Yep. It's a debate in front of Ronald Reagan's plane.
It was left to CNN to have the debate with the airplane in the background, because of course it was. A quick wrap-up of last night's Republican presidential debate:
Right out of the gate, it was Trump versus everyone else, with Donald Trump seemingly having stocked up on at least one personal insult for every other person onstage. Jeb Bush was widely seen as needing to attack Trump or at least make a case for himself as the statesman to Trump's entertainer, but he didn't do much—even Trump's insults of Bush's Mexican-born wife caused Jeb to call for Trump to apologize (he refused) and little more. Most of the night's "successful" Trump attacks were left to Carly Fiorina, who seems to relish her position as attack dog, whether the target is Trump, Clinton, or anyone else. She had a good night, even though the debate at one point devolved into Fiorina and Trump outlining each other's terrible business records.
An extended period was spent on defunding Planned Parenthood, notable mostly for Cruz's and Fiorina's lurid (and false) interpretations of the "Planned Parenthood videos", but perhaps the most time was spent on Trump's "immigration" plan. Trump again offered zero specifics; Bush decried the plan as unfeasible. Christie decried the plan as unfeasible, then proceeded to demand all immigrants be fingerprinted and individually tracked to make sure they haven't overstayed their welcome. Ben Carson's contribution was to suggest that we allow a limited not-amnesty for undocumented workers that want to pick our vegetables, because that's a job that needs particular doing.
And no, none of the candidates are fans of the "Iran deal." Ted Cruz wants to shred it on "Day One." Rand Paul thinks we ought to take a closer look at it, then tear it up. That's about all the leeway allowed onstage in this crowd. Rand Paul was particularly forceful in declaring that the Iraq War was a mistake and that it bears responsibility for the results in the Middle East we are dealing with now. He's right, and stated it well, but was not in front of an audience that had any interest in hearing it.
The whopper of the night? Jeb Bush, declaring that his brother George W. Bush "kept this country safe." That's what he's going with. That wins out even over Chris Christie's false and frankly baffling claim—again—that he was appointed U.S. attorney on Sept 10th, 2001, the day before the 9/11 attacks—which continues to be a baldfaced lie. He wasn't even nominated until the following December.
Oh, and Rand Paul would not enforce marijuana laws, and is not a fan of the "war on drugs" in general. There ya go, Republican hipsters, there's your guy.
Debate non-entities: Scott Walker. Make the case that this or that person "won" the debate, if you must, but Walker could have replaced himself with a potted plant and it's not likely anyone would have noticed. Marco Rubio didn't seem to give anyone a reason to give him a second look. Mike Huckabee did precious little to give anyone a reason to give him a first look, though he is still a super-big fan of a certain Kentucky county clerk. Kasich didn't do as well here as he seemed to in the first debate, but still had considerably more presence than Walker, and Ben Carson remained Ben Carson.
Ted Cruz remained creepy—I'm not saying he did a good or bad job, just noting that Ted Cruz's televangelical persona is a like-it-or-hate-it proposition. His fans probably thought he did great, but he continues to seem insincere and outclassed from this vantage point.
As for Chris Christie? In fighting form, certainly, but I'm not sure being "the angry guy" is enough to move any numbers his way. The race already has plenty of angry guys, so the schtick he's been able to ride to the governor's office is old hat here.
Predicting this race is a fool's errand, but I don't see much damage being done here to Donald Trump. The sort of people who support him expect him to be attacked by the "establishment," and see it as a badge of honor; Trump, for his part, continues to not melt down into the puddle of hair and rage and spittle that everyone seems to expect him to during each one of those things. If there's anyone who can ding that facade of his, it's Carly Fiorina, and she'll probably continue to pick up more support for showing the willingness to fight Trump that most of the other candidates can't seem to muster for longer than a quip or two.
And if Jeb Bush intends to make a case for himself that's better than the one he's making, he might want to get on that.