talk tough when “you have people that are cutting Christians’ heads of, and when you have a world and a border where in so many places it’s almost medieval times.”
Updated
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at 3.34am BST
at 3.34am BST
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Kelly describes Donald Trump’s long and convoluted history of political flip-flopping. She asks when he became a Republican.
Kelly describes Donald Trump’s long and convoluted history of political flip-flopping. She asks when he became a Republican.
“I am pro-life,” he says. “I hate the concept of abortion, I hate the concept of abortion.
“I am pro-life,” he says. “I hate the concept of abortion, I hate the concept of abortion.
“Friends of mine, years ago, were going to have a child and it was going to be aborted, and that child today is a total superstar, a great, great child.”
“Friends of mine, years ago, were going to have a child and it was going to be aborted, and that child today is a total superstar, a great, great child.”
As for his political ambivalence, he blames New York. “I come from a place in New York City which is virtually, it’s almost exclusively Democrat.”
As for his political ambivalence, he blames New York. “I come from a place in New York City which is virtually, it’s almost exclusively Democrat.”
Then he more or less admits that he became a Republican in 2008. “The last couple of months of [Jeb Bush’s] brother’s administration were a catastrophe, and unfortunately the last few months gave us President Obama, and you can’t be happy about that.”
Then he more or less admits that he became a Republican in 2008. “The last couple of months of [Jeb Bush’s] brother’s administration were a catastrophe, and unfortunately the last few months gave us President Obama, and you can’t be happy about that.”
Updated
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at 3.33am BST
at 3.33am BST
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Social issues – ie Planned Parenthood and reproductive rights – on the docket. Megyn Kelly asks Jeb Bush about how he joined the Bloomberg Foundation, which in part funded Planned Parenthood.
Social issues – ie Planned Parenthood and reproductive rights – on the docket. Megyn Kelly asks Jeb Bush about how he joined the Bloomberg Foundation, which in part funded Planned Parenthood.
“I joined the Bloomberg Foundation because my and Bloomberg’s shared commitment to education reform,” Bush says, adding that “my record is clear.”
“I joined the Bloomberg Foundation because my and Bloomberg’s shared commitment to education reform,” Bush says, adding that “my record is clear.”
In Florida “I defunded Planned Parenthood, I created a culture of life in my state,” he says.
In Florida “I defunded Planned Parenthood, I created a culture of life in my state,” he says.
Kelly turns to Rubio, saying that he supports a rape and incest exception to abortion restrictions. Rubio says she’s got it wrong, and is pro-life all the way, “whether they can vote or not, whether they can speak or not, whether they can hire a lawyer or not, whether they have a birth certificate or not.”
Kelly turns to Rubio, saying that he supports a rape and incest exception to abortion restrictions. Rubio says she’s got it wrong, and is pro-life all the way, “whether they can vote or not, whether they can speak or not, whether they can hire a lawyer or not, whether they have a birth certificate or not.”
Updated
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at 3.28am BST
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03:25
Hillary Clinton wants everyone to know she really, honestly isn’t watching the Republican debate. Why would she! One of them is only going to end up being her opponent. Who cares what they think or how they debate?
Hillary Clinton wants everyone to know she really, honestly isn’t watching the Republican debate. Why would she! One of them is only going to end up being her opponent. Who cares what they think or how they debate?
Perhaps she’s watching Jon Stewart’s final Daily Show instead.
Perhaps she’s watching Jon Stewart’s final Daily Show instead.
Here’s what she emailed to her fans:
Here’s what she emailed to her fans:
Subject: I’m not watching tonight’s debate
Subject: I’m not watching tonight’s debate
I don’t need to.
I don’t need to.
Friend -- Right this minute, ten Republican men are on national TV, arguing over which one will do the best job of dragging our country backwards.I’m not watching, and I don’t need to be.Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Marco Rubio -- they all have the same agenda. They are out of step with the kind of country Americans want for themselves and their children.I’m on the road tonight, but I wanted to take a moment to ask you to chip in $1 or more right now to fight for the vision you and I share:https://www.hillaryclinton.com/gop-debate/Thanks,Hillary
Friend -- Right this minute, ten Republican men are on national TV, arguing over which one will do the best job of dragging our country backwards.I’m not watching, and I don’t need to be.Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Marco Rubio -- they all have the same agenda. They are out of step with the kind of country Americans want for themselves and their children.I’m on the road tonight, but I wanted to take a moment to ask you to chip in $1 or more right now to fight for the vision you and I share:https://www.hillaryclinton.com/gop-debate/Thanks,Hillary
-Paul Owen
-Paul Owen
Updated
Updated
at 3.26am BST
at 3.26am BST
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03:21
The candidates are fielding questions about Iran, with Rand Paul rolling out Reagan on the alter.
The candidates are fielding questions about Iran, with Rand Paul rolling out Reagan on the alter.
“I’m a Reagan conservative, and Reagan did negotiate with the Soviets. But you have to negotiate from a position of strength,” he says.
“I’m a Reagan conservative, and Reagan did negotiate with the Soviets. But you have to negotiate from a position of strength,” he says.
“I would never have released the sanctions unless there was consistent evidence of compliance.”
“I would never have released the sanctions unless there was consistent evidence of compliance.”
Huckabee is far, far less forgiving of the idea that diplomacy has a function in the Middle East. The nuclear talks were not conducted well at all, Huckabee says, because unlike the Soviet Union – which he says had a policy of “we may defend ourselves” – Iran has said “’we will wipe Israel off the face of the map’ and ‘we will bring death to America.’”
Huckabee is far, far less forgiving of the idea that diplomacy has a function in the Middle East. The nuclear talks were not conducted well at all, Huckabee says, because unlike the Soviet Union – which he says had a policy of “we may defend ourselves” – Iran has said “’we will wipe Israel off the face of the map’ and ‘we will bring death to America.’”
Huckabee sees a dire world, but apparently doesn’t make the implication of his metaphor and gun control: “When someone points a gun at you, by God you’ve got to take that seriously, and we’ve got to take that seriously.”
Huckabee sees a dire world, but apparently doesn’t make the implication of his metaphor and gun control: “When someone points a gun at you, by God you’ve got to take that seriously, and we’ve got to take that seriously.”
3.18am BST
3.18am BST
03:18
03:18
Gustavo Arellano
Gustavo Arellano
You know the Republican presidential candidates are going to be in trouble in 2016 with Latino voters when their best overture to us so far is Jeb Bush’s $75 Guaca Bowle. It’s further proof that while conservatives love Mexican food, they still hate Mexicans.
You know the Republican presidential candidates are going to be in trouble in 2016 with Latino voters when their best overture to us so far is Jeb Bush’s $75 Guaca Bowle. It’s further proof that while conservatives love Mexican food, they still hate Mexicans.
That’s a start, right?
That’s a start, right?
But both debates on Thursday night just go to show what I’ve been saying to my conservative pals for years: you don’t win corazones by trashing immigrants, whether of the undocumented or legal variety.
But both debates on Thursday night just go to show what I’ve been saying to my conservative pals for years: you don’t win corazones by trashing immigrants, whether of the undocumented or legal variety.
So farewell, Rick Santorum, whose response to a question about what to do with all the children of undocumented immigrants in this country was to say how his grandpa had to wait before immigrating – as relevant an anecdote to the modern-day immigration debate as saying one’s ancestors came here the right way.
So farewell, Rick Santorum, whose response to a question about what to do with all the children of undocumented immigrants in this country was to say how his grandpa had to wait before immigrating – as relevant an anecdote to the modern-day immigration debate as saying one’s ancestors came here the right way.
Vaya con Diós, Bobby Jindal, who said this: “Immigration without assimilation is an invasion.” (Only in America can the brownest presidential candidate be the most anti-Mexican.)
Vaya con Diós, Bobby Jindal, who said this: “Immigration without assimilation is an invasion.” (Only in America can the brownest presidential candidate be the most anti-Mexican.)
The rest of the candidates in the early free-for-all were as antiquated in their ideas as the Fox News moderators’ use of the term “illegals” – adios, and good riddance to them all. And adios to you, too, Mike Huckabee, with your “illegals, prostitutes and pimps”.
The rest of the candidates in the early free-for-all were as antiquated in their ideas as the Fox News moderators’ use of the term “illegals” – adios, and good riddance to them all. And adios to you, too, Mike Huckabee, with your “illegals, prostitutes and pimps”.
But if the first debate was for the losers, then the main one should be called the Pendejo Bracket.
But if the first debate was for the losers, then the main one should be called the Pendejo Bracket.
