Looking ahead to the presidential debates beginning on Sept. 26, it might be a good time to think about just how far we’ve come since a plethora candidates dueled one another in a grueling primary season over the top two spots atop the Democratic and Republican party tickets.
Hillary Clinton had to defeat a crop of competitors including the wild-haired millennial favorite from Vermont, “indie” senator Bernie Sanders — the democratic socialist who was doing just as great a job wielding the power of social media as his polar opposite, capitalist Donald Trump. Trump’s improbable journey from the WWE Hall of Fame to Republican nominee for president began with memorable one-liners in the fall debates that propelled a once unnoticed event into must-see TV.
But video is worth a million words, so with that said, the Briefing editors have compiled rundown of some of the best moments you might’ve — but probably didn’t — forgotten about:
Donald Trump
‘We don’t win anymore’
The America First underpinnings of Donald Trump’s campaign might be traced to his feud with Megyn Kelly at the first GOP debate last August, when the brash billionaire wow’d audiences with his showmanship and willingness to speak his mind like no other politician before him. It would be one of several visceral moments that allowed Trump to steal headlines from the seasoned politicians running against him. After becoming a viral sensation, Trump took first place in the Republican primaries — a spot he would not cede easily with many more viral moments to follow.
Shots fired
In 2015, “Lyin'” Ted Cruz had no intention of standing in opposition of Trump’s debate stage antics. As a firebrand himself with a penchant for large, sometimes derisive statements, the Texas senator looked somewhat amused at earlier debates and refused to engage with Trump at them. Then, when it became clear The Don had no intention of stepping aside or being pushed offstage by establishment officials, the two began to spar at the debates in mid-January, prompting CNN to state that the bromance is over.
‘There’s no problem’
When “Little” Marco Rubio decided to try to beat Donald Trump at his own game in the 11th debate, the results were not good. Rather than talk any difference in policy, Rubio questioned the relevance of Trump’s hand size (and whatever that corresponds to). Then a question over the real-estate mogul’s tax policies prompted Trump to inadvertently create a new nickname when he quipped, “This little guy has lied so much about my record.” Rubio responded: “You ask him a question about the economy and the first thing he does is go into the little guy thing. And he wants to be president of the United States of America.” But the nickname stuck to him like glue, and he would go on to place no better than third in many primaries, and lost even his home state of Florida.
Jeb is just trying to ‘build up his energy’
After getting eliciting some boo’s calling Jeb Bush’s campaign a “disaster” and saying “nobody cares,” the former Florida governor mustered up the courage to go toe-to-toe with the New York businessman and created some of the best split screen moments of the campaign. Trump — who, in the 1980s, went to work to elect Jeb’s father for president — appeared dismayed by the attacks by Jeb(!), and eventually chalked up Gov. Bush’s new tenacity to “trying to build up energy” to audience laughter.
Bill O’Reilly preps Trump for debate with Hillary
In an interview this week with The Don, none other than “Papa bear” O’Reilly took it to Trump to see how he would respond to Hillary Clinton if she hit Trump low, hit him hard, hit him on his divisive rhetoric over women, Muslims and Mexicans. Trump’s response? Perhaps a preview of what we’ll see in two weeks, and O’Reilly gets the fiery former showman worked up enough to spill the beans on what he thinks about the moderators and Hillary herself.
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