Closing summary
The first debate of the Republican presidential primary season kicked off in Milwaukee, but the star of the show, Donald Trump, opted not to attend. He instead sat for a prerecorded interview with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson that was posted to Twitter (recently renamed X) right as the Fox News-hosted debate began. On stage, the eight GOP candidates vying to overtake the ex-president in the polls, including Florida governor Ron DeSantis, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former vice-president Mike Pence, made promises and pledges, while also engaging in a fair bit of bickering.
Here are the highlights:
Polls have recently shown a burst of support for Ramaswamy, even though he’s never won an election. On the debate stage, he was savaged by the crowd of veteran politicians, with Chris Christie comparing him to an AI, and Pence calling him a “rookie”.
Abortion divided the GOP candidates, with some arguing the issue should be left up to the states to deal with.
Almost every candidate at the debate said they would support Trump if he was the nominee, even if he was convicted of a crime. The only one who declined was Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson. The Republican National Committee, however, had already made all who qualified for the debate sign a pledge to support the eventual nominee.
Ramaswamy stridently argued against providing more military aide to Ukraine, sparking an argument with Pence and an admonishment from the moderators.
DeSantis is polling in second place to Trump, but was surprisingly muted at the debate. When it came time to discuss border security, he piped up, vowing to leave drug traffickers “stone cold dead”.
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Donald Trump Jr compared Fox News to the Fulton county district attorney after he was blocked by security from entering the post-debate “spin room”.
Don Jr and fiancee Kimberly Guilfoyle were moving through press room when a burly security guard blocked their path and told them to go no further. “So Fox is not letting us into the rest of the room, just so we’re clear,” he told reporters, his voice trembling with emotion. “So Fox is functioning like the Fulton county DA right now, trying to ban people from actually having discourse about politics.”
Guilfoyle added: “How un-American.”
Don Jr, who has not appeared on Fox News for a year, continued: “Probably shouldn’t surprise any of us, but that’s what it is, and I’ve been told by others that I would be able to go in … They’re telling me right now, Fox won’t let me into the spin room.”
He added: “I’’m not allowed to go in there because the candidates that they’ve been boosting while simultaneously trying to cut down Trump for the last two years didn’t perform as they had hoped. So they can’t have someone who can maybe be a representative of my father.”
Don Jr talked to reporters in the main press area instead and defended his father’s decision to skip the debate. “If you’re a political strategist and if you have a brain, if you have a 60-point lead dominating a field, you don’t go into a setup.”
Don Jr rated Vivek Ramaswamy as the winner of the debate and claimed that Ron DeSantis had the worst night. “He sat there like a wallflower, basically got ambushed on all sides and everything that he said that actually got some applause was literally already Trump policy.
“‘We use the military to fight the cartels. It’s a threat to our nation.’ That’s Trump policy. ‘Our nation is in decline, our nation’s in decline, our nation’s in decline’ – literally from the Trump campaign website. He’s not capable of those original thoughts so he takes an idea that works and tries to make it his own. But I didn’t see a single idea, and again, I didn’t see him prosecute the case of how he’s going to beat Joe Biden.”
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Protesters gathered in Milwaukee as the Republican primary debate was held. Here are some of the latest images from the newswires:
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Trump scorns GOP candidates who broke with him
He may have declined to participate, but Donald Trump was clearly watching tonight’s Republican debate.
The former president is unloading on candidates who criticized him over on his Truth Social account, including Mike Pence:
I never asked Mike Pence to put me above the Constitution. Who would say such a thing? A FAKE STORY!
Chris Christie:
Chris Christie was horrible tonight. He was booed at a level never seen before at such a debate. He should have walked off the stage - Nobody wanted to hear from him! DJT
And Asa Hutchinson, whose name he has taken to mispronouncing:
‘Aida’ was a joke tonight. He’s over!
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Harris attacks 'extremist agenda' as GOP debate wraps up
Tonight’s Republican presidential primary debate has ended, and Kamala Harris has released a statement warning against the “extremist agenda” she said was on display:
No one on stage ‘won’ tonight’s debate. Instead, the American people heard how much they stand to lose from an extremist agenda.
One by one, each extremist Republican candidate laid out a vision for an America that is less fair, less free and less safe. These candidates want to raise costs for working families in order to benefit special interests and the ultra-wealthy. To gut social security and Medicare. To strip fundamental rights and basic freedoms from millions of people. And to reverse the Bidenomics strategy that has helped create 13m jobs, the strongest two years of small business creation in history, and record-low unemployment.
These extremists focus on unnecessary debates meant to divide our nation in hopes that the American public will not notice they have no affirmative agenda.
