OPINION:
The Republican candidates, though no doubt feeling a little bedraggled and punch-drunk on the morning after, owe Donald Trump a debt. He gave them a needed splash of cold water in the face. The debate, such as it was, rambled out of control toward the end, descending into a junior-high exercise in uncivil civics, with everyone trying to talk over everyone else. But it was good practice, and the spectacle finally begins to seem a little more than “the Donald and the others.”
The “others” talked about some of the issues, showing glimpses of what they think they can do if president — demonstrating “the vision thing,” in the memorable words of George Bush the Elder. The evening was too long by an hour, and the hall was too hot by a mile, but that’s the nature of judgment seats. The audience was large — CNN says it was their biggest audience ever — and it would have been smaller but for the presence of Mr. Trump.
Jake Tapper, the moderator, wanted a food fight. He repeated several times that his aim was to get the candidates slugging it out with each other, and in that much he succeeded. What he didn’t accomplish was transforming a babble of insult, jab and ramble into a real debate, which is never possible in a free-for-all. Lincoln vs. Douglas, this was not.
The serious winnowing, the sorting out of the wheat and the tares, only begins with the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. Alabama vs. Jacksonville State and Southern California vs. Arkansas State on Saturdays in early September doesn’t tell anybody much about who’s big and who’s not in college football, and the “debates” on cable news are mostly entertainment, where the Donald excels. The tests are still to come.
Nevertheless, the candidates’ strengths and weaknesses are on early display in these television shows, and certain candidates reveal certain strengths and certain weaknesses. Mr. Trump, as one of his ex-wives put it, demands attention. But his appeal begins to fade when “the others” turn to serious economic, cultural and national security issues the next president must confront to deal with the extraordinary legacy to be bequeathed by Barack Obama.
Mr. Trump is quick and bright, an exciting personality and a remarkably successful businessman who has put “the others” on notice and fired up a frustrated electorate hungering for someone to shake up things in Washington. His blunt and bullying demeanor is red meat to feed that hunger, and many Republicans think a bully is just what’s needed to deal with the bullies — Vladimir Putin, the mullahs in Tehran and the domestic thugs and arsonists — who have intimidated President Obama. As actual voters begin to focus on actual substance, a boast that he will make everything better with bluster and bullying, without really explaining how, wears thin.
Mr. Trump dominated the first debate, waking up “the others” with the necessary vision, judgment and temperament to lead the country. In the second debate, he expected to face a bunch of exhausted patsies and dazed palookas, but instead faced able, bright and thoughtful candidates, with experience inside and outside the government, eager to speak to the hungry Republican base.
The contrast between the first and second debate performances of “the others” is testament to the value of competition, until now absent on the Democratic side, where Hillary Clinton and her party apparatus are determined to prevent the public from seeing, hearing and assessing the ideas and performance of prospective challengers. Mr. Trump’s rivals are capable and eager to stand on a stage with him, but Hillary is obviously afraid to let the public measure her against the likes of Bernie Sanders, Martin O’Malley or Jim Webb.
Thanks to Donald Trump, the Republican nominee will be far better prepared for the main event.
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