What Went Down In The Second GOP Debate

Based on tonight’s debate, we’re likely to hear a lot about whether the ability to speak English should be required to become an American citizen. According to a June 2015 Public Religion Research Institute survey, the vast majority (89 percent) of Americans believe that speaking English is an important part of being an American. That’s a far greater percentage than said the same about believing in God (69 percent), being born in America (58 percent) or being Christian (53 percent).

I wrote earlier about the challenge of sustaining momentum when you’re only getting to speak once every 20 minutes or so. Some of the candidates seem to be overcompensating by resorting to stunts or gimmicks, like a motivational speaker who’s trying to keep the interest of a bored audience. Christie’s had a little bit of that, for instance — it seemed overly theatrical when, in his opening statement, he asked the camera to turn to the audience. Huckabee and Cruz can both be a little gimmicky. One thing that helps Fiorina, by contrast, is that she’s using her time wisely, being forceful and direct without resorting to stunts.

CNN’s Jake Tapper’s question to Trump was a smart one: How would you deport 11 million people? Trump gave a non-answer: Build a wall. The problem with that answer is that the undocumented population has been basically flat in recent years and is down from its mid-2000s peak. The number of undocumented immigrants is still near an all-time high, but it isn’t growing much. Moreover, as many as half of undocumented immigrants didn’t cross the border illegally; they came legally and overstayed their visas.