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Donald J. Trump arrived at the second Republican presidential debate dominating the field but facing a critical question: Would he use the moment to move beyond attention-grabbing theatrics and present himself as a candidate many voters could envision as the party’s nominee — not to mention as president of the United States?

But as became clear within minutes, there would be no new Mr. Trump taking the stage at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on Wednesday night. Rather than ignore prodding from his opponents — which is what a more traditional candidate who found himself ahead in almost every state and national poll might do — Mr. Trump not only went on the attack, but even focused his attention on candidates like Rand Paul who polls suggest is anything but a threat to him, and George E. Pataki, whose standing is so low he was not even on the same stage but was relegated to a debate earlier in the evening.

More than that, Mr. Trump did not use this debate to move far beyond the familiar and reliably popular lines on issues like deporting illegal immigrants that have become the stock in trade of his rallies. For nearly 30 minutes, not long after the debate began, this most colorful of candidates faded to the sidelines as his rivals debated in detail issues like Syria and how to deal with Vladimir V. Putin, the Russian president, subjects that Mr. Trump appeared to struggle with when the questions came to him.

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Highlights from the G.O.P. Debate

“I would talk to him, I would get along with him,” Mr. Trump said when pressed to explain how he would deal with Mr. Putin on Syria.

In contrast to the first debate on Aug. 6, held in a Cleveland arena filled with cheering supporters, the audience of mostly California Republicans at the Reagan Library sat silently for much of the time when Mr. Trump spoke or offered the pledges, such as to build a wall along the Mexican border, that have earned him cheers elsewhere.

They also applauded loudly when Carly Fiorina, a former California corporate executive, chastised Mr. Trump for making critical remarks about her looks recently: “I think women all over this country heard what Mr. Trump said,” she said sharply.

When Mr. Trump’s moment came, he responded only by saying, “I think she’s got a beautiful face.”

Photo
News Analysis: A New Stage but a Familiar Donald Trump: The Brawler
The field for the Republican presidential debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. A poll this week found Donald J. Trump at the head of that field.Credit Max Whittaker for The New York Times

While he offered some hints of what a Trump presidency could be like — suggesting that he would use his business acumen to help the country in its economic and foreign policy struggles — he added little to the bare policy bones of his presidential campaign to date.

By the end of the night, it was the familiar image of Mr. Trump as the jaunty brawler, and even bully, that was likely to again be the takeaway.

With his successes up till now, Mr. Trump has demonstrated that he could go far without playing by the rules that have governed past presidential contests; indeed, that is part of his appeal. And there are not many people in politics who have the self-discipline to resist the repeated goading Mr. Trump encountered from the Republicans with whom he shared the stage for almost three hours.

Mr. Trump is hardly the first candidate to run as the outsider promising wholesale change, the populist truth teller willing to take on the special interests. He may be able to use that appeal to gain the nomination in a crowded Republican field, but as he no doubt realizes, he will need to broaden his appeal to win the White House. This is not an easy threshold to clear, as other populist candidates, including Howard Dean, Patrick J. Buchanan and Ross Perot, have shown.

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By any measure, Mr. Trump is in a far different, and better, position in this race than when the Republicans met for their first debate. A New York Times/CBS News poll released this week found not only that Mr. Trump was at the head of the field — reflecting other polls that have shown him in a similar position nationally, as well as in New Hampshire and Iowa — but also that an increasing number of Republicans think he would be their strongest nominee.

Candidates in that position, as a rule, are generally advised to ignore their opponents in debates like this, rather than giving them attention, and to move forward, rather than shoot backward.

“What we used to tell Mitt in 2012 was focus on Obama,” said Eric Fehrnstrom, who served as a senior adviser to Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential nominee in 2012. “Don’t worry about answering all the criticism that you are going to hear from the Republican opponent. Try to rise above the field and train your focus on the person you think is going to be the Democratic nominee.”

Mr. Trump, he said, should do the same thing: “At some point, people are going to want to know that he is growing, that he is learning something from this campaign.”

Continue reading the main storyNews Analysis: A New Stage but a Familiar Donald Trump: The Brawler

Who Is Running for President?

The issue now is whether other Republicans are ready to step in if Mr. Trump’s candidacy plateaus or begins to fade. Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida who has long been viewed as the most likely establishment alternative to Mr. Trump, picked up energy as the night went on, drawing rounds of applause after Mr. Trump appeared to find fault with the record of his brother, George W. Bush.

“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,” Mr. Trump said, gazing at Mr. Bush, who stood at his side.

Jeb Bush returned Mr. Trump’s glare. “As it relates to my brother, there’s one thing I know for sure: He kept us safe,” he said. If the traditional rules of politics apply, the campaign is moving into a new phase with the arrival of fall, a time when voters pay more attention and give more serious consideration to whom they want as their nominee, and as president, adding to the debate’s potential import. For all that, after his summerlong defiance of all expectations, there is a credible argument to be made that perhaps Mr. Trump should not change what he is doing for a while. Clearly, many people like and expect the insults, the brash language, the Don Rickles nature of Mr. Trump’s candidacy. If he gives that up, will he lose the appeal that brought him here today?

It is the belief — and the hope — of many Republicans who recoil from the idea of Mr. Trump as the nominee that winning the presidency requires a level of skill that he does not have, and that his supporters, when they begin listening carefully to what he says, and to the positions he takes and is forced to defend, will reconsider their views of him, or just stay home.

“Trump may be flying high now,” said Scott Reed, a Republican consultant. “But time is our friend.”

Still, Republicans have been saying that for the better part of three months now. As the campaign enters a new and more intense phase, the question is whether those hopes will be realized, or whether Mr. Trump will manage to outsmart his detractors yet again.

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