Trump aims for ‘elegant’ but offers few details in Miami debate
Donald Trump was on cruise control for so much of the early going in the 12th Republican debate Thursday night that he teased his rivals about their timidity.
“So far, I cannot believe how civil it’s been up here,” Trump said with a wry grin and a glance at Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.
Cruz, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and Ohio Gov. John Kasich all steered clear of open confrontation with Trump for much of the night on the debate stage at the University of Miami. It was clear that all the candidates, even Trump, were aware that the nasty tone of the last two debates had turned off many voters.
The tepid atmosphere seemed to suit Trump, who held himself back this time from insulting the other candidates, in a departure from his recent practice. There were no references to “little Marco,” no labeling of Cruz as “nasty” or a “liar.”
Trump has shown signs of trying to soften his roughest edges in the last few months, as he has tightened his grip on the Republican nomination. And more than ever Thursday, he sought to portray himself as more presidential than he has often appeared.
After the debate, Trump referred to the evening as “elegant.”
Yet as the debate wore on, and the moderators pressed in with questions on foreign policy matters, Trump was unable to offer specific proposals or ideas and was bested by Cruz and Rubio on a number of points.
Trump’s lack of policy experience has failed to hold him back so far, and it’s not clear it will now. But it was visibly on display during this debate, whether it was boasting of having walked in a parade to boost his pro-Israel credentials, or talking at length about getting a better “deal” with the Cuban government —without giving any specifics.
Trump stumbled most, however, over the question of his praise for despotic government overseas.
CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Trump why he had recently praised the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, brushing aside concerns about the killing of his political opponents and journalists, and why Trump had also commented favorably on the Chinese government’s crushing of student protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
“They put it down with strength. That shows you the power of strength,” Trump said in 1990, a year after the protests.
Trump reacted defensively, denying that he intended to indicate his approval of the Russian and Chinese leaders.
“That doesn’t mean I was endorsing that. I was not endorsing it,” he said.
But Trump did double down on his praise for Putin, saying that he “has been a very strong leader for Russia.”
“I think he has been a lot stronger than our leader, that I can tell you,” Trump said. He added the caveat that he was not “endorsing Putin.”
Tapper pursued the question again, noting that “the word ‘strong’ obviously is a compliment” and arguing that Trump was speaking in glowing terms about government leaders who had committed “atrocities” against their own people.
Trump at first avoided the question, talking instead about German Chancellor Angela Merkel. But then, against all evidence and logic, he denied the premise of Tapper’s question.
“And ‘strong’ doesn’t mean good. Putin is a strong leader, absolutely. I could name many strong leaders. I could name very many very weak leaders. But he is a strong leader. Now I don’t say that in a good way or a bad way. I say it as a fact,” Trump said.
Earlier in the night, Trump also tried to back off comments he made earlier this year that he would take a “neutral” position in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
Trump attempted to reassure voters and supporters of Israel that he was in fact on their side. To argue this point, he used the fact that he was “the grand marshal, not so long ago, of the Israeli Day Parade down Fifth Avenue.”
There was audible laughter in the audience.
Trump’s answer on the matter of U.S. relations with Cuba also was light on specifics. Last September, he said it was “fine” for President Obama to reestablish diplomatic relations with Cuba, though he noted that he did not think the United States had negotiated a good “deal” with the Cubans.
On Thursday night, Trump again hammered the deal with Cuba, and brought up the argument raised recently that the United States owes reparations to the communist island nation, slamming the idea as foolish.
“I would want to make a good deal. I would want to make a strong, solid, good deal,” Trump said.
When CNN’s Dana Bash pressed Trump on whether he’d keep the U.S. embassy in Havana open, as a symbol of renewed diplomatic relations, Trump reversed his previous position on the issue and said he would “probably have the embassy closed until such time as a really good deal was made.”
He never explained what such a deal would entail.
Rubio, whose parents arrived from Cuba in 1956, delivered a strong response to Trump, explaining in great detail what he thought a good deal would look like. This received an overwhelmingly positive response from the hometown crowd.
But it was Cruz who honed in many times during the night on Trump’s weak grasp of policy detail.
Trump was asked about having said that he would target the families of terrorists and have them killed. Tapper pointed out that this would violate the Geneva Conventions, and asked Trump to defend this claim.
Trump avoided the question, but moments later, Cruz took him on directly, while defending the right of the American people to be worried about terrorist attacks.
“People are scared. And for seven years, we've faced terrorist attacks, and President Obama lectures Americans on Islamophobia. That is maddening,” Cruz said. “But the answer is not simply to yell, ‘China bad, Muslims bad.’ You've got to understand the nature of the threats we’re facing, and how you deal with them.”
Trump’s simplistic solutions have played well so far with Republican voters, however, and the many contradictions between his past statements and current positions have failed to stop his momentum in this primary.
Brendan Buck, the chief spokesman for House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., reflected the fatalistic view of many in his party when he wrote on Twitter Thursday night that the winner of the debate was: “Nothing matters.”
(Cover tile photo: Carlo Allegri/Reuters)
