Former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina was unquestionably the star performer on Wednesday night’s CNN debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. From her moving introduction as a political outsider, to her closing statement, hands down, she was winning. Her discourse knowledge on foreign policy made other fellow political outsiders look unprepared and out-of-place. Her tactful way of responding to the moderators made almost every personal question look childish. And her calm demeanor made almost everyone else on the stage look nervous, including, surprisingly, the unbreakable Donald Trump.
Yet, the Republican front-runner Trump was the one dominating the debate. Not because he was the ‘nicest’ one nor the most knowledgeable person on the stage but simply because he was Trump.
“Forty-four percent of CNN’s questions focus on him,” writes Media Research Center’s Vice President for Business and Culture Dan Gainor. This includes the opening questions of the debate, which were about his character as a GOP hopeful presidential nominee, and his temperament as a potential commander-in-chief.
Even Trump felt sorry for his fellow GOP candidates who, not only, did not get even half of the airtime he himself got, but who also have to spend their time answering questions pertaining to Donald Trump. “I felt badly for everybody else because every question had to do with me. Even the first characters — I mean, everything was about Trump,” said Trump to MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, the next day. Trump’s name appears 192 times in the GOP debate transcript.
According to MSNBC’s social media analysis of the main debate, Trump was the most searched candidate on Google. And on Twitter, where the real estate mogul is a rock star, there were more tweets about him than anyone else on the debate stage.
Interestingly, the most memorable soundbite from Mr. Trump’s debate night pertained neither to his stance on any foreign policy issue nor on any particular domestic issues, but rather a bit of vicious humor directed at Sen. Rand Paul’s appearance. “I never attacked him on his looks, and believe me, there’s plenty of subject matter right there,” Trump said of Sen. Paul, while responding to Paul’s comment about him being sophomoric for his usual antics.
In spite of everything, Mr. Trump’s support among the Republican faithful continues to skyrocket. According to an NBC News online survey conducted from Wednesday through Friday, more than a third of Republican voters say that Carly Fiorina won the second GOP debate, but Donald Trump remains in the prime position to capture the GOP nomination. With 29 percent of voters in support of Trump compared to only 11 percent for Fiorina.
Winston Pierre can be reached at [email protected] Follow him on twitter @winstonnewspost