You know the Republican presidential candidates are in trouble when Jeb got the silent treatment for standing by his comments that coming to this country illegally is an “act of love”.
You know the Republican presidential candidates are in trouble when Jeb got the silent treatment for standing by his comments that coming to this country illegally is an “act of love”.
Nah, the rest of the bunch instead wanted to talk conspiracy: Donald Trump admiring the Mexican government for being “cunning”, Marco Rubio giving a shout-out to Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, and Ted Cruz referring to Washington as a “cartel” (are the latter trying to channel their inner Tony Montana?).
Nah, the rest of the bunch instead wanted to talk conspiracy: Donald Trump admiring the Mexican government for being “cunning”, Marco Rubio giving a shout-out to Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, and Ted Cruz referring to Washington as a “cartel” (are the latter trying to channel their inner Tony Montana?).
In their defense, the candidates only said what the Republican base wants to hear: Latino immigrants are a menace to the States, on par with China and Isis. Thank God one of these pendejos is going to lose to Hillary next year.
In their defense, the candidates only said what the Republican base wants to hear: Latino immigrants are a menace to the States, on par with China and Isis. Thank God one of these pendejos is going to lose to Hillary next year.
—Gustavo Arellano
—Gustavo Arellano
3.16am BST
3.16am BST
03:16
03:16
Chris Wallace asks Donald Trump about how four of his companies have gone bankrupt, and how that squares with his braggadocio about being a businessman.
Chris Wallace asks Donald Trump about how four of his companies have gone bankrupt, and how that squares with his braggadocio about being a businessman.
“I’ve taken advantage of the law of this country, like other people,” Trump says, quickly ascending to a red-faced temper. “Virtually every person that you read about” in the business pages has used those laws, he says.
“I’ve taken advantage of the law of this country, like other people,” Trump says, quickly ascending to a red-faced temper. “Virtually every person that you read about” in the business pages has used those laws, he says.
“When somebody else uses those laws, nobody reads about them,” he says, In contrast, when he uses them, “you hear Trump Trump Trump.”
“When somebody else uses those laws, nobody reads about them,” he says, In contrast, when he uses them, “you hear Trump Trump Trump.”
“Hundrds and hundreds of deals, four times I’ve taken advantage of the laws, and frankly so has everybody else in my position.”
“Hundrds and hundreds of deals, four times I’ve taken advantage of the laws, and frankly so has everybody else in my position.”
Trump uses the economic wasteland of Atlantic City as an example, noting that “even Caesars” Palace has gone bankrupt there.
Trump uses the economic wasteland of Atlantic City as an example, noting that “even Caesars” Palace has gone bankrupt there.
“Every company virtually in Atlantic City just went bankrupt, Chris can tell you,” Trump says, gesturing to Christie. “I had the good sense [to leave] seven years ago.”
“Every company virtually in Atlantic City just went bankrupt, Chris can tell you,” Trump says, gesturing to Christie. “I had the good sense [to leave] seven years ago.”
“I’ve made a lot of money in Atlantic City and let me tell you I am very proud of that,” he concludes, having somehow found a way to brag about something almost entirely unrelated to the question about his bankrupt businesses.
“I’ve made a lot of money in Atlantic City and let me tell you I am very proud of that,” he concludes, having somehow found a way to brag about something almost entirely unrelated to the question about his bankrupt businesses.
3.11am BST
3.11am BST
03:11
03:11
Huckabee gets a question about social security and Medicare, and suggests ending Congress’ retirement program as a start to saving money for social security.
Huckabee gets a question about social security and Medicare, and suggests ending Congress’ retirement program as a start to saving money for social security.
“Sixty million Americans depend on social security,” Huckabee says. “The government took it out of their check whether they wanted them to or not. Who’s fault is it that the system is screwed up, is it the recipients or is it the government?”
“Sixty million Americans depend on social security,” Huckabee says. “The government took it out of their check whether they wanted them to or not. Who’s fault is it that the system is screwed up, is it the recipients or is it the government?”
Huckabee was on a roll until he got the prostitutes, pimps and drug dealers
Huckabee was on a roll until he got the prostitutes, pimps and drug dealers
Turned on this debate for 3 minutes and Huckabee just said something about Pimps taking advantage of Social Security pic.twitter.com/VkHQzORXnZ
Turned on this debate for 3 minutes and Huckabee just said something about Pimps taking advantage of Social Security pic.twitter.com/VkHQzORXnZ
Christie is not so credulous, saying “the trust fund is filled with IOUs” and ending the retirements of Congress would not solve the problem.
Christie is not so credulous, saying “the trust fund is filled with IOUs” and ending the retirements of Congress would not solve the problem.
“We need to go with the fundamental problem, and the fundamental problem is this system is broken.” But Christie doesn’t say how to solve the problem, only that “we need a strong leader” who can tell the truth.
“We need to go with the fundamental problem, and the fundamental problem is this system is broken.” But Christie doesn’t say how to solve the problem, only that “we need a strong leader” who can tell the truth.
Updated
Updated
at 3.18am BST
at 3.18am BST
3.07am BST
3.07am BST
03:07
03:07
Chris Wallace asks Jeb Bush about the economy, and Bush revels in wonky, policy specific glory.
Chris Wallace asks Jeb Bush about the economy, and Bush revels in wonky, policy specific glory.
“You fix a convoluted tax code, you go in and replace every regulation that’s a job killer,” he says, then spinning immigration reform as another economic boon for the country. It’s the most animated he’s been all night.
“You fix a convoluted tax code, you go in and replace every regulation that’s a job killer,” he says, then spinning immigration reform as another economic boon for the country. It’s the most animated he’s been all night.
Scott Walker listens to the next question with a strange, glazed stare toward Chris Wallace. His jaw hangs slightly ajar. Even Wallace looks a little perturbed.
Scott Walker listens to the next question with a strange, glazed stare toward Chris Wallace. His jaw hangs slightly ajar. Even Wallace looks a little perturbed.
Then Walker snaps into action and an answer about Wisconsin’s jobs numbers and boasting about his changes to its tax code comes spilling out.
Then Walker snaps into action and an answer about Wisconsin’s jobs numbers and boasting about his changes to its tax code comes spilling out.
Next questions to Christie and Huckabee.
Next questions to Christie and Huckabee.
Updated
Updated
at 3.14am BST
at 3.14am BST
3.04am BST
3.04am BST
03:04
03:04
Jeb Lund
Jeb Lund
On the issues, taxes-and-schools edition:1. What is the highest number in your flat tax?
On the issues, taxes-and-schools edition:1. What is the highest number in your flat tax?
2. What is the local tax-based mechanism and voucher system by which you will destabilize and undermine education equality and public education?Aside from Rand Paul, asking these guys to express how they differ on most policies is like having to tell them apart by their ties.
2. What is the local tax-based mechanism and voucher system by which you will destabilize and undermine education equality and public education?Aside from Rand Paul, asking these guys to express how they differ on most policies is like having to tell them apart by their ties.
-Jeb Lund
-Jeb Lund
Updated
Updated
at 3.07am BST
at 3.07am BST
3.02am BST
3.02am BST
03:02
03:02
Kasich fields a question about the economy, and doesn’t much back down from his support for certain welfare programs. “It’s important that we reach out to people in the shadows.”
Kasich fields a question about the economy, and doesn’t much back down from his support for certain welfare programs. “It’s important that we reach out to people in the shadows.”
“That includes people in the minority community, that includes peopel who feel they don’t have the chance to move up.”
“That includes people in the minority community, that includes peopel who feel they don’t have the chance to move up.”
“America is a miracle country, we have to restore the sense that the miracle applies to you.”
“America is a miracle country, we have to restore the sense that the miracle applies to you.”
He brags a bit about being part of the large congressional team that balanced the federal budget in the mid-90s, and the moderators change the subject.
He brags a bit about being part of the large congressional team that balanced the federal budget in the mid-90s, and the moderators change the subject.
3.02am BST
03:02
One presidential candidate seems to like Donald Trump tonight - but it’s not any of the Republicans on stage.
Democratic candidate and Vermont senator Bernie Sanders used Trump’s garbled attempt to defend his past support for single-payer healthcare for some top-notch trolling of the GOP frontrunner and to tout his advocacy for the United States to move to a European style healthcare system.
-Ben Jacobs
Did @realDonaldTrump just support a national single-payer health system? Well. He was right on something. #DebateWithBernie
2.57am BST
02:57
Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush have a moment of awkward agreement after a pair of questions about education standards.
