--- title: Republican Debate: Why the Candidates Pulled their Punches description: Trump's rivals largely passed up the chance to aggressively confront him. canonical: https://time.com/4255204/republican-debate-miami-twelfth-miami-analysis/ author: Alex Altman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-11T05:49:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:50:34.828Z article:section: Politics og:title: Why Republicans Pulled Their Punches at the Debate og:description: Each had a different strategic reason. og:url: https://time.com/4255204/republican-debate-miami-twelfth-miami-analysis/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2d7676f91231df7/69888a942dce0148c89e8262/republican_debate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4650 og:image:height: 2616 og:image:alt: Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, John Kasich, Ted Cruz og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Republicans Pulled Their Punches at the Debate twitter:description: Each had a different strategic reason. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2d7676f91231df7/69888a942dce0148c89e8262/republican_debate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Republicans Pulled Their Punches at the Debate > Sponsored content. 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Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=d319919d-c7d3-472f-b391-2efc6c2562b6&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: CNN Republican Debate: Watch The Republican Debate In Under Four Minutes [Watch (HLS stream): CNN Republican Debate: Watch The Republican Debate In Under Four Minutes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/uVpZQXdg.m3u8) (3:55)  _Published 2016-03-11_ by [Alex Altman](https://time.com/author/alex-altman/) and [Zeke J Miller/Miami](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) Mar 11, 2016 5:49 AM UTC by [Alex Altman](https://time.com/author/alex-altman/) and [Zeke J Miller/Miami](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) Mar 11, 2016 5:49 AM UTC The stage seemed set for a slugfest. But five days before voters can all but deliver the GOP nomination to Donald Trump, his Republican rivals largely passed up the chance to aggressively confront the frontrunner at what may prove to be the final Republican debate of 2016. The tussle Thursday night in Miami was heavy on policy and light on the kind of fireworks that might have been expected as Trump’s rivals mount a last-ditch effort to keep him from winning the nomination outright. Even Trump, uncharacteristically subdued, noted how civil things were. But everyone on the stage had a strategic reason to keep things low-key. **Read More:** [_Transcript of the Twelfth Republican Debate in Miami_](http://time.com/4255181/republican-debate-transcript-twelfth-cnn-miami/) For Trump, the appeal was obvious. After a series of nasty skirmishes laced with personal attacks, he enjoyed a drama-free debate that is unlikely to shake up a race he leads comfortably. Instead of defending himself against desperate attacks or belittling his rivals, he offered an olive branch to the Republican Establishment that fears him. From the opening bell Thursday night, Trump called upon the party to unite around his candidacy, casting himself as the leader of a movement that is bringing new voters into the fold. “I think, frankly, the Republican Establishment, or whatever you want to call it, should embrace what’s happening,” Trump said during his opening statement. At the end of deliberately muted performance, he closed with the same case. **Read More:** [_Trump Brushes Off the Prospect of a Contested Convention_](http://time.com/4255169/gop-debate-contested-convention-trump/) His rivals had their own reasons for pulling their punches. Marco Rubio’s restrained performance had its roots in regret. At recent Republican debates, the Florida Senator flung full briefing books crammed with opposition research at Trump, followed by petty broadsides and interruptions. But the tactic boomeranged, hurting his poll numbers and damaging a carefully cultivated reputation. By Wednesday, Rubio was saying he regretted resorting to personal insults. And so five days before a pivotal winner-take-all primary in his home state, Rubio passed up a series of chances to confront Trump in what could be the final debate of his candidacy. “There was real differences on the stage tonight between Trump and Rubio but it was over policies, not personalities, and that has always been our strength,” said Rubio spokesman Alex Conant said, in a tacit admission that the exchanges over the last two weeks have hurt more than they’ve helped. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s challenge on Thursday was less urgent. Unlike Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, he has already survived a fatal threat on his home turf. Cruz’s immediate goal is to let Trump winnow the field by winning Florida on March 15 and pushing Rubio from the race. That would leave the Texan, who sits second in delegates, in a one-on-one fight with Trump for the nomination. That’s a contest Cruz’s campaign thinks it can win despite the deficit in delegates. “There are only two of us that have a path to winning the nomination, Donald and myself,” Cruz told the crowd, casting the contest as a head-to-head battle. As a result, Cruz threw only a series of glancing blows at Trump on Thursday. He declined to condemn the spate of violence that has marked Trump’s public rallies. He offered only a mild critique of the protectionist trade policies Trump champions, which defy generations of GOP doctrine. (“He’s right about the problems,” Cruz said, before noting that “his solutions don’t work.”) And he validated the anger driving Trump’s hardline rhetoric against Islam even as he tried to delineate policy differences between them. “People are scared,” Cruz said. “For seven years, we’ve faced terrorist attacks and President Obama lectures Americans on Islamophobia. That is maddening.” “I think it probably accents where the race is, which is a two-man race between Trump and Cruz with slogans versus solutions,” said Cruz campaign manager Jeff Roe. For Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a subdued debate was business as