Republicans began their debate Thursday night with insults and ended with three candidates pledging to back Donald Trump should he win the nomination.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz took more shots at Trump in Fox News' debate - and through it all, the billionaire businessman seemed to relish standing center stage, defending himself against foes and moderators while showing his mettle to supporters.
Clearly annoyed that Rubio had joked days ago about the size of Trump's hands - suggesting, as Trump put it, that "if they're small, something else might be small" - the Republican front-runner made a claim seldom heard during a presidential debate.
Chris Wallace had a real-time fact check queued up when Trump asserted he'd cut $500 billion in spending - pointing out that his strategies, eliminating the Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency , would save just a fraction of that amount.