Rubio says “the problem with common core, the Department of Education like every department will never be satisfied.” He says that the government will try to “force it down the throats” of schools.
“We do need curriculum reform, and it should happen at the state and local level.”
Bush agrees, slipping in a comment that Rubio is still is friend, even if they are competing for the exact same set of sort-of-moderate-but-not-really conservatives, and for Floridians and Hispanics. “I think the states ought to correct these standards, and if states want to opt out of Common Core, fine, but I think the standards have to be high.”
“If we‘re going to compete,” Bush says, edging surprisingly toward high standards and possibly more school funding, “there’s no way we can do it with lowered expectations and dumbing down everything.”
2.55am BST
02:55
Jeb Lund
On the issues, foreign-policy edition:1. This is for all non-Rand Paul candidates: How much invasive surveillance of Americans do you want, assuming a minimum of “very”?
2. How much war do you want, assuming a one war minimum?
3. Do you want to say torture is OK? y/n?
4. [not asked] Israel, yeah? [assume yeah]
—Jeb Lund
Related: 2016 presidential candidates quiz: how well do you know the next leader of the free world?
2.53am BST
02:53
Rand Paul may be counting his lucky surveillance cameras for Chris Christie, writes Guardian DC bureau chief Dan Roberts.
It might not have looked like at the time, but Rand Paul will be thanking Chris Christie for going head-to-head with him on the issue of balancing surveillance with national security.
The two clashed in the most heated scenes of the debate yet over Paul’s support for curtailing the National Security Agency. When Paul accused Christie in turn of getting too close to the White House and “hugging” Obama, the New Jersey governor shot back that the hugs he remembers were with the families of 9-11 victims.
Yet divisive as the issue is among Republican voters, it is the most distinctive part of Paul’s agenda and his passionate defence of the bill of rights brought warm applause from the crowd. In recent weeks, the Kentucky senator has struggled to connect with anyone and has been dogged by a scandal involving his campaign staff this week. He will be delighted to have been back on familiar territory with one of the most memorable scenes of the night.
2.51am BST
02:51
Trump gets enmeshed in a question about healthcare, and his former support for singlepayer system. He delivers a typically rambling response about setting up a private system.
Moderator Bret Baier asks him about his previous support for liberal cause, and Trump says he’s supported lots of things, including campaigns of politicians on stage.
For a moment, gloriously, the various candidates start shouting weak jokes at each other about who was or wasn’t supported by Trump over the years.
Baier wrestles control back and asks Trump about what favors he received from Hillary Clinton, for instance, in return for giving money.
“I said be at my wedding and she came to my wedding,” Trump says.
So there you have it: Donald Trump had to pay for wedding guests.
2.48am BST
02:48
Some juicy questioning here on immigration. And guess who is screeching loudest? Donald Trump, obviously.
Trump is reminded that he has repeatedly said that the Mexican government is sending rapists and drug dealers to the US. He has even said he has evidence for this. So will he share that evidence Right Now Live On Primetime in Front of a Fox News audience, asks Chris Wallace?
No.
“If it weren’t for me you wouldn’t even be talking about illegal immigration,” Trump says. “This was not a subject that was on anybody’s mind until I brought it up at my announcement.”
Quite a stretch there, obviously, but Trump then continues by essentially walking back his dispatching sex offenders shtick, watering it down to an increase in crime which, apparently, is due to immigration. Then he’s on about building a wall, “quickly”. He doesn’t mind if it has “a big beautiful door” to let people in “BUT WE NEED TO KEEP PEOPLE OUT!”
Our Fox News moderators are unhappy with that, which is fair enough really, given that shouting “immigrants” and “wall” over and over again isn’t really an explanation or a policy. Trump is given another 30 seconds to expand on his Mexican-government-sending-rapists idea. So what’s the basis for the claim, Donald?
Our leaders are stupid. Our politicians are stupid. And the Mexican government is much smarter, much sharper, much more cunning, and they send the bad ones over because they don’t wanna pay for them, they don’t wanna take care of them, why should they when the stupid leaders of the United States are doing it for them?
The Trump meltdown, or telling of it like it is, depending on your beliefs, came after an immigration question to Jeb Bush. He actually responded pretty moderately: yes, he wants to control the border – they’re all obliged to say that now – but yes he does support a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants who are already in the US.
“Not amnesty,” he says. A path to “legal status: which means you pay a fine and do many other things to earn right to be here.”
-Adam Gabbatt
2.47am BST
02:47
Ben Carson gets a question about whether he would bring back torture techniques used under the Bush administration, and he avoids the question. He more or less says that he would avoid “stupid wars” but let generals do their jobs.
“We want to utilize the tremendous intellect that we have in the military to win wars. And I’ve talked to a lot of the generals a lot of our advanced people and believe me, if we gave them the mission, which the commander in chief does, they will carry it out.”
Details – much less answers to the question – are scarce.
Updated
at 2.48am BST
2.45am BST
02:45
Megyn Kelly asks Bush about the Iraq war, and the brother of George W Bush finally says outright that “knowing what we know now … it was a mistake. I wouldn’t have gone in.
“However for the people who did lose their lives, and who suffered because of it,” he says, the US has to finish the job in Iraq he says, without getting into details about how.
He accuses Obama of having “abandoned Iraq, and when he left al-Qaida was done for and Isis was created.”
Then he talks an odd left turn toward Iran: “We need to stop the Iran agreement for sure because the Iranian mullahs have blood on their hands and we need to take out Isis with every tool at our disposal.”
2.42am BST
02:42
Rand Paul and Chris Christie spar on surveillance
Paul slams Christie: "I don't trust Obama with our records. I know you gave him a big hug..." #GOPDebate pic.twitter.com/giCfxGqyMJ
Megyn Kelly changes the subject, moving on to national security and the NSA.
Chris Christie doubles down on his support for expansive surveillance powers, and Rand Paul quickly gets in his face, so far as he can from his distant podium.
“I want to collect more records from terrorists but less records from innocent Americans,” Paul says. “The fourth amendment was what we fought the revolution over.
“I’m proud standing for the bill of rights and I will continue to stand for the bill of rights.”
Christie starts to shout: “That’s a completely ridiculous answer!
“’I want to collect more records from terrorists but less records from innocent Americans,’ how are you supposed to know that?”
Christie and Paul start shouting at each other.
“When you sit on a subcommittee just blowing hot air about this, you can say that,” Christie says.
Paul retorts: “You fundamentally misunderstand” the bill of rights.
“I’m talking about searches without warrants. I don’t trust President Obama with our phone records. I know you gave him a big hug, and if you want to give him a big hug again.”
Christie brings up 9/11, saying the hugs he remembers were at the funerals, and the moderators soon enough break up the fight.
Updated
at 2.45am BST
2.38am BST
02:38
Some people have compared Donald Trump to Ross Perot or Pat Buchanan but conservative pundit Mark Hemingway sees an entirely different comparison for Trump.
Donald Trump is essentially @NormMacDonald’s Burt Reynolds impression from the Celebrity Jeopardy sketch running for president.
Watch some Celebrity Jeopardy here.
-Ben Jacobs
2.37am BST
02:37
Ted Cruz also takes an immigration question, accusing someone – likely the Obama administration, maybe his peers in Congress – of neglect. “They don’t want to enforce the immigration laws.”
“There are far too many in the Washington cartel that want to talk about amnesty,” he says.
“If [immigrants] come illegally and they get amnesty, that is how we fundamentally change this country. And it really is striking, a majority of candidates on this stage have supported amnesty, I have never supported amnesty.”
2.36am BST
02:36
Jeb Lund
I’m not sure what the issues here are beyond one issue, which is Donald Trump. (We’re still on immigration, which is essentially his now.)
Not only do each of these candidates want to score off him, but you can sense the Fox Machine wanting to hammer down Trump a little and demonstrate that he has to be more grateful for them.
—Jeb Lund
2.35am BST
02:35
Rubio takes a question about immigration too, with a off-hand jab at Trump’s grand vision of a wall, presumably plated with gold and emblazoned every 50 yards by massive letters spelling out “The United States, President Trump”.
“El Chapo built a tunnel under the fence and we need a solution to deal with that too,” Rubio says, alluding to the Mexican druglord famous for his efficient tunnel networks.
“I agree with what Governor Kasich just said, people are frustrated,” he continues, before bringing up the people who have paid fees and are waiting in the system to become citizens. He does not offer details about a reform plan, however.
2.33am BST
02:33
Jessica Valenti
Drink every time Megyn Kelly smacks down a sexist!
