Why Trump Turned In His Best Performance of Any Debate (Daniel McCarthy, The National Interest)

The debate was less about Trump's failings as a human being than Clinton's as a senator and secretary of state.

http://nationalinterest.org/feature/why-trump-turned-his-best-performance-any-debate-17993

Trump Forced Washington to Confront Its Failures (Daniel McCarthy, The National Interest)

The election is becoming a test of public support for the Washington consensus.

http://nationalinterest.org/feature/trump-forced-washington-confront-its-failures-17851

The GOP Debate: The Governors Strike Back (Daniel McCarthy, The National Interest)

Saturday’s Republican debate, at St. Anselm’s College in New Hampshire, had the opposite effect of the Iowa caucuses. The latter narrowed the field of candidates, putting an end to the 2016 aspirations of Rand Paul and Rick Santorum while seemingly setting the stage for a three-way race of Ted Cruz, Donald Trump and Marco Rubio, the only candidates to break 20 percent. But Saturday’s debate threw that into question, with Rubio putting in a particularly poor performance and Chris Christie an exceptionally strong one. Jeb Bush and John Kasich also had a good night, while Trump and Cruz slumped. (Ben Carson, meanwhile, was left to plead, “I'm not here just to add beauty to the stage.”)

http://nationalinterest.org/feature/the-gop-debate-the-governors-strike-back-15134