Back in Milwaukee, photos from the newswires indicate that the atmosphere onstage was more chummy than it appeared during commercial breaks.
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DeSantis: 'We will reverse the decline of this country'
“This is our time for choosing. We will send Joe Biden back to his basement and we will reverse the decline of this country,” Ron DeSantis promised, referencing the now president’s habit of spending a lot of time at home during the 2020 campaign, when Covid-19 was rife (Biden won nonetheless).
DeSantis continued:
I’m a blue-collar kid. I work minimum wage jobs to be able to make ends meet. I understand the importance of the American dream. And I know how that slipped away from so many millions of Americans. We’ll restore it.
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Vivek Ramaswamy: 'This is our moment to revive common ideals'
In his closing argument, Vivek Ramaswamy essentially repudiates his fellow millennials.
“I was born in 1985 and I grew up into a generation where we were taught to celebrate our diversity and our differences and so much, that we forgot all of the ways we are really just the same as Americans, bound by a common set of ideals that set this nation into motion in 1776. And this is our moment to revive those common ideals.”
Said ideals:
God is real. There are two genders. Fossil fuels are a requirements for human prosperity. Reverse racism is racism. An open border is not a border. Parents determined the education of their children. That nuclear family is the greatest form of governance known to man. Capitalism lifts us up from poverty. There are three branches of government, not four. And the US constitution, it is strongest guarantor of freedom in human history.
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Mike Pence: 'Different times call for different leadership'
Mike Pence is in an awkward situation. He’s trying to campaign on his accomplishments while serving under Donald Trump, but has also made clear he is no ally of his former boss.
He attempted to thread that difficult needle in his closing statement.
“Different times call for different leadership. The Republican party owes the American people the choice, proven leadership at the national level that knows how to move a conservative agenda forward. We proved in the Trump-Pence years you can turn this country around faster than you can imagine. And I have faith we will again because I have faith in the American people.”
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Haley: 'I will beat Joe Biden and he knows that'
In her closing argument, Nikki Haley talked about her husband’s latest military deployment, and promised to do … lots of things.
“I will beat Joe Biden and he knows that. I will strengthen our economy and we’ll bring this inflation down. We will put transparency in the classroom. We will secure our borders, we will have the backs of our law enforcement and we will make sure we have a strong national security. And once again, we will make sure we have an America that is strong and proud,” Haley said.
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Chris Christie: 'I'm only one who has ever beaten Democratic incumbent'
Chris Christie is from Democratic New Jersey, and argued that his ability to win the governor’s office twice makes him the right man to beat Joe Biden.
“I’m the only one on this stage who has ever beaten the Democratic incumbent in election. I did it in a deep-blue state, being outspent three to one,” Christie said. “Beating a Democratic incumbent is not easy. The last Democratic incumbent president who was defeated was Jimmy Carter, and he was defeated by a conservative governor from a blue state who knew how to get results, who stood for the truth, who cared about accountability, and stood strong and hard against waste. Those are the very things that I did in my eight years as governor of New Jersey, and exactly what I’ll do as president of the United States.”
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Tim Scott: 'If you're able-bodied in America, you work'
As he did when he kicked of his campaign in May, Tim Scott mixed reminiscence about his mother with rightwing messaging.
“I had the good fortune to have a mom who worked 16-hour days, making sure we had food on our tables. She taught me that if you’re able-bodied in America, you work, if you take out a loan, you pay it back, you commit a violent crime, you go to jail. And if God made you a man, you play sports against men,” the South Carolina senator said.
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Hutchinson closing statement: 'New leadership that can bring bold ideas'
Asa Hutchinson asked voters to say no to Joe Biden, and also to Donald Trump.
“Our nation is in trouble. It is in trouble because of failed leadership. And the solution is not four more years of Joseph Biden. The solution is not full more years of Donald Trump. The solution is new leadership that can bring bold ideas to America and to bring out the best of America,” he said.
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Now we’re on to the closing arguments part of the debate, where candidates get to make their case without anybody interrupting them (a dynamic Vivek Ramaswamy, Mike Pence and Chris Christie all probably appreciate).
First up is Doug Burgum, who invoked the plains of his home state in promising to make Americans’ lives better:
When I’m on a horseback in the badlands of North Dakota, it looks like the horizon is just limitless. And when you can almost see beyond that horizon, you can see that this great country, our future is unlimited, but we’ve got to focus on innovation, not regulation. We’ve got to cut the red tape, we got to drive ourselves forward. The way we win the cold war with China is by growing our economy through innovation, and as [resident, I will bring out the best of America, I will improve every American life.
