MEDIA WATCH: Trump and Jerry Springer audience

WHO gets to become president of the United States, matters to the whole world, and media from China to Russia are following the campaigns for the candidate  nominations, mostly, not surprisingly focused  on the GOP.

Britain’’s The Week was not slow to join the fray

REPUBLICAN presidential frontrunner Donald Trump came under sustained attack from all sides during a raucous debate in Detroit Thursday night.

His main rivals, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, took turns to express the fears of senior party officials, who have said the businessman is a liability and should not receive the nomination.

“Cruz and Rubio, fighting for their political lives, relentlessly demeaned and denounced Trump,” says the New York Times. They ended up “all but pleading” with Republicans to reconsider nominating him.

The mood of the debate was soured at times by interjections and heckling from an alcohol-fuelled audience. “Booze is flowing, there’s quite a bit of yelling,” reported The Guardian‘s Jeb Lund. “This is basically a Springer audience at this point,” he added, referring to US television’s controversial The Jerry Springer Show.

Among the barbs, Trump, who repeatedly spoke over his rivals, was told by Cruz: “You’ve got to learn not to interrupt. Count to ten, Donald. Count to ten.”

At one point, the businessman even found himself defending his manhood. “[Rubio] referred to my hands – ‘If they’re small, something else must be small.’ I guarantee you there’s no problem. I guarantee,” said Trump, who has nicknamed the Florida senator “Little Marco”.

Nevertheless, all Trump’s rivals said they would support him if he won the party’s nomination.

Just hours earlier, Trump’s candidacy came in for another assault, this time from the 2012 Republican nominee, Mitt Romney.

“Here’s what I know: Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud,” he said. “His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University.”

He added that the businessman had neither “the temperament nor the judgment to be president”.

In retaliation, Trump called Romney a “failed candidate” who had “begged” him for an endorsement in his 2012 campaign.