The 12th Republican debate took place in Miami, Florida, on Thursday night. Here’s how it went down:
- It was a civil affair. Ted Cruz bopped Donald Trump a bit for giving money to Hillary Clinton. But gone were the peppery attacks of debates past.
- The debate was policy-heavy. Think trade, H1-B visas, social security, Common Core, the Islamic State, Israel, Tiananmen Square, climate change, Cuba policy, Iran, veterans affairs …
- Trump confirmed that former candidate Ben Carson would endorse him in the morning.
- Cruz and Marco Rubio distanced themselves from Trump on the question of assassinating the families of terrorism suspects, which Trump has proposed. The other two said they would not do that.
- “If we nominate Donald Trump, Hillary wins,” Cruz said.
- Trump suggested Republican rules for awarding the nomination based on a majority of delegates should be jettisoned. “I think that whoever gets the most delegates should win,” he said.
- Neither Rubio nor Ohio governor John Kasich would admit the extreme narrowness of his path to the nomination. “Math doesn’t tell the whole story in politics,” Kasich said.
- Rubio dismissed a human role in climate change: “Sure, the climate is changing,” he said. “There was never a time when the climate was not changing.”
- Asked about violence at his rallies, Trump said he did not condone it, but his supporters “have anger that’s unbelievable”. “They love this country,” he said. “They don’t like seeing bad trade deals.”
.png?w=600)
