Businessman shocks audience with comment while former HP boss wins applause: ‘I think women all over the country heard what Trump said’

Donald Trump reacted to questions over his alleged misogyny during the Republican primary debate on Wednesday by saying the only woman on the stage, rival candidate Carly Fiorina, had “a beautiful face”.

Carly Fiorina dominates turbulent Republican debate as Trump fends off attacks Read more

In one of the most arresting moments of the debate, Trump, the frontrunner in the polls, shocked the audience with his remark about Fiorina, which followed recent criticisms he has made about her appearance.

Trump has repeatedly been accused of sexism, and the aftermath of the first GOP debate in August was dominated by the controversy over misogynistic remarks the billionaire made about the Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly.

On Wednesday, CNN anchor Jake Tapper brought up a quote from a recent Rolling Stone article which quoted Trump saying of Fiorina: “Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that? The face of our next president?”

Fiorina latched onto the controversy, without directly protesting. “I think women all over the country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said,” she said.

It was the line that sparked perhaps one of the most supportive and enthusiastic applauses of the night. Unusually for the former host of The Apprentice, Trump seemed, temporarily, lost for words.

He then leaned forward and quipped: “I think she has a very beautiful face, and she’s a beautiful woman.”

The blunt remark came at the end of a fiery segment in the second televised debate that laid bare Republican candidates’ attitudes to women’s reproductive rights, as presidential aspirants including Trump, Fiorina, Scott Walker, Chris Christie and Jeb Bush competed for who could take the hardest line on Planned Parenthood.

Christie went first. “I vetoed Planned Parenthood eight times in New Jersey,” he said. “Here’s the problem. We’re fighting with each other up here – let’s ask Hillary Clinton. She believes in the systematic murder of children in the womb to preserve their body parts, damn it, in a way that maximises their value for sale for profit. It is disgusting.”

Clinton, as is routine now during presidential primary debates, exploited the immediacy of Twitter to strike back.

Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) Women—not the politicians on stage—should make decisions about their own reproductive health care. Period. #GOPdebate

Prior to her altercation with Trump, Fiorina spoke with anger on Planned Parenthood. “Anyone who has watched this video tape,” she said. “I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully formed foetus on the table, its heart beating, its legs kicking, while someone says we need to keep it alive to harvest its brain.”

(A DHS investigation found that Planned Parenthood had not, in fact, broken the law.)

Tapper then challenged Jeb Bush for having said: “I’m not sure we need a half-billion dollars for women’s health issues.”

“You later said you misspoke,” Tapper said, then quoting Trump as saying that quote would haunt him “like Romney’s 47% video”.

“I’m the most pro-life governor on the stage,” Bush said. “Life is a gift from god. And so we defunded planned parenthood.” He said he would bring that solution to DC, re-introducing “the Reagan rule” which prevented funding for Planned Parenthood.

Trump intervened. “I think it’s a terrible statement. I think it’s going to haunt him absolutely,” he said. “I will take care of women. I respect women,” Trump said. Bush hit back again, saying that he would improve the condition for women by funding groups other than Planned Parenthood, and adding he had increased child support when he was governor.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Watch the weirdest moments of the Republican debate. Link to video

Scott Walker then cut in, saying he had defunded Planned Parenthood in Wisconsin. “And I did it in a blue state,” he said. “The bigger issue is we should be able to do this nationally.”

At the end of the debate, when Tapper asked each candidate who they would choose to put on the $10 bill, which will be replaced with a woman soon, Fiorina said the change was “just a gesture”.

“This nation will be better off when every woman has the opportunity to live the life she chooses,” said the only female candidate on the stage.

As the debate took place, Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, Robby Mook, knocked Trump for making “demeaning” comments about women, which he said were more broadly reflective of the candidate’s “sexism”.

“The bigger issue is how damaging he has become to the Republican party,” Mook told reporters gathered at the campaign’s headquarters in Brooklyn, New York. “He has completely driven them to the right. I think you saw more insult, more bluster, more sexism tonight.”

Mook was responding to a question on Trump’s impact over the race, and added that the Republican frontrunner would be “a real problem in the general election” regardless of whether or not he wins the nomination. Asked if he was referring to a specific incident during the debate, Mook said Trump had shown a demeaning attitude toward women not just on the night itself but “for the whole time he’s been in the race”.

“I think it is a well-established fact that Donald Trump has made incredibly demeaning comments about women and I think they speak for themselves,” Mook said.

Clinton has repeatedly condemned Trump’s rhetoric while on the campaign trail and recently went after the real estate mogul’s claim that he “cherishes” women.

At a rally in New Hampshire this month, the Democratic frontrunner responded to Trump by stating: “If it’s all the same to you, Mr Trump, I’d rather you stopped cherishing women and started respecting them.”