Republican debate: Donald Trump confronts his rivals

WE’RE just going to come out and say it. Donald Trump has made a dick joke in the middle of a presidential debate.

WE’RE just going to come out and say it. Donald Trump made a dick joke in the middle of a nationally televised presidential debate.

First, some context is necessary. Earlier this week, Trump’s rival for the Republican nomination, Marco Rubio, made fun of his allegedly small hands.

“Have you seen his hands? You know what they say about men with small hands? You can’t trust them!” Rubio said.

It was one of several personal insults that flew between the pair ahead of the Super Tuesday primaries, and Trump couldn’t resist bringing it up at today’s Republican debate.

“Look at those hands. Are those small hands?” Trump asked the crowd, flashing his hands above the podium.

“He referred to my hands - (implying that) if they’re small then something else must be small. I guarantee there’s no problem.”

Yep, that’s Donald Trump, perhaps the future president of the United States, bragging about the size of his you know what.

Small hands? You be the judge.

You could call that a loose comment, but today’s debate was otherwise very tense, because Trump had to fend off two rivals determined to tear him down - Rubio, and Texas Senator Ted Cruz.

The pair used their time on stage to slam Trump for hiring foreign workers instead of Americans, making his clothing lines overseas and donating to Hillary Clinton’s 2007 presidential campaign, among other things.

Among the back and forth was one stunning answer from Trump. After being asked about his previous assertion that the US military should assassinate the wives and children of terrorists - a war crime - Trump delivered a meandering statement that ended unequivocally: “I have no problem with it.”

Trump defending war crimes: going after the families of terrorists. In a presidential debate. I wish this were a nightmare.

— Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) March 4, 2016

Trump also came face to face with Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly for the first time since she confronted him during the very first debate of the presidential race, and once again, she’s causing him trouble.

While trying to bat away attacks over Trump University - a self-help school Trump founded that former students are now suing, claiming it was a scam - Trump ran headlong into Kelly.

“We (Trump University) have a 98 per cent approval rating. We have an A from the Better Business Bureau and people like it,” Trump asserted. Kelly jumped in to check his facts.

“The rating from the BBB was a D-, and it was a result of a number of complaints they received,” she said, pointing out that “there’s a class action of 5,000 people”. Then she read from an appeal court decision with some very strong language.

“The victims of con artists often sing the praises of their victimisers until they realise that they have been fleeced,” the decision read.

Trump could only respond: “Give me a break. Let’s see what happens in court.”

Trump was definitely put on the back foot.

Kelly’s testy relationship with Trump goes back to a question she asked him at the first debate last year. In case you missed it at the time, this is the exchange in question.

Kelly: “You’ve called women you don’t like fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals.”

Trump: “Only Rosie O’Donnell.”

Kelly: “No it wasn’t. For the record, it was well beyond Rosie O’Donnell.”

Trump: “I’m sure it was.”

Kelly: “Your Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women’s looks. You once told a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president? How will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton that you are part of the war on women?”
Civil war: Mitt Romney excoriates Trump

The Republican frontrunner was so incensed at Kelly’s treatment of him that he feuded with her for months afterwards, labelling her a “lightweight” reporter, retweeting comments calling her a “bimbo” and infamously implying she was menstruating in an interview with CNN.

“I just don’t respect her as a journalist,” he said. “I have no respect for her, I don’t think she’s very good, I think she’s highly overrated.

“She gets out and she starts asking me all sorts of ridiculous questions, and you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever.”

Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly.

Trump boycotted the second Fox News debate on the eve of the Iowa caucuses in January after failing to get Kelly removed as a moderator. He also skipped a town hall forum hosted by Kelly last week, which every other candidate attended. In the lead-up to today’s debate, Kelly said she wouldn’t look to pick a fight with Trump.

“I don’t need to be overly tough to prove that I am some sort of tough gal and I don’t want to go easy on him to disprove the people who think I have it in for him,” Kelly said, according to the New York Post.

“I think at this point in the game, he understands better how these things go. He knows he can handle me. He can handle any interviewer.”

Kelly with co-moderators Chris Wallace (left) and Bret Baier (right) at the second Fox debate, which Trump did not attend.

Trump entered the debate with a huge target on his back, having further solidified his status as the Republican frontrunner with a series of victories on Super Tuesday. His main rivals, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, are desperate to gain ground before March 15, when several crucial states vote in winner-take-all contests.

Trump had already copped one body blow hours before, with 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney accusing him of “playing the American public for suckers”.

“Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud. His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University,” Romney said.

“Think of Donald Trump’s personal qualities, the bullying, the greed, the showing off, the misogyny, the absurd third grade theatrics.

“Now imagine your children and your grandchildren acting the way he does. Will you welcome that? Haven’t we seen before what happens when people in prominent positions fail the basic responsibility of honourable conduct? We have, and it always injures our families and our country.”

Romney’s bombastic speech is the clearest sign yet that anti-Trump Republicans will not fall in line behind their party’s frontrunner if he becomes the nominee. Trump will try to win over some of those doubters today.