It was a fateful night at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library as the Republican candidates in the 2016 presidential race lined up at their podiums and braced themselves for a long evening.
There were 11 candidates on stage the night of Sept. 16 for the second GOP debate hosted by CNN. Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, Rand Paul, John Kasich, Chris Christie, Ben Carson, Marco Rubio, Mike Huckabee, Ted Cruz, Scott Walker and, regrettably, Donald Trump were all present for the event.
Not surprisingly, the debate began with a question for Fiorina that appeared to target Trump as a ploy to create tension between the candidates.
And so it did as Trump, Paul and Walker began attacking each other almost immediately using GOP rankings and previous career failures to tear each other down.
For those of you who haven”t seen any of the GOP debates this year, I strongly suggest looking them up if you need a good laugh.
The first 15 minutes of the debate consisted of questions that had nothing to do with actual issues, such as the economy.
“If I was sitting at home watching this back and forth, I”d be inclined to turn it off,” Kasich said after hearing Trump bicker with other candidates. At least one of the candidates felt the pain of Americans watching the debate from home.
However, there may have been some logic amidst the chaos viewers witnessed on Wednesday night. Besides the entertainment that came from watching Republican candidates make complete jerks out of themselves, these accusatory questions also make for a lot of memorable moments.
I find it frustrating that Trump receives the most publicity out of all the other candidates from either party – yet here I am writing about him.
He has made endless ignorant, sexist and racist comments, and I don”t think he should be taken seriously. However, he is No.1 in the GOP polls, so perhaps there is a method to his madness when it comes to acting in the public spectrum.
Popular issues such as the Iran deal, immigration and federal financing of Planned Parenthood were eventually brought up during the almost three-hour debate.
If I had to choose the winner of the debate based on the amount of screen-time each candidate received, it would naturally be Trump. However, he was a loser in my book based on his responses to questions and consistent avoidance of answering with clear and specific terms.
Jessica Gee
Some of the candidates that seemed to do rather well were Carly Fiorina, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson and Chris Christie. I may not agree with them on some issues, but they get credit for their passion and clarity when answering the tough questions.
A couple of candidates seemed less willing to speak up during the debate, and when they did talk they lacked energy. Scott Walker did not get a lot of time to speak, which was explained Monday when he announced he was dropping out of the race. Rand Paul, John Kasich and Mike Huckabee also seemed to fade away after about an hour into the debate.
The remaining candidates didn”t have many significant moments.
Predicting the outcome of this race so early would be dangerous, especially considering Democratic candidates haven”t even had the chance to debate yet. However, my initial prediction for the GOP ranking is that Trump will remain on top because, for some reason, America loves him.
Fiorina will likely move up in the polls as she showed a lot of fire and intellect during the debate. Paul, Kasich, and Huckabee will probably make no progress in the polls.
From a logical standpoint, CNN did a poor job of structuring this debate. They purposely used questions to start arguments between candidates about personal issues rather than legitimate national concerns.
Allowing candidates like Trump to turn the debate into a popularity contest could expose just how corrupt our American political system can be. It could be argued that if he was elected, it would prove the point that presidential election outcomes are heavily based on how much money is in a candidate”s pocket, rather than their personal character or innovative ideas.
Then again, it may not be worth the risk just to expose that the system is screwed up for the sake of exposing it.
I urge students to keep themselves informed, look at multiple different news sources and, most importantly, vote in fall of 2016.
Jessica Gee can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @jaycgeek