I’m not generally a Fox News fan, but I may have to turn in more often if I’m going to see Kelly be such a bad-ass. Someone needed to take on Donald Trump’s history of demeaning women, and let’s not just talk about Twitter – but about pageants! (Maybe a Republican swimsuit competition is in order?)
It’s bad enough that the stage is filled with men and only men, but it’s as if they’re vying for misogynist-in-chief.
But truly the standout moment so far has been Scott Walker’s near eye-roll when Kelly started to ask him about his extreme position on abortion – which makes no exception for the life of the women carrying a pregnancy. He dodged, but not very well, by insinuating that abortion isn’t necessary to save women’s health and lives. He is wrong (and I should know). So, shorter Walker: I don’t care if she dies.
Here’s hoping that Kelly keeps at it, and that all of us have enough booze to keep up.
—Jessica Valenti
Related: Scott Walker set to revive abortion hard line on eve of presidential bid
2.32am BST
02:32
Wallace asks John Kasich about Donald Trump, and Kasich starts off a bit awkwardly, dodging the direct question about immigration and whether our leaders are stupid.
“Here’s the thing about Donald Trump, Donald Trump has hit a nerve in this country, people are frustrated they’re fed up, they don’t think the government is working for them. Now he’s got his solutions, some of us have other solutions.”
“Mr. Trump is touching a nerve because people want a wall to be built.”
2.30am BST
02:30
Trump is asked about his infamous comments about “rapists” and criminals coming across the Mexican border.
“If it weren’t for me you wouldn’t even be talking about illegal immigration,” Trump says.
He blames journalists, “because they’re a very dishonest lot, generally speaking in the world of politics,” for misconstruing his comments. And then he says that there have been “many killings” and all kinds of crime, “our money going out and drugs coming in” since he made those same comments.
Tremendously, as the Donald might say, Trump then lays out his solution: The Great Wall of Mexico.
“We need to build a wall and it has to be built quickly. I don’t mind having a big beautiful door in that wall so people can get into this wall legally.”
Wallace presses for “specific evidence” that the Mexican government is sending criminals to the US, as Trump said it was.
“Border patrol people, that I deal with, that I talk to,” told him about the criminals being sent across.
Trump starts shouting at no one in particular: “Because our leaders are stupid!”
“The Mexican government is much smarter, much sharper, much more cunning,” he says, than American leaders.
And this is why, Trump concludes, the Mexican government doesn’t want to take care of its delinquents and malcontents “when the stupid leaders of the United States is doing it for them.”
Updated
at 2.31am BST
2.25am BST
02:25
Fox News is bound to make a ton of money off this process, from people buying ads and scrabbling for facetime, and it seems almost as if they’re trying to divide and cut down each candidate to extend this process. The first questions for all the lower-tier candidates boiled down to: “Why should we believe that you are not irrelevant?” And here the first question was designed to undermine Donald Trump, the network’s favorite.
The first to Marco Rubio tried to get him to cut down Jeb Bush. The first for Jeb Bush tried to undermine him via his family. If this is a reality show, you could be forgiven for assuming it was being structured to prolong it.
The easy way to demean Trump right now is to say that he’s just nonsensically reciting the same talking points, but literally every other one of these guys is too. He’s running away from uncomfortable questions, but that’s the game plan, for everyone. The best response he’s gotten from the audience is just shrugging and punching forward. Even at Megyn Kelly.
This is what happens when you fetishize the “tough talking no-nonsense leader,” demonize the media and generally disregard women. You can’t impose your authority on a “leader” anymore. You can’t question or control him, because he can just say, “Screw you.”
-Jeb Lund
2.24am BST
02:24
Jeb Bush gets a question about immigration, specifically about whether he stands by a past quote: “They broke the law, but it’s not a felony, it’s an act of love, it’s an act of commitment to your family.”
Bush says he stands by the statement:
I believe that the great majority of people coming here illegally have no other option. But we have to control our border. It’s our responsibility to control who comes in.
“There should be a path,” he says, “not amnesty.” He says that immigrants should have to pay a fine and overcome other hurdles to citizenship.
Updated
at 2.26am BST
2.21am BST
02:21
Rand Paul gets a question about Isis and foreign policy – Paul is as dovish a Republican as has run for president in a very long time.
He seems to suggest cutting all funding and supplies to Iraq and Syrian rebels, and maybe to Saudi Arabia and other Middle East allies as well. “I’m the leading voice in America for not arming the allies of Isis,” he says.
“Isis rides around in a billion dollars’ worth of Humvees. We didn’t create Isis, Isis created themselves but we will stop them, and one of the ways we stop them is by not funding them and by not arming them.”
2.19am BST
02:19
Chis Wallace asks Chris Christie about how his state of New Jersey is doing poorly compared to much of the country’s recovery from the 2008 financial crisis.
“If you think it’s bad now you should’ve seen it when I got there,” Christie replies, before delving into various statistics.
Kelly asks Scott Walker about abortion if it pertained to someone in his family; he sticks to the broader principle: “I believe that that is an unborn child that’s in need of protection out there.
“I defunded Planned Parenthood more than four years ago, long before any of these videos came out.”
Mike Huckabee joins in on the anti-abortion arguments, saying the next president needs to go farther than simply defunding Planned Parenthood. “It’s time that we recognize that the supreme court is not the supreme being.”
2.18am BST
02:18
Ben Jacobs
The first Republican debate started with one of the most dramatic moments in recent American political history.
The candidates were asked – right at the outset – to raise their hands if they were still willing to consider a third-party run and not pledge to support the eventual Republican nominee.
Unsurprisingly, only Donald Trump raised his hand. That is: only the Donald has yet to rule out running as an independent candidate, potentially upending ... everything.
The real-estate mogul then shrugged and held his arms out wide, signalling that nobody should be surprised. Trump made clear he was keeping his options open but that he did pledge to support the nominee and not be a third-party candidate if he was the party’s eventual candidate.
But the real fireworks came when Kentucky senator Rand Paul jumped in and excused Trump of “hedging his bets” again as someone “who buys and sells politicians” and suggested that the billionaire might support Hillary Clinton.
As they say on the Twitter machine: #ShotsFired.
—Ben Jacobs
Updated
at 2.23am BST
2.14am BST
02:14
Megyn Kelly asks Trump about his history of comments disparaging women with whom he doesn’t agree, listing offensive words that he has used. Only against Rosie O’Donnell, jokes Trump.
Trump says he doesn’t have time to be polite.
“It’s fun, it’s kidding, we have a good time,” Trump says, blaming political correctness.
“If you don’t like that I’m sorry,” he continues. “I’ve been very nice to you.”
He then says that America’s in trouble, and seems to like Ben Carson’s solution its trade deficits with Mexico and China: “We need brain in this country to turn it around.”
Updated
at 2.17am BST
2.12am BST
02:12
Moderator Chris Wallace asks Marco Rubio why he’s qualified to lead the country without any experience in an executive position.
Rubio says he doesn’t want it to this to become a résumé contest, and boasts that he was a leader in the diverse state of Florida – well known for its erratic politics, alligators and golf courses.
Jeb Bush is asked about the legacy of his last name, and replies: “In Florida they call me Jeb, because I earned it.”
He adds: “They call me Veto Corleone. I’m my own man, I governed as a conservative and I governed effectively.”
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02:08
Next question goes to Carson, who is criticized in the question for having made many errors on foreign policy points – knowing for instance what countries are Nato members.
“The thing that’s probably most important is having a brain,” he says, adding that he’s happy to get to those tricky facts during the course of the debate. But bad news for the brainless.
2.06am BST
02:06
Rand Paul jumps in to criticize Trump: “He’s already hedging his bet on the Clintons, so if he doesn’t run as a Republican maybe he supports Clinton.”
Paul accuses him of buying politicians in the past, and Trump shoots back: “I’ve given his plenty of money.”
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02:05
Fox News’ Bret Baeir runs through the rules: one minute for answers, 30 seconds for “follow-ups”, and otherwise it’s all at the moderators’ discretion.
He starts off with a question about whether anyone is willing to run a third-pary campaign if they don’t win the Republican nomination – Trump raises both his hands, alone, as the only person who might not endorse the eventual nominee.
“I cannot say I have to respect the person if it’s not me,” he says. “I can totally make the pledge if I am the nominee I will not run as an independent.
“I’m talking about a lot of leverage, we want to win and we will win.”
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2.01am BST
02:01
The candidates take the stage #gopdebate pic.twitter.com/jn4JRI0hLu
2.00am BST
02:00
Ben Jacobs
The candidate with the highest stakes tonight may be John Kasich.
