RUTHFULLY YOURS

“The world will respect us like never before?” Do you respect Donald Trump tonight like never before?

The personal attacks that have worked so well for Donald Trump these past few weeks fell flat tonight. Trump didn’t get this at first, and even threw out a gratuitous insult or two mid-debate. Gradually, however, Trump woke up to the fact that crass wasn’t working anymore. By the time Carly Fiorina took him down, we’d crossed into new territory. Trump looked small and ugly.

Is this the guy who’s going to make America great again?

I’m sympathetic to the frustration with the GOP establishment, and with the overall direction of the country, that are feeding the Trump phenomenon. But I don’t think Trump is the answer. After this debate, I don’t think voters are going to see him as the answer either.

Will Trump’s poll numbers go south right away? Quite possibly. In any case, I don’t think he’s got the staying power it began to look like he was building in the days before this debate. There’s no there there, and the hollowness is turning more visible.

Wonderful as she is, I’m not sure Fiorina has the experience necessary to assume the presidency in 2017. Even so, Fiorina took down Trump with something more than her deft attacks. She showed what a non-politician who actually does intimate potential greatness might look like. Trump was diminished by comparison.

— Stanley Kurtz is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. He can be reached at comments.kurtz@nationalreview.com