Trump dumps Fox News and becomes the 'elephant not in the room': But who really won the 7th Republican debate?

Donald Trump skips Fox News' debate

With Donald Trump missing from the seventh Republican debate, days ahead of the vital Iowa caucus, many were left wondering: who won the debate? Did Trump actually win by not attending or did another candidate behind him in the polls rise to the occasion, without the businessman's "distracting" heckling?

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - During Fox News' Republican debate, Trump stood on-stage just miles away at his own event for U.S. military veterans, where he boasted raising $6 million for the veterans. 

"I didn't want to be here, to be honest, I wanted to be about five minutes away" at the debate, Trump told his crowd of 700 people. Republican candidates, Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee joined Trump's event after their earlier low-polling candidate debate.

According to a Fox News statement, Trump stated he would attend the debate in exchange for a contribution of $5 million from the station toward his charities. The station turned down his offer. 

"When you're treated badly, you have to stick up for your rights - whether we like it or not," he said referring to his feud with Fox News anchor, Megyn Kelly. 

Kelly opened the debate by addressing the "elephant not in the room," asking Texas Senator, Ted Cruz what message Trump was sending the voters. "I'm a maniac, and everyone on this stage is stupid fat and ugly and Ben you're a terrible surgeon. Now that we've gotten the Donald Trump portion out of the way," Cruz responded, choosing humor to deal with the awkward situation. 

Without Trump on the stage, former Florida governor, Jeb Bush appeared much more relaxed and at ease. He forcefully answered his questions and stood his ground on topics including immigration.

"Donald Trump, for example - I mentioned his name again if anybody was missing him - Mr. Trump believed in reaction to people's fears that we should ban all Muslims. Well, that creates an environment that's toxic in our own country," Bush said.

Cruz appeared to fall flat as he complained about the debate rules and played a heavy, potentially unnecessary defense role. "If you ask me one more mean question, I may have to leave the stage," Cruz stated at one point in the debate where he felt the Fox moderators were prompting candidates to attack Trump. 

Florida Senator, Marco Rubio took Cruz's statement as an opportunity to ridicule the candidate. "Don't worry, I'm not leaving the stage no matter what questions you ask me." Rubio feuded over immigration with Bush and Cruz and at one point stated Cruz was willing to say or do anything to be elected. 

Kentucky Senator, Rand Paul is being named, by some, as the debate's winner, perhaps unexpected to many. The Washington Post described him as "a candidate willing and able to speak to issues his party has struggled to address in recent years." Paul leads some polls for the seventh Republican debate, all of which leave Trump off since he did not attend. 

According to Google, though, 62 percent of Google users name Carly Fiorina as the seventh debate's winner. 

However, being absent from the debate has not appeared to hurt Trump's ratings in any way. The frontrunner took over social media during the debate that scored a high 8.4 rating, according to the preliminary Nielsen numbers. Trump led the Republican candidates in Twitter mentions, according to Zoomph, and he was the most-searched candidate on Google during the first half of the debate.

According to Drudge Report's current poll for the Republican presidential pick, Trump stands in front of Cruz's 19 percent with a massive 60 percent. Rubio falls into third with 7 percent. 
Trump also holds the number one spot on polls from NBC News, Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg Politics. 

A presidential candidate has never held such a lead like Trump's and failed to become the Republican nominee. 

"It's not hard to figure out which Republican candidate is in a dominant position," according to MSNBC. "Either Donald Trump will be the GOP presidential nominee or we'll soon witness the most spectacular collapse in American political history."

---

The California Network is the Next Wave in delivery of information and entertainment on pop culture, social trends, lifestyle, entertainment, news, politics and economics. We are hyper-focused on one audience, YOU, the connected generation. JOIN US AS WE REDEFINE AND REVOLUTIONIZE THE EVER-CHANGING MEDIA LANDSCAPE.