I don't know if I'll be able to write a debate postmortem tonight, but after a half hour I see how the debate format satisfies both the Roger Ailes wish to aggrandize Donald Trump and Rupert Murdoch's desire to find a presentable, electable GOP nominee: the format is jacked up, the crowd is jacked up, the questions are barbed, and the point is to make the entire field seem as sharp-elbowed and exciting as Trump. Trump is being Trump; the other nine candidates are answering in traditional political ways that won't sound terrifying to swing voters in future soundbites (unless they actually listen to the content) -- but they're all being buttressed by lots and lots of crowd noise. Not only is Ailes not putting Trump in a corner, he's trying to turn everyone else into Trump.
Will it work? Can't tell, but it's clever.
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