The Grand Old Party (GOP) is at it again in another debate to see who will come out victorious. Some can say that this “debate” was more of, ‘who can go the longest without going crazy’ rather than actually discussing plans to better the nation. The Republican Primary debate occurred on Sept. 16 and was aired and moderated by Cable News Network (CNN), who seemed to ask the candidates questions that would make them fight amongst each other, instead of questions regarding important issues that the U.S. faces. The two biggest players of the debate were Carly Fiorina, whose poll numbers increased after the debate, and Donald Trump, who did not make as big of an impression as he had during his first debate.

Though there is never really a clear winner when it comes to a debate, there were a few candidates that managed to make themselves stand out in the crowd. Republican politician, Carly Fiorina stood her ground against Donald Trump’s childish remark on her physical appearance gaining the support of the audience. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Trump said “Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that? Imagine that the face of our next president,” to which Fiorina responded “I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said,”. Fiorina later expressed her negative views on Planned Parenthood-a non-profit organization that researches and counsels women on family planning and contraception-stating that she would decrease their funding. Fiorina also told the audience her stance on the war on drugs and told the crowd a tragic anecdote of losing her step-daughter to drug addiction. Fiorina plans on allotting more money to be used for drug treatment and rehabilitation.

“From what I saw, I think Carly Fiorina did a very good job answering her questions even though some of them were a bit ridiculous, like the one about if she would trust Trump with nuclear launch codes if he is elected president. I also think that her response to Trump’s comment on her appearance was very professional,” junior Jillian Paz said.

As for Trump, he certainty did not hold any punches, yet he was knocked around by the other candidates responses. Trump did what he does best and resorted to his usual bag of insults and blaming others, most notably President Barack Obama. Trump did not shine as bright as he had on the first debate but did manage to make some good points; so one can say that he neither lost nor won. 

It is highly unlikely that most people stayed around to watch the entire three hour debate, since the responses of the candidates felt very repetitive. It will take more time to determine who will actually end up winning the Republican primary. If future debates are like this past one, the only thing that would cut down the amount of candidates running for president, would be which one runs out of campaign money first.