The Ohio governor was the 10th candidate who made it into Fox’s lineup, edging out Texas governor Rick Perry to make it to the main stage.
The blunt, irascible Republican is considered a heretic by many economic conservatives for his support for Medicaid expansion – at the Red State Gathering her in Atlanta tonight, top conservative talk-show host Erick Erickson said he wouldn’t invite Kasich here “if he was the last man on Earth”.
But Kasich, a two-term governor who served 18 years in the House, is on his home turf tonight and has a chance to have a major breakout moment.
His late announcement was overshadowed by the peak of Donald Trump’s surge in the polls and, with his marginal poll numbers, he is vulnerable to being left out of the next debate. Tonight is his chance to make his mark in a field where he may be one of the most obscure candidates.
The question is whether he can take advantage.
—Ben Jacobs
2.00am BST
02:00
The crowd goes wild at the sight of 10 middle-aged white men wearing suits, distinguished by a diversity of haircuts. There’s a bald spot, curls, a few glossy sheens and shades of grey, and then whatever it is on Trump’s head.
Moderator Bret Baier dismisses the candidates to their podiums, observing that the having them stand next to each other for a photograph “was awkward enough”.
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01:51
The primary primary debate begins
The candidates are taking the stage and the show – the first Republican primary debate in the quest to become president in 2016 – is about to begin!
Welcome to our live coverage of the main debate, in which billionaire Donald Trump will square off against his less wealthy, less red opponents. He lines up against Jeb Bush, the former governor with a notable name and surprisingly good Spanish; Scott Walker, the anti-union governor who never went to college and survived a recall election.
Then there’s Ben Carson, a former neurosurgeon who once compared healthcare reform to slavery; Mike Huckabee, a former governor who has said “there’s no such thing as a Palestinian”; Ted Cruz, a senator who helped shut down the government for two weeks; Rand Paul, a senator who shuts down the Senate with his filibusters; Marco Rubio, a senator once hailed as “a standout intern”; Chris Christie, a governor who has attended more than 130 Bruce Springsteen concerts; and John Kasich, a governor who “used to be a fan of Kanye”.
Stay tuned everything on the debate, with reporting from my colleague Paul Lewis (@paullewis), at the debate in Cleveland, Ohio, as well as live updates, analysis, commentary and, of course, jokes, from the team at the Guardian.
1.49am BST
01:49
Who is Carly Fiorina? Check out her CV (and all the other candidates’), as seen by my colleague Tom McCarthy (@teemcsee).
1.45am BST
01:45
Tired of Trump? Watch the desperate figures on the flanks, writes my colleague Paul Lewis (@paullewis) from the debate in Cleveland.
Donald Trump is centre-stage tonight, literally and metaphorically. But my top tip would be to watch out for the two governors on the wings, having only made it onto the stage by the skin of their teeth.
They have more reason, and perhaps ability, than most to make a splash. Chris Christie and John Kasich tend not to flinch when offered a chance of a confrontation; they’re smart, easily agitated, out of synch with the conservative bent of most of the candidates on state, and languishing in the polls.
As a result, they’ll be stood on the edge of the stage, itching to find a way to stand out, and a high-profile tussle with the silverback gorrilla in the middle of the stage might do the trick. Christie’s reputation is built on his combative style as governor of New Jersey. Kasich, who is easily-needled, is also on home turf in Ohio, and may see tonight’s debate as his best single best chance to get noticed.
1.36am BST
01:36
Say, who wants to watch Donald Trump shave someone’s head? The man is Vince McMahon of WWE wrestling. A wrestler backed by Trump beat a wrestler backed by McMahon, meaning Trump got to pick up the clippers and shave his opponent. But who’ll be getting their head shaved tonight!?
Oh and here is Trump getting drop-kicked by Steve Austin.
-Adam Gabbatt
1.24am BST
01:24
Fiorina flourished, Trump may yet live up to his name and Bush could catch fire like the Biblical shrubbery of lore – a turn that would no doubt lock up the evangelical vote. But the debates have one true winner, writes my colleague Sam Thielman, and the winner is Fox News.
Fox News is an incredibly profitable piece of cable real estate. Networks get paid by cable companies per subscriber per month (a little piece of your cable bill goes to every channel you get, in other words), and the industry average is $0.25. Fox News gets fully a dollar more than that. It’s expected to rise to $1.50.
The only network that makes more from cable companies is ESPN.
The channel does great ad sales business, too, despite a median age well above the demographic that news advertisers usually buy - the “news demo” is generally considered 25-54; Fox’s median age is 68.
It still attracts enough people in that demographic to pull in nearly $794m last year -and to regularly embarrass its cable news competitors with bragging rights that sometimes amount to two and three times their own viewership - according to analysts at SNL Kagan. So with its two major revenue streams, the network is worth some $2bn a year to parent company 21st Century Fox.
Why is Fox so stunningly successful? “Its secrets are hard to divine, but it’s probably simple – well, not that simple – starmaking,” Sam continues.
The company often culls the most popular names on talk radio for its coterie of commentators and with the very rare exception (Glenn Beck’s toxic implosion, for example), those commentators are savvy enough to parlay those deals, which can reach into the millions of dollars a year, into further book deals and speaking gigs.
The network, in fact, is a big deal for its gigantic parent company, and tonight’s debate is a huge deal for Fox News. 21st Century Fox’s CFO, John Nallen, even mentioned it on the company’s earnings call, saying that investors could rest easy when it came to ad revenue given upward trends there and “probably a massive viewership coming in the next day [that would be today] to that network.”
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01:16
Speaking of the former secretary of state and Democratic frontrunner, everyone had a lot to say about Clinton tonight. The Atlantic’s Molly Ball counted.
Number of words the candidates used for their “2-word answers”: PATAKI: 9 FIORINA: 4 SANTORUM: 3 PERRY: 3 JINDAL: 4 GRAHAM: 11 GILMORE: 6
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01:08
Out in Los Angeles, Hillary Clinton “has no plans to watch tonight’s debate”, according to NBC News’ Kristen Welker.
Her campaign on the other hand can’t get enough of the Republicans, tweets Buzzfeed’s Ruby Cramer.
More posters from inside @HillaryClinton debate press room pic.twitter.com/1aIWIwc3tH
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01:03
Graham also answers a question for the comedian who has gratified liberal Americans for more than a decade by assailing Republican hypocrisy (and whose last show airs tonight), the New York Times’ Jonathan Martin tweets.
Lindsey G parting words for Jon Stewart: "Don't let the door hit ya in the ass"
12.52am BST
00:52
Lindsey Graham is still in the spin room, spinning away.
He bashes far-right conservatives – wonder if he has anyone in mind – to the Wall Street Journal: “My fear is that we will nominate somebody that can’t grow this party.”
He has someone in mind, and that someone is Donald Trump, he tells CNN. “I think what he’s saying about foreign policy makes absolutely no sense,” says Graham, who would put ground troops in three war-torn Middle East countries for the foreseeable future until jihadi groups are destroyed according to some unspecified standard.
His hawkish foreign policy also extends all the way back to the second world war. “If I were president Truman, I would have dropped the bomb,” he tells Japanese media on the anniversary of the Hiroshima’s destruction.
Fiorina is also spinning through the recesses of time, my colleague Paul Lewis reports from the room.
Asked why she compared herself to Margaret Thatcher, Fiorina compared herself to Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama
Updated
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12.44am BST
00:44
We’ve heard a lot about Donald Trump in the last few weeks. But you can always get to know someone better. To that end I’ve been
enjoying
reading Donald Trump’s 2005 opus “Think Like a Billionaire”. It’s a rip-roaring, seat-of-your-pants whirl through the life and mind of a man who may or may not have been a billionaire when he wrote it. (It’s also now available for $0.01 online, so he could afford approximately 1 trillion copies).
It turns out Trump will offer advice on almost anything. Some real chapter titles: “How to be married”; “How to make good friends”; “How to balance work and romance”; “How to dress and groom for work”. (God help anyone who has followed this guidance).
My favourite section of Think Like a Billionaire is called, simply, “Stuff” and is essentially just a list of Donald Trump’s favourite things. The best car is a Mercedes. The best cufflinks are some sort of Trump-branded cufflinks. The best Broadway show is Evita.
Oh, and the best shampoo? Head & Shoulders.
