A Republican primary race that has for months alternated between spectacle and abomination has over the past 20th hours ignited into a raging, full-blown dumpster fire. One stoke by a group of men who hope to become the most powerful person in the world.

The idea of a celebrity endorsing a presidential candidate is nothing new, but the full-throated endorsement for Senator Bernie Sanders from one of the country`s biggest hip hop stars had surprised some political observers.

Donald Trump said it was his idea for [Sarah] Palin to bring up her son at the rally.

I`ve seen all this tussling about what is [Donald] Trump ideologically and Jim Carney said he`s a liberal and people saying, look, he`s winning moderates. Chris Christie is an example of this.

The [Hillary] Clinton campaign posted a pretty clever online quiz that makes a similar point with the Republican presidential field. Who said it? Donald Trump or not Donald Trump? For example, quote, "I mean you can prove you are a Christian. You can`t prove it, then you err on the side of caution." That was not Donald Trump. It was this guy, who strongly denounced Trump`s proposed Muslim ban but supports a religious test for refugees.

It`s the nature of cable news that we [TV hosts] do a lot of clipping and quoting of other broadcasts and outlets, sometimes to make a narrative point, sometimes to make a political one, and sometimes just to make a joke.

Something changed between the two men, namely [Donald ] Trump started slinging mud on Twitter about [Ted] Cruz`s wife, Heidi, including a mean comparing her looks unfavourably to his own.