Skip to content
61%
A new Morning Consult poll finds Donald Trump leading the Republican presidential race with 61%, followed by Ron DeSantis at 13%, Nikki Haley at 7%, Vivek Ramaswamy at 7%, Mike Pence at 5%, Chris Christie at 3%, Tim Scott at 1% and Doug Burgum at 1%. Every candidate except Trump has lost ground since the second debate — and he didn’t even participate.
“At the first Republican debate, Mike Pence‘s competitors should be asked if they believe what he did on January 6th was heroic. Then, having recorded everyone’s answer, ask if they would’ve done the same thing.”
32%
Of Saturday’s GOP debate watchers think Rubio won, followed by Trump at 24%, Kasich at 19%, Cruz at 12%, Carson at 8% and Bush at 5%, according to a CBS News/GfK Knowledge Panel survey.
I think that’s just a sign of his inexperience and if he can’t look me in the eye, he’s not going to be able to look Hillary Clinton in the eye, he’s certainly not going to be able to look Vladimir Putin in the eye.
— Gov. Chris Christie, telling Time that the most significant moment of the recent Republican debate came after Marco Rubio “couldn’t look at me in the eye” when the New Jersey governor was responding to an attack.
$5 million
Amount CNN will not give to charity to ensure Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump appears on the Republican debate set to air on the Time Warner-owned cable-news outlet on December 15,” Variety reports. “We do not pay candidates to appear,” said CNN chief Jeff Zucker.
Trump exists so much in his own universe that engaging him, poking the bear, seems likely to cause more harm than help. But that doesn’t mean he can’t implode himself. As impressive as Trump’s numbers are, they are still inextricably tied to the Trump Brand, the bullying, swaggering, “you’re a total loser” television personality. And as anyone who has ever worked in television can tell you, your brand can evaporate in one wrong second. Donald Trump, in order to keep this up, needs to keep being Donald Trump, and that’s a more delicate balance than one might think.
Imagine a NASCAR driver mentally preparing for a race knowing one of the drivers will be drunk. That’s what prepping for this debate is like.
— GOP strategist John Weaver, on Twitter.
