New NBC Post-Debate Poll: Luntz Hardest Hit kf’s Post-Debate Insta-Analysis: Holding up! Except that ¿¡Jeb!? seems to have been a much bigger loser than I’d thought. (But he’s taking the gloves off! Look out.) Trump did well. Walker lost ground mainly because the pack caught up to him .Always trust content from kausfiles. …

P.S.: Why did Trump do well? Take his five-part answer to Megyn Kelly’s (completely legitimate) you-use-sexist-language question: a) “Only Rosie O’Donnell.” Best laugh of the night; b) Truthfully admits OK, it wasn’t only Rosie O’Donnell; c) “[T]he big problem this country has is being politically correct.” Another winning line with GOPs, and maybe others; d) “[W]hat I say, and oftentimes it’s fun, it’s kidding.” So he’s not that big a jerk. This was basically Arnold Schwarzenegger’s winning formula in the key debate before he was elected governor. Schwarzenegger is at least as infamous a pig as Trump. …

If Roger Stone told Trump he’d lost this debate, Stone probably should have been fired. …

Maybe it was in part this false worry (that he hadn’t done well) that caused Trump to get personal in his distracting attacks on Kelly (including part (e) of his answer), which were almost certainly not helpful to him in the short run. (Trump may think they intimidate future interlocutors, which seems unlikely.) If you’re going to make it personal, why not go to the root cause and say “I’m sorry if Mr. Murdoch, who owns your network, doesn’t like my stand on immigration and would like to see me disappear. He has dinner with Valerie Jarrett and supports Obama’s and Senator Rubio’s amnesty bill.”

P.P.S.–Die Naterdammerung!  Josh Marshall doesn’t like Trump but admirably stood fast against the left’s massed Nates (Silver and Cohn) who thought Trump did himself in. The NYT‘s Cohn predicted Trump “probably won’t receive as much media attention coming out of the debate as he did in the weeks before.” Nailed it. … Cohn is clearly a smart and knowledgeable analyst. One day he’ll be right about something, which will further burnish his reputation. ….