Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Donald Trump and Ben Carson- Are you kidding me?

Normally, I headline these post-debate reviews by calling it "Winners and Losers From Tonight's Dabate."

If you hadn't guessed by the headline, I have some thoughts about who the big losers from the campaign are.

As Donald Trump and Dr. Ben Carson have remained atop the polls, I keep hearing pundits say that you can throw out all of the rules. No one knows who is going to win the Republican nomination, they say, and they are all beginning to say that you can't rule out Trump or Carson.

Let me be the one to do it.

I can understand those who claim they can no longer stomach those who are in government and would prefer someone who is on the outside and can offer a fresh perspective. Maybe it's Trump or Carson or Carly Fiorina.

With every question they attempted to answer tonight, Trump and Carson showed that the only thing worse than having candidates who have been involved in government is having candidates who have not been involved in government.

This was a night for comebacks. Whether it saves his candidacy or not, Jeb Bush had his best debate. So did Rand Paul and you can add John Kasich to the list, though he still can be a bit grating.

Ted Cruz had another solid performance and Carly Fiorina, though not up to the standards of her first two debates, was much better than she was in the third forum.

There were times when Marco Rubio shined tonight, but for the most part for the first time tonight, he sounded as inexperienced as he looks.

Trump and Carson did nothing to improve their standing, though Carson did have a strong closing speech. I would be surprised if Carson loses any of his momentum. Trump, on the other hand, showed several times tonight how dangerous having someone who wings it on something as important as this debate would be in charge of the country. Trump went on and on about the problems he had with the TPP and how China was manipulating currency.

When Rand Paul noted that China was not even a part of the treaty, Trump looked just as foolish as he has when he has claimed that he would build a wall along the Mexican border and make Mexico pay for it.

Both Kasich and Bush took Trump to school about the impossibility of deporting millions of illegals from the country.

Sadly, the candidate who had the strongest performance tonight, Chris Christie, was relegated to the undercard, along with Mike Huckabee. Huckabee also did well, but Bobby Jindal and Rick Santorum showed why they haven't made the Carly Fiorina jump to the main event.

Winners- Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Fox Business and the Wall Street Journal (intelligent questions and they kept control over the proceedings)

Losers- CNBC (Fox Business and the Wall Street Journal showed CNBC how a debate should be conducted, Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Bobby Jindal, Rick Santorum

Holding Even- Marco Rubio, Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee

I would love to hear your thoughts.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Randy, Ronald Reagan said I don't have to be an expert to run the country. I just have to surround myself with people who are.
Stick too what you know. Screwing local politicians and the media.