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Republican front-runner Donald Trump stood by his call to kill the family members of Islamic terrorists in Tuesday night’s main Republican debate, saying the kind of toughness necessary in this fight.
“That will make people think. Because they do not care very much about their lives, but they do care, believe it or not, about their family’s lives,” Trump said, in the midst of a debate dominated by fears about terrorism and security in America.
That brought a rebuke from former Florida governor Jeb Bush, who was more aggressive in this debate than he had been in the past.
“The idea that that is a solution to this is just crazy,” Bush said. “It makes no sense to suggest this.”
[Live blog coverage of the debate]
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) at times expressed exasperation with his rivals at the undercard Republican presidential debate on Tuesday, Dec. 15. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)
Trump, as usual, turned a policy argument into a personal one. “He’s a very nice person. But we need tough people,” Trump said.
Bush interrupted. Trump interrupted him.
“Am I talking, or are you talking?
“I’m talking right now,” Bush said. “Little of your own medicine there.” Later, he continued the attack against Trump: “You’re not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. . . . Leadership is not about attacking people and disparaging people. Leadership is about creating a serious strategy, to deal with the threat of our time.”
Trump also repeated a call to “close” parts of the Internet, apparently in parts of the Middle East, to keep the Islamic State from using the Internet as a recruiting tool. “I don’t want them using our Internet to take our young, impressionable youth,” Trump said.
Later, Trump was also rebuked by Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.), the lowest-polling candidate on the stage. He said that Trump’s ideas for killing family members and shutting down parts of the Internet “It would defy every norm that is America,” Paul said. “Whoever you are, that you’re going to support Donald Trump, think, do you believe in the Constitution? Are you going to change the Constitution?”
Trump responded: “So, they can kill us, but we can’t kill them?”
The main debate – like the “undercard” debate before it – was a powerful signal that, in the wake of attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., the GOP race has been dominated by concerns about national security.
The gloom in the debate was thorough, and dark. At one point, Trump – the Republican front-runner – looked back at America’s last 12 years of military interventions overseas, and declared them worthless.
“We’ve spent 4 trillion dollars trying to topple various people,” Trump said, talking about interventions that began with a fellow Republican’s invasion of Iraq in 2003. “We have done a tremendous disservice to humanity. The people that have been killed. The people that have been wiped away. And for what? It’s not like we had a victory.
“That is exactly what President Obama has said. I’m amazed to hear that from a Republican presidential candidate,” former tech executive Carly Fiorina said.
Trump replied with more gloom. “What do we have now? We have nothing.”
Full exchange at https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...f4d354-a33f-11e5-ad3f-991ce3374e23_story.html
“That will make people think. Because they do not care very much about their lives, but they do care, believe it or not, about their family’s lives,” Trump said, in the midst of a debate dominated by fears about terrorism and security in America.
That brought a rebuke from former Florida governor Jeb Bush, who was more aggressive in this debate than he had been in the past.
“The idea that that is a solution to this is just crazy,” Bush said. “It makes no sense to suggest this.”
[Live blog coverage of the debate]
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) at times expressed exasperation with his rivals at the undercard Republican presidential debate on Tuesday, Dec. 15. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)
Trump, as usual, turned a policy argument into a personal one. “He’s a very nice person. But we need tough people,” Trump said.
Bush interrupted. Trump interrupted him.
“Am I talking, or are you talking?
“I’m talking right now,” Bush said. “Little of your own medicine there.” Later, he continued the attack against Trump: “You’re not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. . . . Leadership is not about attacking people and disparaging people. Leadership is about creating a serious strategy, to deal with the threat of our time.”
Trump also repeated a call to “close” parts of the Internet, apparently in parts of the Middle East, to keep the Islamic State from using the Internet as a recruiting tool. “I don’t want them using our Internet to take our young, impressionable youth,” Trump said.
Later, Trump was also rebuked by Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.), the lowest-polling candidate on the stage. He said that Trump’s ideas for killing family members and shutting down parts of the Internet “It would defy every norm that is America,” Paul said. “Whoever you are, that you’re going to support Donald Trump, think, do you believe in the Constitution? Are you going to change the Constitution?”
Trump responded: “So, they can kill us, but we can’t kill them?”
The main debate – like the “undercard” debate before it – was a powerful signal that, in the wake of attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., the GOP race has been dominated by concerns about national security.
The gloom in the debate was thorough, and dark. At one point, Trump – the Republican front-runner – looked back at America’s last 12 years of military interventions overseas, and declared them worthless.
“We’ve spent 4 trillion dollars trying to topple various people,” Trump said, talking about interventions that began with a fellow Republican’s invasion of Iraq in 2003. “We have done a tremendous disservice to humanity. The people that have been killed. The people that have been wiped away. And for what? It’s not like we had a victory.
“That is exactly what President Obama has said. I’m amazed to hear that from a Republican presidential candidate,” former tech executive Carly Fiorina said.
Trump replied with more gloom. “What do we have now? We have nothing.”
Full exchange at https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...f4d354-a33f-11e5-ad3f-991ce3374e23_story.html