Donald Trump on "the best shampoo". From 2004's Think Like a Billionaire cc @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/b9v4be9NLA
-Adam Gabbatt
12.39am BST
00:39
Rick Perry, Lindsey Graham, Bobby Jindal and Rick Santorum are having dinner together, according to the Wall Street Journal and Time magazine, thus fulfilling the dream of exactly no one who has ever been asked about whom they would invite to a dinner party if they could invite anyone in the world.
Perry, Jindal, Santorum, and Graham are all having dinner together at 9pm tonight. Organized by Perry camp. All 7 were invited.
Questions remain for the kids’ table candidates, who will soon literally sit around a table together as their better funded, better polling rivals take the stage.
Applebee’s or Arby’s? Do they share the sides, or do jalapeño bites bother Bobby Jindal’s delicate constitution and anti-Hispanic sensibilities? Do Rick Santorum’s religious beliefs preclude eating “riblets”? And for all those jobs he created, does Rick Perry pick up the bill?
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12.28am BST
00:28
Happy Gilmore
The consensus among pundits after the first debate on Thursday night was that former HP executive Carly Fiorina was the big winner. Fiorina gave a polished impressive performance that drew national attention to her underdog candidacy. She wasn’t the only to do well. Other pundits thought Rick Perry and Lindsey Graham also turned in solid performances and were able to stay on message.But none of those candidate were the true winner. That was former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore.
Gilmore was the 17th candidate to declare a bid for the GOP nomination and is obscure even in his home state where he served one undistinguished term as governor from 2001-05. As opposed to the other candidates on stage, all of whom have run active campaigns and tried to raise money, Gilmore has done little, if anything, to be a viable candidate. And he got to be on stage Thursday night.
The result is while he didn’t say anything memorable, do anything memorable or even look particularly memorable. Gilmore has to be the big winner. After all, before tonight, it’s doubtful if even political diehards had heard his name. Now, he hasn’t just gotten 15 minutes in the spotlight but over one hour in not quite primetime.
-Ben Jacobs
12.22am BST
00:22
“There is one particular rule that, more than any other, could shape this debate – and perhaps limit the appetite of anyone considering aiming a barb at Donald Trump,” writes my colleague Paul Lewis (@paullewis), reporting from Cleveland.
If one candidate refers to another, the latter will have a chance to defend themselves with a rebuttal, the duration of which is at the moderator’s discretion.
That means that the candidate who gets mentioned the most (Trump, for example) could end up with the most airtime. It is a catch that could also dissuade the frontrunner in the polls from taking aim at any of his rivals.
Karl Rove, George W Bush’s svengali, mentioned this in a recent discussion with Fox News host Chris Wallace, who will be moderating tonight’s debate. “In politics, the counterpunch is often times more powerful than the punch,” Rove said.
“And what Donald Trump doesn’t want to place himself in the position of doing is throwing a punch, and having counterpunches wailed on him throughout the night.”
“I don’t anticipate this will devolve into a Donald Trump show or a Donald Trump smackdown of all of his opponents,” Mitchell McKinney, a professor in political communication at the University of Missouri who studies campaign debates, told the Guardian.
That said, he believes the debate is far more unpredictable than a general election debate, where the rules are “much more tightly scripted”. The power, really, is in the hands of the candidates, and the three Fox News moderators: Wallace, Megyn Kelly and Bret Baier.
“They can decide who to pose questions to, they can decide which candidates get a chance to respond, giving more time and opportunity for some candidates versus others,” McKinney said.
“The flow of the discussion will be greatly influenced by those journalists but also the candidates.”
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00:07
Fiorina wins the coveted “most-searched-for” award, Google reveals, which may actually mean something for candidates desperate for voters to learn their names.
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00:04
After the debate, the candidates stroll off into what’s called the “spin room”, where they talk to reporters and apparently declare victory.
Graham’s campaign manager, for instance, released a statement saying he “was the clear winner in today’s ‘happy hour’ debate. He is ready to be commander-in-chief on day one.”
Fiorina complains about debate rules w/o saying they should be changed; Says people like her when they hear her. pic.twitter.com/eM3YSheGAO
There’s also a fair amount of complaining: Gilmore and Graham say the polling used by Fox only uses name recognition, and not how voters actually feel about candidates. Fiorina complains about the rules but happily adds that people like what they hear from her nonetheless.
Pataki delivers a sound bite that surprises no one: “I’m not a real sound bite guy.”
Perry muttering "done, done, done!" as he navigates his way out of spin room through pesky reporters
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23:44
And with that the kids’ table debate of poorly polling candidates ends, and the men and woman depart the mostly empty arena.
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23:40
In the 2008 Democratic race Barack Obama described Hillary Clinton as “likeable enough”, our hosts tell us. So what two words would this lot use to describe her?
The key here is two words. TWO WORDS. Say it in two words, you schlubs! Suffice to say, no one uses two words. We hear: “Not the change we need”; “professional politician that can’t be trusted”; “divisive and with no vision at all”.
Only Rick Santorum uses two words. But I can’t remember what they were, because what should have been seven people saying 14 words turned into seven people dictating the great American novel. Let’s hope the same question is asked of Donald Trump tonight. “You’re fired!”
-Adam Gabbatt
Updated
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11.25pm BST
23:25
Jeb Lund
Look at this picture of the audience:
I know politicians have major egos, but it has to be pretty crushing to look out and see this audience. (NYT photo). pic.twitter.com/0FRHs7g7Or
There’s a very bitter joke to make here about people who determine the value of anything and everything by the market’s estimation of it.
Let’s just pull the Trump lever and go home.
—Jeb Lund
11.23pm BST
23:23
Graham delivers a surprisingly demur statement, urging cooperation and civility, of all things. “We’re becoming Greece if we don’t work together,” he warns.
He says he’ll help find compromises, “doing the hard things that should’ve been done a very long time ago.”
Pataki brings up for the second time that he was governor of New York on September 11, and Gilmore says … well, he said something, I’m sure.
11.21pm BST
23:21
Jeb Lund
“Planned Parenthood had better hope Hillary Clinton wins this election.”
That sound you just heard is every Democratic ad guru rolling back the footage, ripping it to disk, loading it into FinalCut Pro and saying, “Thank you.”
The heavily edited Planned Parenthood videos – whose factual revelations, what few there were, told nobody familiar with Planned Parenthood anything new – are apparently the horse that everyone is going to ride on.
It has everything. Government spending, economic dependency, religion, scary things about impermissible vaginal usage, hypocritical hysteria about the value of medical care and life. Lindsey Graham showed how valuable it is by pivoting immediately to Isis and the real War on Women.
This isn’t going to go away until someone shuts down the government about it.
—Jeb Lund
11.18pm BST
23:18
In his closing statement, Rick Perry waxes nostalgic for his happy days as governor of Texas, and eventually veers into a third-person self-glorification: “Nobody’s done it like Rick Perry’s done it over the last decade.”
Santorum opens his closing statement by boasting about his fertility (or at least his decades of rejecting birth control): “I have seven children and bringing them into this world if you’re not optimistic about the future of this country.”
Jindal uses his statement to tap into Trump’s anti-immigration sentiment, and raise some hell: “They need to learn English, adopt our values, roll up their sleeves and get to work.”
"immigration without assimilation is an invasion," says @BobbyJindal
He then proceeds raise some hell with good English rhetoric by mixing metaphors: “I’ve got the backbone, I’ve got the bandwidth, I’ve to the experience.”
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11.13pm BST
23:13
The moderators ask the candidates how they would inspire Americans. Fiorina says “the potential of this nation and too many Americans is being crushed by the weight, the power, the cost, the ineptitude, the corruption of the federal government.”
“Only someone who will challenge the status quo of Washington DC will restore this nation.”
Santorum also pitches himself as an outsider, and gets particularly excited talking about “cultural reforms” and changes “never seen before” for DC. He grins unblinking at the moderators, who turn to Lindsey Graham.
More sedate, Graham says “whatever it takes to defend our nation, I will do.” As for reforms, he says the US needs leaders who can broker compromises: “I’ll be the Ronald Reagan if I can find a Tip O’Neill.”
They’re then given a chance to “describe Hillary Clinton in two words,” and about two of them actually only use two words, eg “secretive and untrustworthy”, “socialist and government dependent”, and “not the change we need.”
11.08pm BST
23:08
Taking stabs at rapid-fire statements, nearly all the candidates say they’d undo lots of things that Obama has done – from the nuclear deal with Iran to executive actions on immigration and so on.
Perry talks about immigration and Iran, Graham about restoring the “gutted” spying powers of the NSA. Santorum says, apropos nothing in particular, that he would “make sure that people of faith are not being harassed and prosecuted by the federal government.”
