Breitbart celebrates:
The Drudge Report summarized Thursday night’s GOP debate, which frontrunner Donald Trump skipped, with the headline: “The Seven Dwarfed!” That assessment matches the consensus, left and right, from media observers: that Trump benefited from staging a fundraiser for wounded veterans, where he appeared relaxed, magnanimous, and in command, rather than placing himself in the crosshairs of the Fox News moderators and his Republican rivals.
The Cruz camp appears to have made a strategic miscalculation. By sticking with the debate, and accusing Trump of cowardice, Cruz hoped to place himself at the head of the anti-Trump opposition. Instead, however, he exposed himself to a gang-tackle by the moderators and the other candidates. Had he joined Trump in protest at Fox News’ behavior, he would have signaled that he and Trump were the prohibitive final two candidates in the GOP primary.