Frontrunner Donald Trump defended his position at the head of the pack during Wednesday night's second Republican debate in California, maintaining a more subdued approach than he offered last month and topping
Newsmax's post-debate poll.
According to the early returns of the poll, Trump was the runaway winner with 46 percent of the vote.
Gathered below are the billionaire frontrunner's top five answers of the night.
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1. Bush and the Iraq War — Trump took Jeb Bush to task, saying the Bush family led the U.S. into an endless, unpopular war in Iraq. "Your brother and your brother's administration gave us Barack Obama because it was such a disaster those last three months that Abraham Lincoln couldn't have been elected," Trump said. Bush responded that his brother "kept us safe," but Trump fired back, saying, "I don't know. You feel safe right now? I don't feel so safe."
2. Rand Paul Takedown — Knowing that he, the frontrunner, had 10 other candidates gunning for him Wednesday night, Trump launched a successful pre-emptive strike to eliminate Sen. Paul. "First of all, Rand Paul shouldn't even be on this stage. He got number 11. He's got 1 percent in the polls and how he got up here — there's far too many people anyway," Trump said during the very first exchange of the night.
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3. English vs. Spanish — Trump was asked about his criticism of Jeb Bush, who has spoken in Spanish during his campaign, and doubled down firmly on his belief that speaking English is important. "We have a country, where, to assimilate, you have to speak English," he said. "We’ve had many people over the years, for many, many years, saying the same thing. This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish."
4. Women's Health — Trump went on the offensive when asked about Jeb Bush's previous comments on women's health issues.
"It’s a terrible statement, it’s going to haunt him, absolutely," Trump said, referring to Bush's since-retracted statement that he's "not sure we need half a billion dollars for women’s health issues." Trump went to town on Bush's gaffe, saying "I heard him, I was watching that, I said, 'Wow, I can’t believe it.'" Contrasting himself with Bush, Trump pronounced, "I will take care of women. I respect women."
5. Scott Walker and the Wisconsin Economy — "In Wisconsin, you’re losing $2.2 billion right now. I would do so much better than that," Trump retorted when Gov. Walker offered criticisms about the frontrunner's campaign style. Walker responded that Trump was using a Democrat talking point, but Trump shot back, saying, "You were supposed to make a billion dollars in the state. You lost 2.2 [billion]. You have, right now, a huge budget deficit. That’s not a Democratic point. That's a point. That’s a fact."
*Bonus Highlight Reel — Debate host CNN collected all of Trumps "zingers" into one minute-and-a-half video, showing off the real estate mogul's best moments from the night.
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