“It was a deeply embarrassing night in a campaign cycle already marked by too many embarrassing nights.”
The debate was a pointless affair, says Burns. After all, “none of the feuding candidates could lay claim to a constituency large enough to be taken seriously in the face of Donald Trump’s dominating polling lead.”
While Trump was a no-show, the evening was full of Trumpian falsehoods, childish antics and even a bizarre accusation over the amount of money one candidate spent on curtains.
“Despite their differences,” writes Burns, “the Republican presidential field found unity in the belief that what America needs is a stronger authoritarian hand ruling over the people.”
But anyone who tuned in looking for a positive conservative vision of the future or a “happy warrior” among the candidates (the debate was held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, after all) needed to look elsewhere, writes Burns.
Wednesday’s debate “showcased a Republican Party consumed by anger: anger at themselves, at Donald Trump, at Mexico, at the whole wide world.”
Read the op-ed at TheHill.com.
