Photo via CBS News
Last Thursday, John Kasich, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and Donald Trump took the stage for a Republican debate.
Not so similar to other debates, many references were made that were unrelated to political ability. Rubio commented on Trump’s small hands, and Trump responded stating how he was by no means small in other areas.
Other unrelated comments were tossed back and forth throughout the debate. When Trump was asked about his immigration policies, he explained how he was not flexible, but later when called out on his contradictory political views, he explained that he had switched his views and policy and that any good politician is flexible. All this talk about flexibility lead to Rubio commenting on Trump’s ability to do yoga because he is so “flexible”. Cruz also had to remind Trump to stay calm and “count to ten” several times. But, between all of this banter, some actual policies were discussed.
One of the very first topics brought up was Mitt Romney’s push for a plan to prevent Trump from getting the majority of delegates. If Trump does not win the majority of the delegates, then the Republican nominee will be chosen at the Republican convention this summer. The other candidates also seemed unconvinced; Cruz, Rubio, and Kasich all thought they still had good chances to win the nomination individually.
This quickly led Cruz, Rubio, and Kasich to discuss why their policies were better than Trump’s. Cruz raved about his tax cut policy in which he planned to eliminate the IRS and simplify the tax code so that people could do their taxes on a postcard. Kasich quickly chimed in on his experience creating a balanced budget for the federal government.
At the end of the debate, all of the candidates were asked a simple question: Would you support the Republican nominee if the nominee was Donald Trump? All with less than enthusiastic responses, Cruz, Rubio, and Kasich all said yes. When Trump was asked a similar question, but in this case the nominee was one of the candidates he was running against, he first diverted away from the question and then reluctantly said yes.
This begs an even more important question to all of the Democratic and Republican voters; if the candidate you support does not get the presidential nomination, will you vote for the person that does get the nomination for your party?