Republican debate: Trump v Bush and Cruz v Rubio as tempers flare – as it happened

“And now to Ted Cruz, who is also running for president,” says Dickerson.

Cruz says that “when it comes to ISIS, you’ve got to have a focussed objective.” He’s avoiding getting into the mudslinging that just broke out between Bush and Trump

More boos from the audience, as Trump slams Lindsey Graham. Bush responds: “the basic fact is, Vladimir Putin is not going to be an ally of the United States.”

“We’re supporting troops that we don’t even know who they are,” Trump shouts. The audience boos again. “This is from a guy who gets his foreign policy from the shows,” Jeb hits back. The audience cheers.

14 Feb 201621.27 EST

James Pethokoukis

From Guardian US contributor and American Enterprise Institute columnist James Pethokoukis:

So no surprise, the lead-off question was about the passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Each candidate’s response sort of reflected the essence of their candidacies. Trump was combative – “Delay, delay, delay” – but, you have to give him points for actually naming a couple of potential conservative judicial picks.

Kasich was sunny, suggesting this was an opportunity for Obama to nominate a unifying choice. Rubio gave a concise, smooth answer (not in any way robotic!). Jeb tried to be the adult in the room.

As for Cruz, it was an issue right in his wheelhouse, and not just because of his legal background. It allowed him to remind Republican voters that he is a “fighter” since, as president, he would have to fight to get his nominee through the US Senate.

“Jeb is so wrong ... that’s Jeb’s special interests and lobbyists talking,” he says, of Jeb’s plan to remove the sequester just now. The audience isn’t loving this internecine attack - more boos.

14 Feb 201621.24 EST

Jeb Lund

From Guardian US columnist Jeb Lund:

It took two replies for the axis of bizarro world to keep whirring askew of all physics, as Donald Trump delivered a reasonable answer on nominating a justice to the US supreme court to replace Antonin Scalia, and John Kasich said something dumb.

In short, Trump recognized that it’s the right of the president to nominate justices, irrespective of the year, because he would like the privilege of doing so if he were the president in a lame-duck year. It’s, he said, the obligation of the Republican senate to obstruct Barack Obama as he exercises his obligations under the constitution. That’s ... actually true, and fairly reasonable

John Kasich, on the other hand, felt that Barack Obama shouldn’t nominate anyone, because the American people should be consulted, via an election and the one in 2012 didn’t count.

Also, something something about civility.

Meanwhile, Ben Carson feltthat we should, uh, “look into that” about how, ahhh, the average lifespan of human beings has changed since the era of the founders, so, ahhh, these appointments last much longer, but, uh, also that we should do something about civility, because we aren’t as civil as we used to be.

Jeb Bush’s answer was completely sensible and predictable for his base, but I’m sure what everybody noticed was that he cited Article 2 of the US constitution – establishing his conservative bona fides – and spoke forcefully, as if he woke up a few weeks ago and looked at the clock and realized he had to appear credible as a candidate.

Back to Kasich, with a question about Russia. “You’ve said you want to punch them in the nose - what does that mean?”

“We need to make it clear what we expect,” the Ohio governor answers. “We will arm the Ukraine. ... Any attack on [a NATO country] is an attack on us.”

The fact of the matter is, the world is desperate for leadership.

Ben Carson is asked if his lack of political experience is a liability. He returns to the answer to his first question, then thanks the moderators for including him in the debate. “Two questions already, this is great,” he says.