--- title: Republican Debate: Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Rubio description: And four other lessons from Tuesday night's Republican debate canonical: https://time.com/4151249/donald-trump-republican-debate/ author: Joe Klein article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-16T16:36:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:41:24.540Z article:section: Politics og:title: Republican Debate: Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Rubio og:description: And four other lessons from Tuesday night's Republican debate og:url: https://time.com/4151249/donald-trump-republican-debate/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt65db45734c8c10c9/69887592f887dc12b3e93c09/republican-debate-gop-presidential-017.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3723 og:image:height: 2094 og:image:alt: CNN Republican Presidential Debate, Las Vegas, America - 15 Dec 2015 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Republican Debate: Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Rubio twitter:description: And four other lessons from Tuesday night's Republican debate twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt65db45734c8c10c9/69887592f887dc12b3e93c09/republican-debate-gop-presidential-017.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump's Powerful Ignorance > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=ba191e56-0da0-4849-b645-6ec8b8543e21&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Watch the Fifth Republican Debate In Four Minutes [Watch (HLS stream): Watch the Fifth Republican Debate In Four Minutes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/mQUMUx2k.m3u8) (4:00)  _Published 2015-12-16. Nine Republican presidential candidates faced off for the fifth Republican debate on CNN_ by [Joe Klein](https://time.com/author/joe-klein/) ## Joe Klein Dec 16, 2015 4:36 PM UTC Nine Republican presidential candidates faced off for the fifth Republican debate on CNN by [Joe Klein](https://time.com/author/joe-klein/) ## Joe Klein Dec 16, 2015 4:36 PM UTC Here are five things I noticed in last night’s debate: **1\. Donald Trump has made fools of us all.** The consensus among the talking heads afterward was that Trump had done fine, maybe helped himself a little, certainly hadn’t hurt himself with his constituency. What were they watching? By any objective standard, Trump had a terrible debate. He said nothing substantive. He made faces–elementary-school faces—when he was attacked. He displayed his powerful ignorance: He had no idea what Hugh Hewitt was talking about when he was asked about the “nuclear triad.” This really is presidential politics for dummies: Control and use of our nuclear arsenal is perhaps the most serious presidential responsibility. Nuclear weapons are deployed in three ways—in land-based silos, in submarines, by aircraft. Three ways. The nuclear triad. This guy is running for president without the most basic vocabulary about weapons that could destroy the world. I suppose this doesn’t matter to his nitwit constituency—but it should. And if that constituency becomes a majority of our electorate, we are truly cooked. That the talking heads think Trump did okay because he didn’t offend his supporters represents journalistic malpractice…but I guess we’ve all been burned by predicting Trump’s demise in the past. The fact that he survives doesn’t make him any less disastrous. **2\. Senators Cruz and Rubio lost when they were right.**Their mini-debate was fun to watch. Both are intelligent and articulate—although I think Cruz has a better strategic sense of what he is doing and is running the smarter campaign. It is a testament to the current incoherence of the Republican constituency that each man’s “weakness” was actually a strength. Rubio was entirely candid about immigration. He offered a realistic solution to the problem—but his solution does not involve the deportation of 12 million illegals and so he lost that particular debate to Cruz, who summoned the newly terrifying spectra of Chuck Schumer and called the plan “amnesty.” For his part, Cruz is absolutely right to be wary about “regime change” in the Middle East. It’s been a disaster. But that won’t help him in a party where neoconservatives now control the foreign policy debate. **3\. The Governors won.