usual. The Ohio Governor, who has sought to appeal to frustrated voters by floating above the intraparty bickering, he spent much of the evening outlining his record in the Buckeye State, where he hopes a victory March 15 will serve as a springboard to a comeback. One observer noted that he finally fit in: “It looked like everyone was doing their John Kasich impression,” quipped former New Hampshire Republican Sen. John Sununu. Where the candidates and Trump did clash was on foreign policy, where Trump appeared to be living in an alternate reality, calling the peaceful Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 a “riot” and repeatedly saying he’d make strong deals without defining what that meant. Cruz and Rubio got the best of Trump in those exchanges. “Donald Trump defended the Chinese communists, the Cuban communists, the Russian communists and the Palestinian terrorists over the course of the evening, so I think that was an interesting strategic choice for him in a Republican primary and in the United State of America,” said Tim Miller, the spokesman for one of the principal anti-Trump efforts. **Read More:** [_Kasich Defends Tiananmen Square Protesters Against Trump_](http://time.com/4255168/gop-debate-kasich-trump-tiananmen-square/) But it was unclear what, if any, impact such statements would have on a candidate who seems to defy the laws of gravity. And whatever momentum has gathered behind the so-called “Stop Trump” movement seemed to seep away as his rivals ducked a brawl in what could be the final major forum of the campaign. When it was over, Trump suggested to reporters backstage that it was time to stop the debates. Which would leave the last words of the season to Trump, who used them make the the case that it’s time for the party to coalesce behind his unconventional juggernaut. “Be smart,” he urged them, “and unify.” ## Transcript We want to have free trade but fair trade. If all we do is sell things to each other, we can only sell to 5 % of the people on earth. We're driving jobs overseas. But we clearly have to control our borders. We can't have people just walking in. Right now we're bringing in far too many low skilled workers. What that is doing is driving down The wages of hard working Americans. Anyone who tells you that social security can stay the way it is, is lying. 83 % of the federal budget in less than five years will all be spent on Medicare, Medicaid, the interest on the debt. I want to make America great again and I want to leave Social Security. As is. Hillary Clinton says she'll cut waste fraud and abuse if only we had smarter people in Washington that would fix the problem. You know what, that is the statement of a liberal who doesn; t understand government is the problem. Now there are more 18 year olds who believe they have a better chance of seeing a UFO than a social security check. We're all in this together We're gonna come up with solutions, we're gonna find the answers to things and so far I cannot believe how civil it's been up here. I am different in one primary respect and that's trade. And the effect of a 45 % tariff would be when you go the store, when you go to Walmart, when you're shopping for your kids, the prices you pay. Go up 45 %. The 45 % tax is a threat. I was not a tax it was a threat. You are paying the tax. It's not China that pays the tax. We'll build our factories here and we'll make our own products. And that's the way it should be done. Last night you told CNN " Islam hates us ." Did you mean all 1. 6 billion Muslims? I mean a lot of them. I know that a lot of people find appeal in the things Donald says cuz he says what people wish they could say. The problem is presidents can't just say anything they want. The people who represent radical Islam, they want to destroy everything that we're about and other Muslims who don't share their view. They have no laws, they have no rules, they have no regulation. And they chop off heads. They drown 40, 50, 60 people at a time. And we're working on a different set of parameters. If we capture any of these terrorists alive, they're not gonna have the right to remain silent. And they're not gonna go to a courtroom in Manhattan, they're gonna go to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and we will find out everything they know, [ APPLAUSE ] And we'll do so legally. [ APPLAUSE ] There's nobody on this stage that's more pro- Israeli than I am. The policy Donald is outlined, I don't know if he realizes is an anti- Israeli policy. There is no peace deal possible with the Palestinians at this moment. There just isn't. I would love for a relationship between Cuba and the United States to change, but it will require Cuba to change at least its government. I don't agree with President Obama. I do agree that something should be Should take place after 50 years it's enough time folks. And you know what passing those laws what impact it would have on the environment? Zero. Because China is still gonna be polluting. And India is still gonna be polluting. You can have a strong environmental Policy at the same time that you have strong economic growth. They are not inconsistent with one another. There is some anger. There's also great love for the country. It's a beautiful thing in many respects, but I certainly do not condone that at all, Jake. There are people out there who are worried about their jobs. You can either pray on that and be negative about it, or you can tell people That these things can be fixed. I think I'm gonna have the delegates, okay? I think. [ APPLAUSE ] Let's see what happens. If we nominate Donald Trump, Hillary wins. That's what an incredible nation we have. That the son of a bartender, and the son of a mailman and the son of a dishwasher and a successful businessman can all stand on this stage competing. Sometimes being positive isn't all that interesting, but it's very interesting to my family and my children and so many supporters that I meet all across the country. We will do whatever it takes to ensure that our children inherit from us what we inherited from our parents. Embrace these millions of people that now, for the first time ever, love The Republican Party and unify. Be smart and unify. 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