Donald Trump is...

...a bully, right? (I don't even think the Donald would disagree with that.)

So how do you deal with a bully? Or, should I ask, how do the other Republican candidates in tonight's debate deal with a bully?

Personally, I have no idea. (And I'm glad I'm not on that stage with him tonight.) But, really, Republicans need to be asking themselves that question. And I don't think the answer is a million dollars worth of advertising by the Club for Growth. (Or the Club for Greed, as Mike Huckabee calls it.)

From Bloomberg today:

Javier Palomarez, president and chief executive officer of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, said Republican voters “will come to their senses.”

And I agree. We all agree. But . . . how long will that take?

Joe McCarthy, another famous Republican bully, began his reign of terror in February, 1950, and didn't get taken down until almost four and a half years later, in June, 1954. Now in this day and age of the Internet and the 24-hour news cycle, it shouldn't take that long, should it?

The Iowa Caucuses are scheduled for Monday, February 1. That means the Republican Party establishment has less than five months to figure this problem out. Tonight will be their first chance. I'll be watching.