Donald Trump was a key figure last night in the first televised Presidential candidacy debate for the Republican Party.
While there was no consensus after the Fox News event, in Cleveland Ohio, on an overall victor, The Washington Post listed Mr Trump as one of the night’s winners.
The Washington Post’s political reporter Chris Cillizza said: “As always, Trump is the hardest candidate to judge.
“His unwillingness to commit to supporting the Republican nominee if he isn’t it should hurt him among Republicans.
“His general cluelessness about foreign policy specifics won’t help either…
“What I’ve learned about Trump is that his brashness and boisterousness have an appeal with a not-small part of the GOP electorate.
“And, Trump did Trump tonight — unapologetic and dismissive at every turn.
“People clapped — and the Trump message (such as it is) seemed vindicated. I’ve been wrong on Trump before. I think he may be beyond normal political predictions.”
The billionaire real estate mogul delivered a memorable performance on Thursday (August 7) night.
He repeatedly attacked rivals on stage, jousted with moderators, drew jeers and laughter from the audience with colourful language and, true to form, refused to apologize for anything.
CNN’s MJ Lee said: “The three moderators faced a difficult task: no matter how hard they tried to corner Trump on inconsistency and vulnerability, the businessman never gave an inch.
“The challenge for all of Trump’s competition during the two-hour debate hosted by Fox News was to step out of Trump’s shadow.
“The stakes were particularly high for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who has been trailing Trump in the national polls and has suffered a series of missteps in recent weeks.”
The event in Cleveland ended speculation that the controversial tycoon would moderate his past denouncements of America’s politicians.
Commentators say if Mr Trump runs as an independent he could split the Republican vote, making it more likely that Democrat frontrunner Hillary Clinton would win, giving her party a third term in a row in the White House.
Mr Trump has run up a considerable polling lead among the 17 Republicans running for the nomination.
He was the only one of 10 candidates in the main debate to raise his hand when the Fox News hosts asked who would not pledge to support the eventual party nominee.
Mr Trump said: “I will not make the pledge.”