Fiorina, allowed to run well over her allotted time by the moderators, says she would “begin by undoing a whole set of things that President Obama has done whether it’s illegal amnesty or this latest round of EPA regulations.”
11.05pm BST
23:05
Lindsey Graham handles the question with a bit of rhetorical horror: “I don’t think it’s a war on women for all of us as Americans sto stand up and stop harvesting organs from little babies.”
He suggests putting the money given to Planned Parenthood into women’s health funds, and again says we must not “harvest the organs of the unborn.”
Graham then performs a rhetorical backflip and lands somehow on foreign policy, by way of saying the real war on women is in the Middle East.
“Folks I’ve been there 35 times,” he says. “These mythical Arab armies that my friends talk about to protect us, they don’t exist.”
He wants American soldiers in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, “because we must.”
11.01pm BST
23:01
Reproductive rights! Pataki gets the question, as the only pro-choice candidate running for the Republican nomination.
The moderators throw in a jab about how no pro-choice candidate has won the primary in decades.
“I’m a Catholic, I believe life begins at conception,” Pataki says, not getting into any nuance of what his position might be. He does say he doesn’t believe Republicans should try to change Roe v Wade and abortion rights, “but what we can do is defund Planned Parenthood.”
He offers a hodgepodge plan to effectively make abortion rights as difficult as possible to access without actually taking the issue back to court or Congress.
What you won't usually hear at R debate: Pataki says Roe v Wade is settled law and "I don't think we should continue to try to change it."
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10.55pm BST
22:55
Santorum, a loud and roundly mocked opponent of gay rights, is asked about the historic supreme court decision this year to legalize same-sex marriage around the US.
The one-time senator gets angry. “This is a rogue supreme court,” he says.
Jim Gilmore, who is somehow still on stage, also accuses the supreme court of “making the law up” instead of following it.
Apparently aware that almost everyone had forgotten him, Gilmore tries to jump in on that last question about conflicts in the Middle East.
He says the difference between Iran and Isil is that Iran is “expansionist” while “Isil is trying to create themselves into a new state.”
“I have proposed that there be a Middle East Nato so that we can combine our allies there,” he says “and stop this Isil thing before it becomes an actual state.”
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22:52
Iran questions! The first to Perry, about whether the US should align itself with Iran or Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other countries who have funded violent groups aroun the Middle East.
Easy peasy, Perry says: “the side that keeps Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, that’s the side that we need to be on, and that’s the side of most of the Middle East.”
Perry offers a strange couple of shouts to Fiorina and Graham, saying that the former would’ve made a better diplomatic negotiator than John Kerry, and that Graham is on the right side of the argument.
“The first thing I’ll do is tear up that agreement with Iran.”
Fiorina gets the question next, saying that “on day one” in the Oval Office she would call up Israel’s prime minister – “my good friend Bibi Netanyahu” – and the second to Iran with hardline inspection demands.
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22:51
Lindsey Graham normally cracks a joke every other sentence. Tonight, the three-term South Carolina senator is coming across as far more monotone and sober than usual. It feels like he’s been coached to seem far more of a generic politician than the Senate’s king of one liners.
The candidate who makes cracks about being willing to show up to bar mitzvahs on the campaign trail and is a fixture on Sunday shows seems uncomfortable and awkward on stage tonight. Even his attack lines on Bill Clinton lost their edge. A line that referenced Graham’s fluency in “Clinton-speak” which was used to reference Monica Lewinsky in the New Hampshire forum Monday tonight had the edge taken off it on Thursday.
—Ben Jacobs
Updated
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10.51pm BST
22:51
It’s important to remember that while those of us covering these folks have heard all their zingers a half-dozen times already, most people watching this debate – and the main event – have not.
So, for example, as groan-worthy as it is for political beat reporters to hear Lindsey Graham say that he’s learned how to speak Clinton over the last 20 years and words mean whatever they want and that Bill decides what “the meaning of ‘is’ is”, it’s still a pretty good zinger for the target audience.
Ditto Rick Perry’s repetition about the border. Ditto Bobby Jindal saying, “They’re turning the American Dream into the European Nightmare” and “give Bernie Sanders credit for calling himself a socialist”. These are winners with primary voters, even if politics wonks might recognize them as days or thousands of years old already.
-Jeb Lund
Updated
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10.44pm BST
22:44
Trying to get the candidates to answer questions is like drawing blood from the proverbial stone, the moderators are finding.
Jindal finally answers a yes-or-no question when one of the moderators simply tells him he failed to answer it in the time he had. (Jindal says he wouldn’t expand Medicaid anywhere, unlike Ohio governor John Kasich.)
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22:43
FYI Senator Lindsey Graham is standing on a box right now #GOPDebate pic.twitter.com/GtIzZyc8fm
Lindsey Graham took a shot at the “I’m not a scientist” crowd that constitutes most Republican presidential candidates.
The South Carolina senator is one of the few Republicans who openly acknowledges that greenhouse gas emissions are contributing to global warming. Graham was asked to defend his work with Democrats and the Obama administration on legislation to address climate change, and how conservatives can trust his record on an issue that remains deeply unpopular with the Republican base.
Invoking a hypothetical matchup between himself and the Democratic frontrunner, Graham said:
You can trust me to do the following – that when I get on the stage with Hillary Clinton, we won’t be debating about the science, but about the solutions.
In her world, cap-and-trade would dominate. That will destroy the economy in the name of helping the environment. In my world we’ll focus on energy independence and a clean environment. When it comes to fossil fuels, we’re going to find more here and use less. Over time we’re going to become energy independent.
I am tired of sending $300bn overseas to buy oil from people who hate our guts. The choice between a weak economy and a strong environment is a false choice. That is not the choice I’ll offer America.
Graham’s views on climate change put him in a minority of Republican candidates willing to embrace the role played by human activity in the warming of the planet. George Pataki, the former New York governor who also took part in the debate of low-tier candidates, has also acknowledged the science behind climate change.Graham has often argued that tackling climate change is critical to national security and energy independence, and would boost job creation in the United States. But his record is somewhat mixed – the senator worked on legislation with Democrats in the Senate in 2009 and 2010 to try and carve out a solution, but he ultimately abandoned the effort.
And then there was this, comparing himself later in the runners-up debate to Clinton, but emphasizing his differences in energy policy:
She’s not going to build a Keystone pipeline. I will.
Graham has nonetheless been supported by some environmental groups. Most of his rivals, on the other hand, have been routinely hammered by environmentalists and Democrats for refusing to accept the science behind climate change – in large part because of the donations they receive from oil and gas companies.
—Sabrina Siddiqui
Updated
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10.41pm BST
22:41
Graham is asked about the economy: “I think Americans are dying to work, you just need to give them a chance.”
He then turns the whole the answer into a diatribe against Hillary Clinton, saying if Americans want work, “don’t vote for Hillary Clinton, you’re not going to get it. She’s not going to rebuild Obamacare and replace it, I will. She’s not going to build the Keystone pipeline, I will.”
“I’m fluent in Clinton-speak, I’ve been doing this for 20 years.”
Graham’s getting animated, and a ding interrupts him as he runs out of time.
Santorum fields a question about whether Americans are too dependent on public benefits. He touts his record as a freshman senator (he only served one term) and then talks at length and without substance about making America “a manufacturing juggernaut.”
Gilmore then talks about removing “the death tax”, stripping away regulations, and making the economy “explode”, which sounds more ominous than he likely meant.
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22:34
Santorum is asked about immigration. He spatters out a rambling, fairly insubstantial answer about his Italian immigrant father, about reform, and about how“we’re going to be different.”
Perry doesn’t want to hear it. “Here’s the interesting position on this. Americans are tired of hearing” about immigration, he says.
Why reform when you can shut it down, is Perry’s gist. He says he’ll throw in “strategic fencing”, 24/7 “aviation assets” that will fly “all the way from Tijuana”. He wants to know what everyone’s doing at the border, all the time.
No one mentions how well the strategy worked out in cold war Berlin or seventh-century China. The moderators cut to commercial with an electrifying promise to talk about the economy after the break.
10.28pm BST
22:28
Asked about cybersecurity and the balance of national security and privacy, Fiorina for her part says: “I do not believe we have to wholesale destroy every American citizens’ privacy.”
She then recommends closer cooperation between the government and private tech companies – suggestions that sound awfully close to recent pitches from the Obama administration.
Updated
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10.28pm BST
22:28
It’s worth noting that, even though the moderators’ questions are playing to the candidates’ schtick a bit more now (“Governor Jindal, Senator Graham, tell us about Islamic terror and why it’s bad”), the first battery was, essentially, “Tell us why you’re not forgettable.”
