Who knew a debate without Donald Trump could still be so entertaining. On Thursday night, the top tier (and undercard) Republican 2016 candidates faced off in the shadow of the ubiquitous GOP front-runner, and while they probably did little to blunt his momentum in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, it was clear the candidates relished their moment to shine.
There was the good, the bad and the Ben Carson. The retired neurosurgeon had a rocky night, to put it generously. Meanwhile, Jeb Bush pushed back against the low energy label and Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz got into their customary testy exchanges.
But what are people who watched the debate talking about this morning? Here are the debates most head-scratching (and therefore, most memorable) moments:
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“Putin is a one-horse country”
"Putin is a one-horse country" pic.twitter.com/uLg666ES86
— Emma Roller (@emmaroller) January 29, 2016
Voters who might be perturbed by Carson’s lack of foreign policy knowledge and experience probably received little comfort from his word salad response to a question on how to handle Russian aggression abroad and its controversial president Vladimir Putin. Carson said, “I think we ought to give Ukraine offensive weapons and I think we ought to fight them on the economic basis because Putin is a one-horse country: oil and energy.” Umm, ok. Later, when pressed by MSNBC’s Chris Matthews to explain whether he meant to suggest the U.S. should go to war with Russia, Carson said he hoped the situation would not deteriorate to that point.
Trump is the star
Although Trump famously decided to sit this debate out (citing what he perceives as a bias against his candidacy from the host network, Fox News), he was still mentioned over 25 times by either moderators or the candidates on stage. Cruz opened the debate with one of his world famous imitations, he wanly insulted the other candidates and then declared: “The Donald Trump portion” of the evening was over. Except it wasn’t. Besides moving in Trump’s direction on a host of domestic and foreign policy issues, candidates like Bush lamented the loss of the “little teddy bear.”
Jim Gilmore is still a thing
Better late than never, the former Virginia governor, who’s barely registered in the polls or on the public’s radar made only his second appearance on the GOP debate stage Thursday at the undercard showdown. In what the Washington Post called the “greatest 45 minutes of Jim Gilmore’s life” the longshot candidate was briefly a trending topic, as viewers desperately tried to figure out who he is.
Cruelty towards the Clintons
Carly Fiorina got the ball rolling in the undercard debate, repeating what has become something of a stump speech zinger, that she would have left Bill Clinton for his infidelities, unlike Hillary Clinton did in the ’90s. “It wasn’t a personal attack,” claimed Fiorina, although she failed to explain how ridiculing her Democratic opponent’s marriage isn’t personal. Sen. Rand Paul picked up the ball and ran with it in the top-tier debate, insisting that if any CEO had an affair with a 21-year-old intern, as former president Clinton, did they would be “fired, never hired again and probably shunned in their community.” Curious comments from members of a party that has preached leaving family matters off the table in presidential campaigns.
Cruz gets schooled … by the moderator
Without Trump to kick around, Sen. Ted Cruz was probably on the receiving end of the most shots fired on Thursday, and he seemed uncomfortable in the hot seat. At one point, Cruz whined that most of the moderator’s questions amounted to “attack Ted Cruz” and joking-not-jokingly tried to suggest if the “mean questions” continued he would have to exit the stage. Fox host and debate moderater Chris Wallace shut him down after the Texas lawmaker kept grasping for more airtime. “Sir, I know you like to argue about the rules, but we’re going to conduct a debate,” Wallace said. Mic dropped.
Carson gets called on








