For a change, it was not Donald Trump’s night. The brash and bombastic billionaire, who has dominated the crowded Republican presidential field like a colossus thus far, was made to eat some of his words by one smart woman, Carly Fiorina.
In what was sparring unlimited at a marathon GOP debate, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO and the lone woman in the fray delivered what some pundits have called a “breakout performance” as she took on the front-runner.
Fiorina, just elevated from a second-tier debate circuit, drew the biggest applause of the evening with her response to a question from the CNN moderator about Trump’s attacks on her looks in a recent interview to Rolling Stone magazine.
“look at that face. Would anyone vote for thatIJ” Trump had remarked in the interview. As a furore ensued, Trump claimed he was really commenting on Fiorina’s persona, not her looks.
On the debate stage, Fiorina simply said: “I think women all over the country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said.” The one-liner prompted a sheepish interjection from Trump: “I think she’s got a beautiful face, and I think she’s a beautiful woman.”
Fiorina also projected herself as a candidate with a strong grasp of foreign policy as she outlined her plans to expand the military, contain Russia and arm US allies in the Middle East. Contrasting herself with Trump, she said how she wouldn’t talk to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, but deliver him a message by rebuilding the Sixth Fleet and rebuilding the missile defence programme in Poland.
Apart from Fiorina, a host of other presidential hopefuls, including Jeb Bush, Bobby Jindal, Scott Walker and Rand Paul, all piled on the real-estate mogul in what for the better part remained a Trump-centric debate.
It was Jindal who launched the evening’s frontal attack on Trump in the second-tier debate comprising just four low-polling candidates, while the other 11, led by Trump, were all featured in the prime-time debate.
Calling Trump “a narcissist who only believes in himself”, Jindal said: “let us stop treating Donald Trump like a Republican. He’s not a conservative. He’s not a liberal. He’s not a Democrat. He’s not a Republican. He’s not an independent.” Jindal even suggested Trump would be dangerous as President, saying he would not want “such a hot head with his finger on the nuclear codes”.
Jeb Bush, who used to be the front-runner till Trump burst on the scene in June, was locked in frequent exchanges with him. But Bush, who had been derided by Trump as someone with low energy, delivered some effective punches.
When Trump attacked his brother, former President George W. Bush’s military record, Jeb Bush drew strong applause by retorting: “You know whatIJ As it relates to my brother, there’s one thing I know for sure: He kept us safe.” Trump maintained that it was a disastrous Bush administration that “gave us Barack Obama”.
The Trump obsession, perpetuated by the TV channels, irked Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker so much that he burst out at one point: “This is what’s wrong with this debate. We’re not talking about real issues.”