Thursday on “The Kelly File,” Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer said expects next week’s first 2016 cycle GOP presidential debate to be all about the current frontrunner in the race, real estate mogul Donald Trump.
But how the Trump storyline plays out, Krauthammer said, remains to be seen.
“Everybody knows in the lead-up to this debate, it’s going to be all about Trump,” Krauthammer said. “That will be the story no matter what happens otherwise in the debate, that will be the story that is going to be carried out by the media. That’s going to be the sound bites. And the two questions are – will Trump act like a statesman or will he continue the anger and bluster show? And the second is, will anybody take him on who will it be?”
Krauthammer said he wasn’t sure a statesman-like approach would work for Trump. But he speculated former Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) might be the best candidate to take Trump on directly.
“If you’re a top-tier candidate, there’s not that much advantage in doing that, particularly now, early in the race,” Krauthammer said. “You get into a mud fight – the others will benefit rather than you. I suspect it could be who is in the middle of the pack – somebody who is at number 9, 10 or 11 today in the polls, on the bubble of the debate, on the cusp – who might want to take him out as a way to be the dragon slayer. And perhaps the candidate for that would be Rick Perry, who took him on the most strongly after Trump’s remarks about John McCain.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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