donald j. trump <u+2019>s campaign appeared to be crumbling as he entered the second presidential debate against hillary clinton, with republicans withdrawing support for his candidacy after the disclosure of a vulgar recording that showed him bragging about sexual assault. facing a barrage of tough questions, the republican nominee managed to scrape through, evading questions, fabricating answers and attacking his opponent in deeply personal terms. while expectations for mr. trump were low, many commentators and critics thought that he exceeded them and allayed concerns among supporters that his candidacy was finished. here is a sampling of the post-debate reaction: <u+201c>he improved, exceeded expectations, decisively won several exchanges. she could have landed a death blow tonight and did not.<u+201d> guy benson, political editor at the conservative website townhall _______ <u+201c>i may not care for trump, but he beat hillary tonight fair and square even with martha raddatz trying to defeat him.<u+201d> erick erickson, writer for the conservative blog the resurgent _______ <u+201c>donald trump knows he won<u+2019>t be president. he<u+2019>s now in full carnival-barking, network-launching, party-nuking mode <u+2014> a scowling, pouting menace who threatened during a nationally televised debate to throw hillary clinton in jail and called her husband the most sexually abusive man in political history.<u+201d> ron fournier, writer for the atlantic _______ <u+201c>in keeping her cool and indicting trump<u+2019>s bad behavior and finally provoking him to threaten to put her in jail, she made certain no one not already in trump<u+2019>s corner would sign on with him.<u+201d> jennifer rubin, writer for the washington post<u+2019>s right turn blog _______ <u+201c>all the republicans who backed away from @realdonaldtrump look really really stupid right now.<u+201d> laura ingraham, conservative commentator and editor of lifezette ________ <u+201c>trump looks and sounds defeated. almost incoherent...<u+201d> marc lamont hill, morehouse college professor ________ <u+201c>she had a chance to throw a knockout punch at donald trump and instead looked more at times like glass joe from nintendo<u+2019>s punch-out. i lost count how many times she said to go to her website or whine about the lack of <u+201c>fact checking<u+201d> as the debate went on. trump had her on the ropes several times.<u+201d> jay caruso, blogger for the conservative website red state ________ <u+201c>trump picked putin over pence, explicitly abandoned aleppo, lied about iraq again & again, & showed his appalling temperament.<u+201d> ken gude, senior fellow at the center for american progress , a liberal group ________ <u+201c>with references to lewinsky scandal, e-mails, benghazi, attacking media, trump likely shored up his base. hard to see him leaving ticket.<u+201d> perry bacon jr., political reporter for nbc news ________ <u+201c>i<u+2019>m a muslim, and i would like to report a crazy man threatening a woman on a stage in missouri.<u+201d> moustafa bayoumi, author of <u+201c>this muslim american life<u+201d> and professor at brooklyn college, cuny ________ <u+201c>republicans who took heart at his antic, boob-bait performance are grasping at a thin, crazy reed that the coming news cycles will snap.<u+201d> rick wilson, republican strategist find out what you need to know about the 2016 presidential race today, and get politics news updates via facebook , twitter and the first draft newsletter .
who won the debate? donald trump avoids annihilation
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