Defiant Donald Trump Dominates US Republican TV Debate

Donald Trump continued to dominate the Republican race for US president by causing further controversies in the first debate.

The tycoon’s refusal to rule out a third-party run drew boos from the audience on Thursday night.

And he stood by offensive comments he has made in the past about women.

The 10 candidates in Cleveland, selected by Fox News on the basis of recent national polls, provided a frank and bruising exchange of views.

• Republican debate as it happened

There was no clear winner or loser, with candidates trying to appeal to different factions of the Republican Party.

Key moments included:

• “I don’t have time for total political correctness,” said Mr Trump, when asked about misogynistic remarks
• in a testy exchange, Rand Paul attacked by Chris Christie for calling for surveillance curbs
• all candidates condemned nuclear deal with Iran
• in an optimistic closing remark, Jeb Bush said the US was on the verge of the “greatest time”
• join Isis and you sign your death warrant, said Ted Cruz
• John Kasich said he would support and accept his daughter if she was gay
• Mr Trump stumbled somewhat on his past support for a national healthcare system
• pointing to his record in Wisconsin, Mr Walker said he could turn the US around

One of the loudest rounds of applause was for Mr Rubio when he mocked Hillary Clinton, who leads the Democratic field.

“First let me say, I think God has blessed us. He’s blessed the Republican Party with some very good candidates. The Democrats can’t even find one.”

On Thursday, the Democratic Party announced they will hold their first debate in Nevada in October, hosted by CNN.

Posted by Admin on August 7, 2015. Filed under World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.