CNN's surprisingly substantive Republican debate, in 21 tweets

You know things are going well when the chair of the RNC has to constantly reiterate that the party will support its own nominee

— Ezra Klein (@ezraklein) March 11, 2016

"#NeverNeverTrump" -- @Reince

— Josh Barro (@jbarro) March 11, 2016

Trump's opening statement actually sounds as if he prepared it, which is unusual.

— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) March 11, 2016

What does general election Trump sound like? Probably just like that.

— Sean Sullivan (@WaPoSean) March 11, 2016

Did Trump take a Xanax before this debate?

— Eliana Johnson (@elianayjohnson) March 11, 2016

What hasn't happened so far: an attack on Trump

— Robert Costa (@costareports) March 11, 2016

This seems like a weird night for Trump’s rivals to let him have his best debate.

— daveweigel (@daveweigel) March 11, 2016

[GOP debate full of penis insults]
Twitter: "This is embarrassing and bad for America!"
[GOP debate on policy]
Twitter: "This is BORING."

— delrayser (@delrayser) March 11, 2016

Do you mean all 1.6 billion Muslims hate us? "I mean a lot of them," Trump says.

— Matt Viser (@mviser) March 11, 2016

Marco Rubio is chiding Trump on *tactical* grounds for saying all Muslims hate us

— Ned Resnikoff (@resnikoff) March 11, 2016

wow. rubio's stance is that we all WISH we could be outwardly xenophobic but it's totally not presidential

— ಠ_ಠ (@MikeIsaac) March 11, 2016

"The H-1B is something I use and shouldn’t be allowed to use."

:D

— Philip Bump (@pbump) March 11, 2016

Trump's new pitch: You have to make me president so I can make horrible behavior like mine illegal.

— Kevin Drum (@kdrum) March 11, 2016

Now Trump says we shouldn't have H-1B visas, last debate he said it should be expanded, then campaign retracted it 2 hours later.

— Katy Tur (@KatyTurNBC) March 11, 2016

Trump just said the Democrats want to leave Social Security the way it is, then said that’s what he wants to do.

— Molly Ball (@mollyesque) March 11, 2016

Trump seems to be saying he'd pull back U.S. forces overseas to pay for Social Security ... ?

— Alex Burns (@alexburnsNYT) March 11, 2016

Trump is actually saying something reasonable here: We are a rich enough country to keep the modest existing promises in Social Security.

— Josh Barro (@jbarro) March 11, 2016

Trump is simultaneously promising A) No changes to Social Security
B) $9.5 trillion tax cut https://t.co/GVzsrnyCCr

— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) March 11, 2016

The moderators attempts to correct Trump are sweet, and pointless.

— Ross Douthat (@DouthatNYT) March 11, 2016

Sure, this debate is substantive. But the substance is often wrong, exaggerated, nonsensical, implausible, misleading, confused...

— Ezra Klein (@ezraklein) March 11, 2016

I don't think they pulled it off. I think we're screwed.

— Tim Carney (@TPCarney) March 11, 2016