**In fact, Chris Christie put both Cruz and Rubio in their place when he said after a Cruz-Rubio exchange: “If your eyes are glazed over like mine, this is what it is like to be on the floor of the United States Senate…I mean endless debates about how many angels on the head of a pin from people who have never had to make a consequential decision in an executive position.” Christie’s toughness is an informed version of Trump’s posturing. It is simple, compelling, and probably not as dangerous as it sounds–asked if he would shoot down Russian planes if they violated a Syrian no-fly zone, he said yes. This is the sort of tough talk that Ronald Reagan deployed successfully…while simultaneously signaling to the Soviets that he was ready to negotiate seriously with them. The will to bluster was the difference between Reagan and George H.W. Bush. It’s the difference between Christie and Jeb Bush. Both Bushes were better informed than their rivals, but less given to melodrama–although, over time, according to Jon Meacham’s biography of Bush the Elder, even HW came to appreciate the role Reagan’s “evil empire” rhetoric played as a negotiating tool. (Jeb Bush had some very good moments in the debate, directly attacking and flustering Trump–but he has _too much_ respect for the process, is responsible to the point of abstraction in his answers and his opening and closing statements were close to incomprehensible.) **4\. The others lost.**Carly Fiorina’s act has grown old. Rand Paul is smart, and generally reasonable on foreign policy, but he belongs to a different party than the Republicans. As Michael Scherer pointed out in his reliably sharp minute-by-minute[ account ](http://time.com/4151072/republican-debate-las-vegas-cnn/?xid=homepage)of the debate, John Kasich was done in by his spastic karate chop hand motions–he may been the first candidate I’ve ever seen who was rendered incoherent by his own body language. Ben Carson offered a moment of silence for the San Bernardino victims; he has never belonged on this stage–but then, neither has Trump–and Carson, at least, wreaths his presidential incompetence in dignity. **5\. Fact Check.**Three persistent errors or elisions should be pointed out. The first is the matter of the defense cuts–the Republican party _agreed_ to these as part of a deficit reduction maneuver called the _sequester_, because it opposed the tax increases (or loophole closing) necessary to make an actual deal with the Democrats. The GOP thereby showed its priorities: low taxes were more important than national security–a point that Hillary Clinton will doubtless make in the fall (although I’m not so sure that defense spending on weapons we don’t need–i.e. more ships–will increase our security). Second, the much ballyhooed “flood” of illegal immigrants doesn’t exist; indeed, the numbers of illegals crossing the border have [declined drastically](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/flow-of-illegal-immigration-slows-as-us-mexico-border-dynamics-evolve/2015/05/27/c5caf02c-006b-11e5-833c-a2de05b6b2a4%5Fstory.html) during the Obama years. Third, Iran will get sanctions relief–an estimated $100 to $120 billion–only after it complies with the nuclear agreement and destroys its enriched uranium stockpile, dismantles 75% of its centrifuges and makes other significant concessions. If Iran doesn’t do those things, there will be no sanctions relief. ## Transcript [00:00] Welcome to the CNN Facebook Republican Presidential [00:03] Debate I think defeat terrorism by showing them that we do [00:06] not fear them. I fought my way to the top of corporate [00:09] America while being called every b- word in the book. Our [00:12] freedom is under attack. Our economy is under water. The [00:16] leading Democrat is under investigation. And America [00:20] is under the gun to lead the free world. To protect our [00:23] civilized way of life. Border security is national security [00:28] and we will not be admitting jihadist as refugees. We [00:32] are not talking about isolation. We're talking about security. [00:35] We're not talking about religion. We're talking about [00:38] security. This is the most sophisticated terror group, That is [00:41] every threat in the world to the United States of America. [00:44] They are actively recruiting Americans. The attacker in San [00:46] Bernardino was an American citizen. First and foremost, [00:50] we need to go and destroy ISIS. And we need to do this [00:54] with our Arab friends, and our friends in Europe. We are not [00:57] any safer through the bolt collection of every Americans [01:00] records. In fact I think we're less safe. We have to get rid of [01:03] all this PC stuff and people are worried about somebody's [01:07] gonna say that I'm Islamaphobic or what have you. This [01:11] is craziness. If want to destroy radical Islamic terrorism we [01:15] can't disassociate ourselves from peace loving Muslims. If [01:20] we expect to do this on our own, we will fail. The [01:22] bureaucratic procedures are so far behind, our government [01:25] has become incompetent, unresponsive, corrupt. And, [01:30] that incompetence, ineptitude, lack of accountability [01:32] Accountability is now dangerous. I would certainly [01:36] be open to closing areas where we are at war with [01:39] somebody. I sure as hell don't wanna let people that wanna [01:43] kill us and kill our nation use our internet. Moron. Would [01:46] you carpet bomb Raqqa, the ISIS capital, where there are [01:50] a lot of civilians? Yes or no? You would carpet bomb where [01:55] ISIS is, not a city but the location of the troop. They may not [01:58] care much about their lives, but they do care, believe it or [02:01] not, about their families lives. The idea that that is a [02:04] solution to this is just, is just crazy. Donald, you're not [02:08] going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. That's [02:11] not gonna happen. We have to do one thing at a time. We [02:14] can't be fighting ISIS and fighting Asad. We have to get rid [02:17] of ISIS first. We need to focus our attention on Iran, [02:21] because if you miss Iran, you're not gonna get ISIS. For the [02:24] Russians Frankly, it's time that we punched the Russians [02:27] in the nose. I didn't say I would cut off all communication [02:29] with Putin. What I said was, as President of the United [02:32] States, now is not the time to talk with him. The biggest [02:34] problem we have today is nuclear proliferation and [02:39] having some maniac, having some madman go out And [02:43] yet a nuclear weapon. I, personally, am open to allowing [02:47] people apply for a green card. Border security is national [02:50] security. When you're letting people in, when the FBI can't [02:54] vet them, it puts American citizens at risk. [02:58] People can come into the country, we welcome people to [03:01] come in, but they have to come in legally. Charity's about [03:04] giving your own money, charity isn't giving someone else's [03:06] money. To put everyone on government housing and food [03:09] stamps, and bring them in from around the world I think is a [03:11] mistake. I'm not gonna let Syrian refugees, any Syrian [03:14] refugees, in this country. And it was widows and orphans [03:17] by the way. And we now know from watching the San [03:19] Bernardino attack that women can commit heinous, [03:22] heinous acts. What I can tell you is all nine of the people [03:26] here Would make an infinitely better Commander in Chief [03:29] than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. [ APPLAUSE ] To [03:32] take our country back, to keep our nation safe, we have [03:36] to begin by beating Hillary Clinton. Gotten to know him over [03:39] the last three or four days. He has a wonderful [03:41] temperament. [ LAUGH ] [ APPLAUSE ] He's just fine, [03:44] don't worry. About it. Okay. Nothing [03:48] works in our country. If I'm elected president, we will [03:52] win again. We will win a lot. And we will have great, great [03:56] country, greater than ever before. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4151249/donald-trump-republican-debate/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4151249/donald-trump-republican-debate/"},"headline":"Donald Trump's Powerful Ignorance","datePublished":"2015-12-16T16:36:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-05T08:41:24.540Z","description":"And four other lessons from Tuesday night's Republican debate","url":"https://time.com/4151249/donald-trump-republican-debate/","keywords":["republicans","2016","ted cruz","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt65db45734c8c10c9/69887592f887dc12b3e93c09/republican-debate-gop-presidential-017.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Joe Klein","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/joe-klein/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt65db45734c8c10c9/69887592f887dc12b3e93c09/republican-debate-gop-presidential-017.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"CNN Republican Presidential Debate, Las Vegas, America - 15 Dec 2015","caption":"Donald Trump at the Republican presidential debate in Las Vegas on Dec. 15, 2015.","creditText":"Matt Baron—BEI/Shutterstock","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4151249/donald-trump-republican-debate/","name":"Donald Trump's Powerful Ignorance"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch the Fifth Republican Debate In Four Minutes","description":"Nine Republican presidential candidates faced off for the fifth Republican debate on CNN","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/mQUMUx2k/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-12-16T05:38:16.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/mQUMUx2k.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4151249/donald-trump-republican-debate/","duration":"PT4M","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4151249/donald-trump-republican-debate/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```