Ted Cruz ended his performance at Thursday's night's debate, at which he was one of the clear winners, by pitching not a policy but an action movie: 13 Hours — Michael Bay's Hollywood retelling of the real-life 2012 Benghazi attacks.
13 Hours. Tomorrow morning, a new movie will debut about the incredible bravery of the men fighting for their lives in Benghazi and the politicians that abandoned them.
Cruz is correct that the movie portrays politicians as "abandoning" the Americans in Benghazi. But in reality, that is a conspiracy theory that has been roundly debunked.
This moment, Cruz citing a fictitious movie as truth, was of a piece with the debate as a whole. In it, much of conversation about world affairs existed in a make-believe world, and a terrifying one at that, in which the very existence of America is in perilous danger. In other words, it wasn't just Ted Cruz who was living in a fiction last night — it was the entire stage.
ISIS poses an existential threat ... except it doesn't
A major theme of last night's debate was that ISIS, and "radical Islamic terrorists" in general, are not merely dangerous but actually pose a fundamental threat to America. When moderator Maria Bartiromo asked Marco Rubio about President Obama's claim that ISIS wasn't a threat to America's existence, Rubio framed the issue in apocalyptic terms:
There is a war against ISIS, not just against ISIS but against radical jihadist terrorists. That is a war they win or we win.
It's not totally clear what Rubio means about ISIS winning the war against America. Is he alluding to ISIS's plan to establish a global caliphate? Does he think the strongest military in history is on the verge of crumbling before a few thousand fighters based half a world away?
"The simple fact," Jeb Bush said, "is the world has been torn asunder," citing ISIS as an example:
The president talks about [ISIS] being a JV team. They form a caliphate the size of Indiana with 35 or 40 thousand battle-tested terrorists. He is missing the point. America's leadership in the world is required for peace and stability.
Even Bartiromo, the moderator, got in on it. "We know that recent global events have many people worried," she said. "ISIS is getting stronger."
In reality, ISIS is getting weaker; for example, it has lost large chunks of its territory, especially in Iraq. There is just no evidence that the group is gaining strength.
Still, it is of course true that ISIS's threat is real, and Americans are right to worry. But the candidates, and, indeed, the moderator, exaggerated that threat so far beyond reality it is hardly recognizable. The San Bernardino attacks, for example, killed 14 Americans — which is a real danger that needs to be taken seriously, but not exactly the existential threat or imminent American defeat that the candidates portrayed.
It's worth, just for a bit of perspective, comparing terrorism deaths in the United States with firearm deaths, a threat that the Republican candidates generally downplay:
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http://www.vox.com/2016/1/15/10776398/republican-debate-2016-charleston-world
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