Or as Matt Pearce of the LA Times put it:
FOX NEWS REPUBLICAN DEBATE MODERATOR: You're terrible. Why are you terrible? CANDIDATE: We can make America great again.
The degree to which each candidate was asked to dispute his or her irrelevancy only increased as we went from right to left across the state, ending with former Governor Gilmore, who was asked whether Rory should have wound up with Dean, Jess or Logan.
(He said Logan, and he’s wrong. It’s Jess. It’s always Jess.)
-Jeb Lund
Updated
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10.27pm BST
22:27
Pataki also takes a question about fighting terrorism. He opens by comparing radical preaching to ”shouting fire in a crowded theater” and says that “that is not protected speech”. (Not the best example.)
He says he would “shut down” preaching in prisons or mosques if it encouraged “violence against Americans”.
He then goes on to say that “we have got to destroy their training camps over there,” but doesn’t say how the US could root out such centers in Syria, for instance, where civil war has decimated the country and the US has extraordinarily little influence.
Updated
at 10.28pm BST
10.21pm BST
22:21
A bit of context for the attention paid to “the elephant not in the room”, as a Fox moderator put it.
Trump's not even in this debate and he's the top target #GOPDebate pic.twitter.com/bO8HWO9fBy
10.21pm BST
22:21
Independent Journal Review, a sort of rightwing Upworthy or Buzzfeed, has been getting some great access to Republican candidates. First they filmed Lindsay Graham destroying his Donald-Trump-compromised cell phone. Then they brought us Ted Cruz cooking “machine gun bacon”. Now, they bring us the pre-debate rituals of the GOP hopefuls.
Scott Walker goes running. Carly Fiorina, who obviously won’t actually be in the proper debate tonight, plays solitaire. Jeb Bush says that he calls his mom. But really it’s just a set-up for this joke: “Hey mom! I can’t say that on television!”
Maybe Barbara advised him to talk in sensible terms about immigration.
-Adam Gabbatt
Updated
at 11.00pm BST
10.21pm BST
22:21
The moderators toss out a question about Isis and the threat of international terrorism. Jindal dodges it and accuses the president of betraying America with incorrect nomenclature. He says he, at least, will call Isis a group of “Islamic terror”.
Lindsey Graham is willing to go much, much further. He calls for ground troops in Iraq, and says that as president he would be willing to wage war for as long as necessary and at whatever cost in order to destroy Isis.
10.20pm BST
22:20
As I wrote earlier this week, all these candidates have so little time given the structure of these debates that nobody has much room or even incentive to get away from their stump speeches.
And it appears – at least heading into this first medical-catheter ad break – that Fox’s moderators are playing to the candidates’ strengths and the core of their stumps.
So, as shallow as it seems to focus on appearance and delivery, that may be the thin margin on which these candidates can win: A couple zingers can make a lot of difference for one person so long as he or she also sticks to the script, and the hoary cliché of “charisma” might be enough.
Rick Perry came out flat (for him), Carly Fiorina was familiarly meticulous and sort of flatlined, Lindsey Graham fumbled through his reply, and even Jim Gilmore seems to be treating himself as an afterthought.
But Rick Santorum was sharp and effortless, and Bobby Jindal is reclaiming the old praise he used to get for sounding like a smart guy. That could be all they need.
Related: The secret to gaffe-free Republican debates: limit their speaking time | Jeb Lund
-Jeb Lund
Updated
at 11.00pm BST
10.17pm BST
22:17
Asked about Donald Trump, Rick Perry dives into a long diatribe about how the billionaire uses “his celebrity rather than his conservatism”.
Perry turns his answer into one about immigration – the issue that in part rocketed Trump to the top of the polls.
“Nobody has done more,” Perry says “to deal with securing that border.” He says he’s sent “Texas ranger recon teams” and the national guard, but does not mention whether Chuck Norris took part in patrols.
He adds that he looked Obama in the eye and said, “Mr. president, if you won’t secure the border, Texas will.”
“We need a president that doesn’t just talk a game but a president that gets results!”
The Fox moderator gives him something of a blank look. “All right,” she says.
Carly Fiorina meanwhile says about Trump’s lead: “good for him”
“I think he’s tapped into an anger that people feel,” she says “The political class has failed you and that’s just a fact.”
10.12pm BST
22:12
Asked about “new blood” in politics by the moderators, New York governor George Pataki offers an astoundingly milquetoast speech about bringing people together. In retrospect, it’s not clear whether he said an actual sentence at all.
Then former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore introduces himself, forgettably.
10.10pm BST
22:10
10.10pm BST
22:10
South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham fields a question about climate change with a slow, rather awkward response – he’s visibly nervous, despite innumerable performances on cable shows and several happy ripostes to Donald Trump in recent weeks.
As for the question, Graham says that Hillary Clinton will “destroy the economy” with her ideas about climate change. “In her world, cap and trade will dominate,” he says. “When it comes to fossil fuels, we will find more here and use less.”
10.07pm BST
22:07
A question to Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal notes that he’s floundering in the polls.
Jindal doesn’t deny it, and rattles off an answer thanking the Fox News host for being kind enough to let him on camera.
“I think the American people are looking for real leadership, and that’s what I’ve done for Louisiana, and that’s what I’ll do for America,” he says.
10.06pm BST
22:06
The next question is for Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett Packard.
“I think to be commander-in-chief in the 21st century requires someone who understands how the economy works,” she says, mixing up the president’s military authorities with the office’s few powers over the economy.
Nonetheless, Fiorina continues, she “understands bureaucracies” and “technology”, and she insists that’s enough.
Updated
at 10.07pm BST
10.03pm BST
22:03
First question goes to Rick Perry, asking him why voters should trust him when, four years ago, he couldn’t remember the name of a government agency he wanted to abolish.
After those four years of looking back and being prepared, the preparation to be the most powerful individual in the world requires an extraordinary amount of work. Not just having been the governor of the 12th largest economy in the world.
He talks up his jobs record, and runs far away saying what he might actually do as president.
Updated
at 10.04pm BST
10.02pm BST
22:02
The candidates are making statements just by how they arrive, and it’s very exciting. Trump, naturally, has his own plane, the TRUMP plane. Carly Fiorina has the one she shipped tens of thousands of jobs overseas with. Rand Paul is arriving in a train made of Rearden steel. Rick Santorum is pulling up to the front in a buckboard driven by Foster Freiss. And Ted Cruz is descending in a beautiful, fanciful blimp made of sewn-together Constitutions and inflated by him delivering just one speech into it. It was about America. That’s what it’s about tonight, folks, it’s about America.
Seriously, though, the Trump jet is perfect.
-Jeb Lund
Updated
at 11.01pm BST
10.01pm BST
22:01
Consolation debate begins!
Live in the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, the seven candidates who failed to make it into the main debate are at their podiums and smiling painfully into the glare of camera lights as the Fox moderators introduce them.
Each will have a minute to answer a question and 30-second rebuttal opportunities.
9.51pm BST
21:51
A spokesperson for Kentucky senator Rand Paul has found a bit of distinctive flair lying around a Cleveland hotel. My colleague Paul Lewis suspects that someone might get fired for the slip up…
Someone left their closing statement for tonight's @FoxNews debate in the hotel printer.Can you guess who?@LaCivitaC pic.twitter.com/p6rWhnFGAU
The man of the hour himself meanwhile has just landed and disembarked off his charter jet in typically voluble fashion.
9.30pm BST
21:30
Welcome to our live coverage of the first debates in the race to become the 2016 Republican nominee for president. Donald Trump will stand center stage at the main event in Cleveland next to Jeb Bush, Scott Walker and seven other Republicans eager to look good in front of American voters – or at least eager to avoid humiliating mistakes, awkward moments and the wrath of a certain billionaire.
The debate, scheduled by Fox News for 9pm ET, will follow an early debate for the candidates who failed to break into the top 10 of national polls – the kids’ table contenders of the primary election so far.
The main debate will feature Trump, former Florida governor Bush, Wisconsin governor Walker, senators Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, Ohio governor John Kasich and New Jersey governor Chris Christie.
The early debate includes South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, former governor Rick Perry, former CEO Carly Fiorina, former governor George Pataki, former senator Rick Santorum and former governor Jim Gilmore.
Follow along for updates on every the quips, blunders and bombast, analysis on the bouts from Guardian reporters and columnists, and reporting from Cleveland by my colleague Paul Lewis (@paullewis).
