I provided my political horserace analysis of the debates last week here (briefly, Carly wins big, Marco wins prime-time debate, Jeb was unimpressive and Lindsey Graham looked dead). Here are two quick reactions to the substance of what candidates said last Thursday.
1) Prostitutes and pimps are to Mike Huckabee what corporate jets are to Barack Obama
Four years ago, President Obama absurdly but with a straight face argued that changing the depreciation of corporate jets from 5 years to 7 years was a centerpiece of his tax reform effort. He was rightly mocked for it, but he kept using the line in the general election.
Thursday night, Mike Huckabee seemed to argue that getting pimps and prostitutes to pay into Social Security (through the Fair Tax) would help stabilize the country’s finances. I’d like to see if the math on that works any better than the math on Obama’s corporate jets.
2) Rubio, Walker, Paul, Christie, Bush, et cetera all pledged to support Trump if he were the GOP nominee
The opening question was supposed to be a Trump trap: highlighting that he’s not a loyal Republican, and that he might run third party. Nine other candidates, by not raising their hands, clearly and directly implied that they were pledging to support the eventual GOP nominee.
Considering that Trump is at the front of the polls — and that he has some leverage over the GOP establishment, given his explicit threat to run third party — this has to be read as the other GOP candidates showing their willingness to support Trump if he wins the nomination. (Thanks to K Street Hipster on Twitter for this point.)
