Three presidential candidates faced questions from voters and moderator Anderson Cooper Thursday evening, Feb. 18, 2016, inside the USC School of Law auditorium at a town hall hosted by CNN. The event came as all three candidates — Donald Trump, Jeb Bush and John Kasich — are making their final push on the campaign trail before Saturday's Republican presidential primary here in South Carolina.
First up was Ohio Governor John Kasich, who has made community involvement and compassion hallmarks of his campaign. Kasich argued that voters need to come together. “The glue of America is right here in this room,” he said. “It’s in our communities, in our families.”
Former Florida governor Jeb Bush had some backup in the audience as he took the stage — his mother, former first lady Barbara Bush. “My mother is a superstar,” he said. “People just love her dearly, and I do too.”
Third-year political science student Will McCutchen raised the topic of marijuana to Bush. “I’ve watched several friends … people who were like brothers to me become frequent users of the drug,” he said. “Become unable to do just basic functions like sleeping and eating without smoking beforehand.”
“This is not some idle kind of conversation,” Bush said of marijuana addiction and abuse. “This is a serious problem.” He went on to tout his wife’s work in Florida on drug prevention campaigns.
Bush closed by talking about his leadership style. “In my experience, listening allows you to learn and then you have a chance to lead,” he said, “rather than being a big blowhard and just talking all the time.”
Last to take the stage was businessman Donald Trump, who dominated the headlines yet again on Thursday with a response to Pope Francis.
The pope had criticized Trump’s immigration stance as not being in keeping with Christian teachings. “He also talked about having a wall is not Christian,” Trump said. “He’s got an awfully big wall at the Vatican."
Read the full version of this article, published in 2016.”