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The 10th Republican Debate In 100 Words (And 3 Videos)

Republican presidential candidates Sen. Marco Rubio, Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz during a debate at the University of Houston on Thursday.
David J. Phillip
/
AP
Republican presidential candidates Sen. Marco Rubio, Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz during a debate at the University of Houston on Thursday.

The 10th Republican debate was a free-for-all brawl. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz took turns taking shots at Donald Trump. They tried to portray him as a man with many insults but little substance. Over and over, Cruz and Rubio painted Trump as a shape-shifter who would cut less-than-conservative deals on immigration, health care and foreign policy. Rubio, especially, took sharp shots, questioning Trump's business acumen, integrity and why he's refusing to release his tax returns. Trump remained Trump: slinging personal insults and promising that unlike politicians, he could get things done. John Kasich remained above the fray, as the pragmatic statesman. The must-watch moments:

That's the quickie version of what happened in the 10th Republican presidential debate of the 2016 race Thursday night. The politics team has wall-to-wall coverage.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Eyder Peralta is NPR's East Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya.