Sunday on CBS’s “Face The Nation,” Washington Post syndicated columnist Michael Gerson discussed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s first debate performance.

Gerson said, “The plus side is 24 million people tuned in saw four or five candidates they could actually win an election but Donald Trump was not one of them. On stage he didn’t even show a minimal knowledge of issues while calling everyone else stupid. So when you strip away all the bluster there’s more bluster underneath. I think that really disqualifies him as a candidate. But this is not typical season. He made the biggest threat of that night, the political threat, which is to run as a  third party. Which would be deeply destructive to Republican chances.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN