Frank Bruni: Stuart, I’ve done many of these political roundtables, but never one at a juncture this titanically and transcendently bizarre.
The first Republican debate of the presidential election season is tonight, the party front-runner is absent, and he’s running, oh, infinity points ahead of his Republican rivals despite two impeachments, 91 felony counts and unquantifiable wretchedness.
Stuart Stevens: If a candidate enters the debate with a strategy of taking out another candidate, it can change a trajectory.
In the 2012 primary, Mitt Romney did this to Rick Perry in their first debate and again in a subsequent debate to Newt Gingrich.
(I was the campaign strategist for that Romney campaign.)
Persons:
Frank Bruni, Ann Coulter, Stuart Stevens, Stuart, I’ve, Donald Trump’s, Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, Romney
Organizations:
Republican