GOP Debate Fallout: Is Donald Trump Imploding?

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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump captured most of the headlines following the first GOP debate last Friday…for all the wrong reasons. Some of his comments during and post-debate about Fox News host Megyn Kelly outraged many.

NewsOne Now guest host Jeff Johnson and the Straight Talk Panel discussed the fallout resulting from Trump’s bombastic behavior, questioning if his campaign has come off the rails and if he is doing more harm than good for the Republican Party.

NewsOne panelist Elroy Sailor, a supporter of Sen. Rand Paul, said one of the sentiments he heard consistently from a couple of debate viewing events was that “folks did not feel we needed a comedian running for office.”

While other voters “thought that he (Donald Trump) was speaking to a certain segment of the Republican voters with some of his issues on immigration, some of his issues (were) politicians not being able to deal with some of the real world problems,” Sailor said.

“You’ve got some of the right messages on policy issues, but you probably have the wrong messenger, because he’s been a little over exaggerated or a lot over exaggerated — way over exaggerated on issues that are not relevant to the American people.”

Though Trump is still leading in the polls, guest host Jeff Johnson asked Ed Lee, Senior Director of Debate at Emory University, “Are these polls indicative of the ability to be able to speak to policy, or are these polls an issue of ‘can you say the right provocative thing that makes people excited about how much you hate President Obama?’”

“I think the polls have more to do with flash than substance — that they’re more to do with an indication of one’s ability to sell a message,” Lee replied. “Ones ability to be a celebrity, ones ability to have airtime on other shows, and it is their ability to even identify with a particular set of policy solutions.”

Lee continued, saying the polling data is also indicative of a candidate’s ability to speak to a “certain segment of the population that is angry, that is concerned, and is responding to vitriol and bombastic rhetoric instead of policy solutions.”

He hoped that those responding to this type of campaigning are only attracting a “small segment of the population and not a large collection of the Republican Party.”

Watch NewsOne Now guest host Jeff Johnson, Elroy Sailor, Ed Lee, and the NewsOne Now Straight Talk Panel discuss the fallout following the GOP debate aimed at Donald Trump in the video clip above.

Be sure to watch “NewsOne Now” with Roland Martin, weekdays at 9 a.m. EST on TV One.

Subscribe to the “NewsOne Now” Audio Podcast on iTunes.

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