I surprised myself — because I believed me when I said on this blog I wouldn't do this — by watching some of the G.O.P. Presidential Debate. I didn't see every minute but I saw enough to have a clear opinion of who won it: Donald Trump.
Trump's consistently high polling among Republicans is, I believe, a result in large part of the members of his party not seeing any viable alternative — a belief that no one else has a chance of winning and putting the presidency back under their party's control. The debate, I think, reaffirmed the idea that there's no alternative. None of those folks on stage looked like they could win a game of hopscotch, let alone the highest office in the land. So by not showing up, Trump won.
Chris Christie looked like he was struggling hard to find a "take charge" moment that never came and they all looked befuddled. And I was befuddled as to what that party stands for these days.
Is it the Pro-Life Party? Apparently not because Mike Pence, who once was for banning every abortion everywhere at any time, is now saying "A 15-week ban is an idea whose time has come." Since about 91% of all abortions occur in the first trimester, I guess a lot of those abortions are now okay with Pence and others.
Is it the Law and Order Party? Apparently it's not that either since most of those candidates would support a candidate who'd been convicted of a felony.
Is it the Straight Talk Party? Apparently not since so many questions were dodged with Ron DeSantis as the leading dodger…and the fact-checkers have been pretty busy. See here and here and here and here and probably many other places tomorrow morning.
In fairness, I really think this debate format is a great way to fill the air with words, most of them pandering to the live audience, without really saying anything…but I don't think anyone who participated "won." If I had to pick the candidate on that stage who was the most impressive, it would probably be Nikki Haley but that's kind of like being the most dignified of The Three Stooges…or in this case, eight.