Milwaukee
The most surprising things about Tuesday night’s debate were the fights that didn’t happen. Donald Trump didn’t attack his co-frontrunner Ben Carson, and Jeb Bush, who seemed intent on destroying Marco Rubio in the last debate, didn’t say a word to his rival.
The biggest policy clashes of the night were between Rubio and Rand Paul on taxes and defense spending. After Rubio defended his pro-family tax plan, which includes a $2,500 per child tax credit, Paul jumped in and dismissed it as a $1 trillion “new welfare program.”
“Add that to Marco’s plan for $1 trillion in new military spending, and you get something that looks, to me, not very conservative,” Paul said.
Rubio replied:
Everyone pays payroll tax. This is their money. This is not our money. And here’s what I don’t understand — if you invest that money in a piece of equipment, if you invest that money in a business, you get to write it off your taxes.
But if you invest it in your children, in the future of America and strengthening your family, we’re not going to recognize that in our tax code? The family is the most important institution in society.
“I know that Rand is a committed isolationist. I’m not,” Rubio said in defense of military spending. “I believe the world is a stronger and a better place, when the United States is the strongest military power in the world.”
“Yeah, but, Marco! Marco! How is it conservative, how is it conservative to add a trillion-dollar expenditure for the federal government that you’re not paying for?” Paul asked.
“We can’t even have an economy if we’re not safe,” Rubio said. “There are radical jihadist in the Middle East beheading peopleand crucifying Christians. A radical Shia cleric in Iran trying to get a nuclear weapon, the Chinese taking over the South China Sea.”
Rubio’s argument would have been bolstered by talking about his plans to rein in the debt through entitlement reform, but the overall exchange was still Rubio’s strongest of the night. Donald Trump and Ted Cruz chimed in to side with Rubio.
“We have to make our military bigger, better, stronger than ever before so that nobody messes with us, and a long run, it’s going to save us,” Trump said. “I agree with Marco, I agree with Ted, we have no choice. And, I can tell you this with certainty. We all have a different tax plan. Some I don’t totally agree with. One thing we understand, each one of those tax plans is better than the mess that we have right now.”
Most Republicans may not agree with Rand Paul on defense spending, but surely more than 3 percent of Republicans–Paul’s current share of national polls–back him. The exchange was Paul’s liveliest debate moment of the year. At the very least, it may save him from being cut from the main stage for the next debate.
