There was almost no mention of domestic policy in the 5th Republican debate. Instead, the focus was on national security. I predicted that candidates would argue about who had the best plan to defeat terrorism and who would be the toughest. After watching the debate, three aspects stood out for me: Revealing moments, language choices and factual errors.

3 Most Revealing Moments in The Debate:

  1. Trump doesn’t understand what the nuclear triad is. When Hugh Hewitt asked Trump to prioritize if and how he would upgrade it, Trump appeared to be unknowledgeable about the concept. Instead, he talked in vague terms about being a nuclear power and raised fears about terrorists gaining access to one. Rubio schooled him in a follow-up.
  2. Ben Carson will offer children a merciful death. In the “I can’t believe he just said that” column comes Ben Carson who compares removing a brain tumor with wholesale bombing campaigns that may kill children. Here’s how he put it:

Well, interestingly enough, you should see the eyes of some of those children when I say to them we’re going to have to open your head up and take out this tumor. They’re not happy about it, believe me. And they don’t like me very much at that point. But later on, they love me. Sometimes you — I sound like him.

You know, later on, you know, they really realize what’s going on. And by the same token, you have to be able to look at the big picture and understand that it’s actually merciful if you go ahead and finish the job, rather than death by 1,000 pricks.

If that doesn’t qualify as a faulty analogy, I don’t know what does.

  1. Bush and Paul wielded rhetorical scimitars. Bush succinctly characterized Trump’s foreign policy knowledge when he says Trump gets his information from “the shows” and doesn’t know whether that’s the Saturday Morning (cartoons) or Sunday Morning (talk) shows. When asked to respond to Christie’s declaration about how he would enforce a no-fly zone, Paul responded: “Well, I think if you’re in favor of World War III, you have your candidate.” Paul goes on to eviscerate Christie’s “tough guy stance.” In fact, Christie’s language lends a fitting segue into the top three notable language choices.

3 Notable uses of language in the Debate:

  1. Christie refers to the president as “a feckless weakling.” Regardless of your feelings about President Obama, such language underscores a lack of respect for the office of President and a reckless disregard for what is appropriate.
  2. An emphasis on safety and security. In the first four debates combined, candidates and moderators used some variation of “safe, safety, secure” and “security” a total of fifty-seven times (this number excludes instances where security appeared in the context of “social security.” In the fifth debate, “safe, safety, secure, security” appeared 101 times. Clearly, candidates and moderators feel this is an issue at the forefront of voters’ consciousness. (please allow a +- 4 margin of error for my counting)
  3. “ISIS,” and not “ISIL” or “Daesh,” [see here for the distinction] was the term debate participants chose to characterize the threat. They used it a total of 209 times.

3 Biggest Fact Faux Pas in the Debate:

Although candidates at times seem not to care much about them, facts are still important. I encourage you to check out Politifact and CNN’s Reality Check, both with fact checkers who look at the claims candidates make. Here are the top untruths from last night in no particular order:

  1. Rand Paul: “No one in the Middle East is doing anything” (about refugees). Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan have taken in significant numbers of refugees (estimates range from several hundred thousands to 1 million), while Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait have contributed financially.
  2. Carly Fiorina: Generals retired early “because they told President Obama things they didn’t want to hear.” Fiorina named five generals: Petraeus, McChrystal, Mattis, Keane, and Flynn. Keane retired in 2003, long before Obama took office. Petraeus was serving as CIA director when he retired in 2012 after pleading guilty to sharing classified information with a woman he was involved in an extramarital affair with. McChrystal resigned in 2010 after The Rolling Stone published disparaging remarks he had made about Vice President Biden and Afghanistan advisor Richard Holbrooke.
  3. Chris Christie: FBI Director James Comey “can’t guarantee refugees entering the country aren’t a threat.” Here’s what Comey said in testimony to a Congressional Committee. “Could I certify to there being no risk associated with an individual?” he said. “The bureau doesn’t take positions on legislation, and we don’t get involved in policy decisions. But that practically would be impossible.” Christie also said that he would tell Jordan’s King Hussein that we’re in the fight together. Hussein died in 1999 naming his son Abdullah to succeed him. Christie could have just misspoken.

There are several more of these to choose from. To me, these three represent something about the character of the speaker.

As to other predictions I made, no one except Trump really took issue with the media (and Trump’s complaint was that there were too many questions about him in the undercard and main debate.) I thought Fiorina and Kasich had the best case for unfairness because of the lack of time they received: Here is the tally by NPR:

Cruz: 15:58

Rubio: 13:33

Trump: 13:25

Christie: 10:45

Carson: 10:27

Bush: 10:13

Paul: 9:46

Fiorina: 9:32

Kasich: 9:00

Cruz and Trump didn’t attack each other. I suspect Cruz refrained because he’s acting like a remora, hoping to gather up supporters left in Trump’s wake. Carson didn’t improve his position or prove his foreign policy chops.

Get ready for the next Democratic debate on December 19.

*I’ll post the official transcript when it’s available and supplement the text with some video clips of telling moments.