Matthew Continetti: “What I find interesting is that none of the candidates on the debate stage have figured out how to respond to the issues driving Trump’s ascent. Trump focuses on four things: immigration, trade, political correctness, and a corrupt and inept system. These subjects cross partisan lines and are responsible for the unusual nature of the Trump coalition. But because Trump’s views on immigration and trade and political correctness and campaign finance are so askance from the Republican mainstream, the other candidates barely touch him.”
“Either Donald Trump is for real or he’s not. If his voters show up, he will be the Republican nominee for president in 2016. If they don’t, then Cruz, Rubio, even Bush have a shot at taking his place.”
Rick Klein: “It turns out that a world without Donald Trump is filled with Donald Trump anyway. To many in the Republican Party, Thursday night’s debate was a dream scenario — seven candidates, and not a reality TV show billionaire in sight. No huge walls were hypothetically built, and no religious groups were banned from entry into the United States. Yet Trump was still everywhere.”
