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Republican presidential debate in Cleveland on Aug. 6, 2015.(Photo: Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images)

The biggest story going into Thursday nights Republican presidential debate was: What would Donald Trump do? Would the billionaire businessmanplay nice? Act "presidential"? Trump has risen like summer fireworks until now, defying expectations that he would never get into the race, and that if he did, he would never rise very high. But there he was at center stage in Cleveland, thanks to poll numbers double those of his closest rivals.

In his first big test in front of the party faithful, Trump stood out, and not in a good way. Right from the get-go, he showed how little allegiance he has to the GOP by refusing to rule out a third-party run if he fails to win the nomination, even if that mightsplit the party and help a Democrat.

Under sharpquestioning from the Fox News moderators, it didn't get a whole lot better for Trump after that.Asked whetherhe regretted calling women fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals, TrumpcriticizedmoderatorMegyn Kelly for the way you havetreatedme, mocked the idea that he should be politically correct and implied that Kelly and the rest of her gender should lighten up.

He wasnt done. He defended using the bankruptcy laws to stiff creditors, using campaign contributions to buy political access, and flip-flopping on abortion and a variety of other issues.He said the leaders of America were stupid and easily duped by the far cleverer headsof countries such as Iran, China and Mexico. Our country is in serious trouble we cant do anything right, he declared in his closing summation.

For some of his fans, Trump undoubtedly channeled their angerand delivered thebrashness they've come to expect.Othersmight well have been turned off by his lack of substance and pessimistic views about America.Forthose not on the Trump bandwagon, hisfirst debate performance should reinforcedoubts about whetherheissomeone who should be leading the nation.

A strange way to court the Hispanic vote

After Mitt Romney lost to Barack Obama in 2012, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus commissioned an autopsy to determine how to do better next time. Among other things, the report concluded that alienating Hispanic-American voters with talk of self deportation badly damaged the partys presidential candidate.

You cant call someone ugly and expect them to go to the prom with you, the report noted, pleading with the GOP to stop offending Hispanics and embrace comprehensive immigration reform. If we do not, the report said, our partys appeal will continue to shrink to its core constituencies only.

Priebus has been getting his answer to this advice from the 2016 GOP candidates, and its not the one he wanted. Only one of the 17 Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has consistently supported a path to citizenship, according to a recent Politifact.com analysis. Others have never supported what they like to call amnesty for undocumentedimmigrants, and those who used to support the possibility of citizenship have backtracked or waffled or simply changed their views. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said Thursday night he changed his position after I listened to the American people. Thats code for saying he didn't think he couldget the GOP nomination if he continued to hold a position thats toxic among most of the Republicans who vote in the partys presidential primaries.

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Trump, immigration reform and Fiorina: Our view