A bunch of petulant schoolchildren vying for attention. Pick me! Pick me! Talk about a lame pageant to coronate the biggest baddest asshole in the room (sorry not in the room); The Donald. His four indictments increase his lead in the polls and so will the last debate.
No one dared to say a negative word about the guy, cause they're scared shi-tless of his base which dominates the party.
If you think any of the alternatives are any better check out the most retweeted sound bite from the debate, Nicky Haley wrapping herself around the American flag and urging that we double down going balls deep into Ukraine. "A president needs to know the difference between good and evil". Give me a fricken break. She sounds like a character in a Marvel Comics flick.
I guess she missed all the fun we had in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria...blah blah blah. Of course, this time we're only facing a pansie with the 2nd largest nuclear arsenal on the planet. She's even scarier than Trump! Did I just say that!
Debate Takeaways: GOP Hopefuls Attack Each Other, Spare Trump
Republican White House front-runner skipped debate
By Alex Leary and John McCormick, WSJ
Updated Aug. 24, 2023 8:43 am ET
Eight Republican presidential hopefuls took part in a two-hour debate on Wednesday to seek a breakout moment with voters. WSJ’s Eliza Collins unpacks the key takeaways from the event.
MILWAUKEE—The large field of GOP presidential hopefuls gave Donald Trump what he wanted in their first debate: two hours of infighting and bickering and only brief criticism of the absent front-runner.
The two-hour debate was the first opportunity for those challenging Trump to make an impression before a large national audience and, more specifically, Republican primary voters. Trump holds a huge polling lead and skipped the debate for an alternative interview with host Tucker Carlson streamed on X, formerly known as Twitter. The also-rans had to decide how to treat what moderator Bret Baier of Fox described as the “elephant not in the room”—whether to embrace him or hammer him.
For his part, Trump largely ignored his challengers in the interview, focusing his criticism on President Biden and his record as if he were already engaged in the general election.
At the debate, Trump was barely mentioned in the first hour. And when he finally came up, his hold over his opponents was clear: Asked if they would support Trump even if he is convicted in any of the four criminal probes he faces, only two debaters, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, signaled that they wouldn’t.
When Christie said Trump’s alleged behavior couldn’t be overlooked, the crowd jumped in with lengthy booing.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis initially dodged a question about whether former Vice President Mike Pence did the right thing by resisting Trump’s pressure to hold up the certification of the 2020 election as rioters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“We need to end the weaponization of these federal agencies,” DeSantis said, alluding to the federal probes of Trump and echoing the former president’s contention they are politically motivated.
Trump faces two federal indictments—in Florida for allegedly mishandling presidential documents and in Washington for allegedly seeking to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 victory—as well as cases in Georgia and Manhattan. He has denied wrongdoing.
DeSantis later added, “Mike did his duty,” but asked: “Is this what we’re going to be focusing on?”
Former United Nations ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley took a more forceful tack. “We have to face the fact that Trump is the most disliked politician in America,” Haley said. “We can’t win a general election that way.”
Former President Donald Trump skipped the first GOP debate on Wednesday. Instead, he discussed a range of topics, including his legal troubles, GOP rivals, and Joe Biden, with Tucker Carlson in a pre-taped interview posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Ramaswamy emerged as Trump’s most vocal defender
Vivek Ramaswamy, the wealthy biotech company founder, heralded Trump as “the best president of the 21st century” and positioned himself as Trump’s heir as a truth-speaking nonpolitician. Throughout the event, he was the former president’s most vocal defender, and attracted criticism from many of the others, a sign of Ramaswamy’s recent rise in many polls. He often gave as good as he got, sparring at various times with Christie, Pence and Haley.
“For a long time, we have professional politicians in the Republican Party who have been running from something,” he said. “Now is our moment to start running to something.”
Ramaswamy took early hits over his lack of experience. Christie called him an amateur and mocked him for describing himself the same way as Barack Obama did back when he was a newcomer. Christie added that the smooth-talking 38-year-old sounded like the artificial-intelligence platform ChatGPT.
“I am the only person on this stage who isn’t bought and paid for,” Ramaswamy hit back. Toward the end of the debate, he made the case for a new generation of leaders.
