GOP leaders tripped over one another at the Ronald Regan Presidential Library last week, each one trying to stand out as the best choice for the next president of the U.S.
The candidates fired shots, shook hands and used every chance they received to steal the limelight. For three hours on Sept. 16, 10 men and one woman touched on nearly every major issue facing the nation.
CNN, which broadcast the second Republican debate, organized its questions carefully to have candidates talk about important topics in a sequential order. Despite their attempts to maintain a flow to the debate, the 11 candidates often went on tangents to attack each other.
Billionaire Donald Trump took center stage and made it evident who his friends and enemies were.
“Rand Paul shouldn’t even be on this stage,” Trump said of the senator from Kentucky, who stood at the end of the stage. “He’s number 11.”
Former neurosurgeon Ben Carson and former Gov. Jeb Bush stood on either side of Trump, and despite some heated debates Trump respected the two as more legitimate candidates than Paul.
Interruptions were common and polite debate soon turned into fiery argument. One thing several candidates agreed on was that Trump’s mere presence at the debates is exactly what made immigration an important topic.
Sen. Ted Cruz said Trump forced the mainstream media to focus on immigration. The GOP frontrunner talked time and again about his plans to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico to keep illegal immigrants out.
As the leading candidate, his views on the topic carry some weight, given Europe’s migration crisis. The U.S. will inevitably have to choose how, or even if, it will help its allies across the Atlantic. Under a Trump administration it is doubtful many refugees will find a haven in America.
Paul and Trump did have the same views on birthright citizenship, which is a current policy that allows anyone born in the U.S. to be given automatic citizenship.
Trump would move to end the policy because he said that it encourages soon-to-be mothers to enter the country illegally so their children can stay in America.
“I hate to say it, [but] Donald Trump has a bit of a point here,” Paul said. The senator is a strict constitutionalist and said the 14th Amendment was never meant to allow for the current birthright policy.
America’s immigration problem is only going to get worse before it gets better as the crisis in Syria grows, causing refugees to flee to safer nations.
According to CNN, Russia is sending troops into Syria to support the government in a three-way war with rebels and the Islamic State. Though it is not clear why the Russians are in Syria, the U.S. plans to find out.
“We are engaged in further conversation about answering those questions and about de-conflicting the Russian activities from ours,” said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
Productive and positive communication with Russian leaders is key to ensuring the security of American interests — something Trump said he can do.
“I’d get along with a lot of leaders,” he said, lacking an answer as to how he would do so. Though the Russian military actions were only reported after the debate, Trump did mention Russian President Vladimir Putin by name, as someone he would “get along with.”
Trump may feel confident tackling some of America’s growing threats, but he is not the only one. Carly Fiorina, a former business executive, made bold claims during the debates that worked in her favor, based on the outcome of a recent CNN poll.
Fiorina narrowly surpassed Ben Carson in the poll, moving from third place to second with a margin of 1 percent. The only female GOP candidate received rounds of applause after she said Trump cannot be trusted to run the American economy.
Trump, while still in first place by 9 percent, lost 8 percent from early September.
Sen. Marco Rubio, a young and determined candidate from Florida, thrust his way into fourth place. He jumped from 3 percent to 11 percent in a matter of two weeks.
As the Republican primaries draw near, it is becoming harder to tell who will push through as the party nominee.
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