Editor's Insight: Trump trumped in latest Republican debate

Nine of Donald Trump’s rivals for the Republican presidential nomination got the better of him in the latest three-hour televised debate.

The debate run by CNN turned into a rhetorical brawl in which Trump’s confrontational style was turned back on him as the other participants sought to show him as unprepared for the job.

“We don’t need an apprentice in the White House,” said Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, referring to Trump’s former reality television show. “We already have one.”

Trump was prepared for such an attack: “My temperament is very good, very calm,” he replied to a question about his ability to handle the rigours of the job.

Standouts were former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina, who wasn’t in the first debate and displayed a flair for sharp responses, and Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who showcased his foreign policy knowledge.

Fiorina was asked to address remarks published last week in which Trump criticised her face.

Trump claimed he’d been misunderstood but she responded, “I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr Trump said,” to thunderous applause from the audience at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library in California.

Constant interruptions
The debate was heated as moderators asked questions that triggered confrontations among the candidates. They constantly interrupted and talked over each other.

Questions about foreign affairs tested candidates who were weak in this areas, such as Trump, Fiorina and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, all of whom have no experience in public office.

An impressive Rubio made his case for a robust US involvement in the world.

He took on Trump to task for not knowing the name of Iranian special forces.

“You better be able to lead our country on the first day,” Rubio said.

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul made his non-interventionists views well know, while Carson argued for more restraint on the world stage.

“There will always be a Bush or Clinton for you if you want to go back to war in Iraq,” Paul said.

Iraq prompted one of the sharpest exchanges when Trump responded to attacks by Jeb Bush by ripping into his brother, former President George W Bush, saying, “Your brother’s administration gave us Barack Obama.”

Bush said, “I’m my own man”— distancing himself from his brother before declaring: “He [George W] kept us safe,” to a loud round of applause.

“I don’t know. You feel safe right now?” Trump retorted. “I don’t feel so safe.”

Walker interrupted on Bush’s behalf, blaming the state of national security on President Obama’s leadership.

Apology refused
Trump saved most of needling for Bush. When the moderator asked about comments Trump made suggesting Bush’s immigration policies were a result of his marriage to a Mexican immigrant, Bush sought an apology for his wife Columba, who was in the audience.

But Trump refused, saying “I won’t do that, because I’ve said nothing wrong.”

All unanimously objected to the president’s Iran nuclear deal.

“The president treats [the Iran nuclear deal] like the Magna Carta, but Iranians treat it like it’s toilet paper,” former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee said, summing up a widely held view.

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