Several candidates, including former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, attacked Vivek Ramaswamy over his lack of political experience at the first Republican primary debate. The entrepreneur offered some of his own zingers in response. Photo: Morry Gash/AP
Ramaswamy was also the only candidate who enthusiastically supported the end of U.S. funding for Ukraine in its war with Russia, saying the funds should be redirected to strengthening the southern U.S. border. He added that backing Kyiv is pushing Russia into China’s camp. That brought rebuttals from others who vocally supported the U.S. effort as a bulwark against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s dictatorial expansionism, most notably Haley who said: “You have no foreign policy experience, and it shows.”
DeSantis treads carefully around Trump
DeSantis, Trump’s closest opponent, had the most on the line Wednesday night and he largely stayed on message, getting across his talking points about reversing a nation in decline. But he sought to have it both ways on Trump, avoiding direct criticism of the former president.
“Republicans,” DeSantis said, “we’ve got to look forward.”
His campaign has stalled in recent months as it has dealt with layoffs, organizational changes and muddled messages that have shaken the confidence of some donors and supporters. Overall, DeSantis had a good debate, pressing his agenda. He likely won points from conservative viewers for rejecting the debate hosts’ call to raise their hands on whether human behavior is causing climate change.
“We’re not school children, let’s have the debate,” DeSantis said to applause.
DeSantis did criticize Trump at times—though not by name—including over his handling of Covid-19. He accused him of letting Anthony Fauci, the government’s longtime top infectious-disease expert, lead the way on lockdowns. Trump has accused DeSantis of hypocrisy given he followed that advice, at least initially, before bucking the trend and seeing a rapid increase in his national profile.
“I will never let the deep-state bureaucracy lock you down,” DeSantis said, adding to applause that he would have called in Fauci and said, “Anthony, you are fired.”
The governor entered the debate expecting to be a focus of attacks, a prospect his campaign played up in order to underscore his position in the race. But he went largely untouched and will likely keep that position, though he will surely be looking over his shoulder at an energized Ramaswamy.
Only Asa Hutchinson and Chris Christie, on the far left, kept their hands down, while the other debaters raised theirs to say they would support Donald Trump as the party’s presidential nominee if he is convicted.
Pence positions himself as Ronald Reagan’s heir
Pence had a strong night, forcefully injecting himself into the conversation, stressing that he followed his constitutional duty on Jan. 6, 2021. The audience didn’t always embrace it, but Pence was consistent in his message, which invoked Ronald Reagan and pre-Trump conservative values.
He defended some Trump administration achievements, particularly on the border, but separated himself repeatedly from his former boss, including on Ukraine.
He also repeated his campaign refrain that Trump asked him to ignore Pence’s oath to uphold the Constitution when the then-president pressured Pence to hold up the certification of Biden’s 2020 victory, drawing praise from Christie: “Mike Pence stood for the Constitution and deserves no grudging credit but our thanks as Americans.”
“Joe Biden has weakened this country at home and abroad,” Pence said, setting up an attack on Ramaswamy, a frequent foe during the debate. “Now is not the time for on-the-job training. We don’t need to bring in a rookie.”
Scott avoids the fray
Scott, who has been in third place in some national and early-state surveys, was a quiet presence most of the night and avoided jumping into most of the fights that the other candidates picked with each other. While he didn’t draw criticism from any of his opponents, he also didn’t score any memorable moments that could give him momentum—choosing mostly to stick to his usual campaign themes about his inspiring life story and his record in the Senate.
With Ramaswamy rising in surveys and monopolizing portions of the debate, Scott may now struggle to win much postdebate attention.
Trump on Tucker
Trump’s debate snub reflected what he said was a huge lead over the field. But he tried to grab attention with the interview with Carlson, musing about how unusual it is that an indicted politician would appear to gain support, rather than losing it, after becoming the target of so many investigations.
“I’m so high in the polls. People see it’s a fraud,” Trump said.
Trump called the probes a “witch hunt.”
He called Fulton County, Georgia, top prosecutor Fani Willis a “horrible district attorney.” He also offered a revisionist account of the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol, exaggerating the size of the crowd that he spoke to beforehand and then saying there was “love and unity” on display that day.
“I have never seen such spirit and such passion and such love,” Trump said.
GOP strategist Alex Conant summed up the night. “It was like a normal GOP debate in a world where Trump doesn’t exist. Except he does exist, and he’s winning by a lot.”
Former President Donald Trump is facing four separate indictments at both state and federal levels. WSJ breaks down each of the indictments and what they mean for his 2024 presidential campaign. Photo Illustration: Annie Zhao
Annie Linskey contributed to this article.
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