Donald Trump’s first scuffle of debate night was with Sen. Rand Paul, who he said shouldn’t have been invited to the debate because of his low poll numbers.
“First of all, Rand Paul shouldn’t even be on this stage, he’s number 11, he’s got 1 percent in the polls,” Trump opened in response to his first question at the CNN Reagan Library debate tonight. “How he got up here, there’s way too many people.”
Though he was responding to a question about his temperament and his readiness to be responsible for America’s nuclear arsenal, Trump decided to attack his rival, Paul, before answering.
The confrontation escalated from there, turning personal toward the end.
Paul responded: “I kind of have to laugh … his visceral response to attack people on their appearance … my goodness, that happened in junior high. Are we not way above that?”
“I never attacked him on his looks, and believe me, there’s plenty of subject matter right there,” Trump replied.
Trump wasn’t specific, but much has been written about Paul’s curly hair. Much has been made about Trump’s hair as well, but Paul didn’t fire back.
Trump is currently leading the Washington Examiner‘s presidential power rankings, while Paul is in 10th place.