Ramaswamy blames single mothers for education struggles
American students are struggling to recover from the school closures and shift to remote learning Covid-19 caused, creating what some consider an “education crisis”. The Republican candidates were asked how they’d solve it, and Vivek Ramaswamy, who supports dismantling the education department and other parts of the federal government, said unmarried mothers were partially to blame.
“Part of the problem is we also have a federal government that pays single women more not to have a man in the house than to have a man in the house, contributing to an epidemic of fatherlessness. And I think that goes hand in glove with the education crisis as well because, we have to remember, education starts with the family and the nuclear family is the greatest form of governance known to mankind,” the entrepreneur said.
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GOP candidates acknowledge climate change, but don't want to talk about it
Unlike in recent election cycles, when Republican candidates tended to completely reject the realities of global heating, most of the GOP presidential hopefuls (except Vivek Ramaswamy) have at some point acknowledged that the climate crisis is real.
But almost all the candidates have indicated they’re not interested in dwelling on the topic – or doing much to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or the use of fossil fuels.
Ron DeSantis immediately derailed efforts to elicit a clear yes or no response from candidates on whether they believe in human-caused climate change. He said “let’s have the debate” before proceeding not to have the debate.
Ramaswamy was notably the only candidate to full-throatedly deny climate science, making the unsubstantiated claim that “more people are dying a bad climate change policies than they are of actual climate change.”
Nikki Haley, on the other hand said “climate change is real” but then pushed off all responsibility to take care of it on India and China. Both those countries have lower per-capita carbon emissions than the US. And as of the latest figures, from 2021, no country had emitted more carbon dioxide since 1850 than the United States.
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About halfway through the debate, candidates were asked whether they believe then vice-president Mike Pence did the right thing on January 6, when he refused Trump’s efforts to sabotage the counting of electoral votes.
Most candidates resoundingly supported Pence’s actions following the insurrection at the Capitol. “Absolutely he did the right thing,” the South Carolina senator Tim Scott said. Nikki Haley agreed. “I do think Mike Pence did the right thing and I think we need to give him credit for it,” she said.
But Florida Governor Ron DeSantis avoided the question, instead choosing to rail on the “weaponization” of federal agencies under the Biden administration. “This election is not about January 6, 2021,” he said, adding that it’s about January 2025, when the next president will take office.
Pressed by moderators to answer the question, DeSantis said: “Mike did his duty. I have no beef with him.”
Christie called out the Florida governor’s lackluster support. “Mike Pence stood for the constitution and he deserves not grudging credit,” he said. “He deserves our thanks as Americans for putting the constitution above personal and political pressure.”
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DeSantis promises to leave drug traffickers 'stone cold dead'
Ron DeSantis has surprisingly hung back and stayed out of the fray during much of this debate, but jumped at the opportunity to articulate a vision of a militarized border with Mexico – repeatedly endorsing the use of “lethal force” to slow irregular migration.
“I’m not gonna send troops to Ukraine, but I am gonna send them to our southern border,” said the Florida governor. “When these drug pushers are bringing fentanyl across the border, that’s going to be the last thing they do. We’re going to use force and we’re going to leave them stone cold dead.”
Donald Trump wrapped up his interview with Tucker Carlson by warning of the threat of conflict in the US after saying that he expects the Democrats to steal the 2024 election from him.
The former president also described the crowd that stormed the Capitol on 6 January 2021 as full of “love and unity” while appearing to justify the violence as the result of legitimate grievance.
Asked by Carlson if he thinks the country is headed to “civl war” and “open conflict”, Trump said he didn’t know but then added: “I can say this. There’s a level of passion that I’ve never seen. There’s a level of hatred, that I’ve never seen and that’s probably a bad combination.”
Carlson responded: “That is a bad combination.”
The remarks came after Trump defended the crowd that gathered to hear him speak on January 6. Trump suggested that he told the protestors to behave “peacefully and patriotically” but “a very small group” went to the Capitol.
“People in that crowd said it was the most beautiful day they’ve ever experienced. There was love in that crowd, and unity. I have never seen such spirit and such passion and such love. And I’ve also never seen simultaneously, and from the same people, such hatred of what they’ve done to our country,” he said.
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Here are some scenes from Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, site of tonight’s Republican presidential debate:
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Nikki Haley took possibly her strongest stance of the night in her rebuttal of Vivek Ramaswamy’s views on the Ukraine war.
“The American president needs to have moral clarity,” she said. “When you look at the situation with Russia and Ukraine here you have a pro-American country that was invaded by a thug.”
She pointed out that “less than 3.5% of our defense budget was given to Ukraine” and said the threat of Russia aligning further with China was a bigger threat than protecting the US defense budget.
She directly addressed Ramaswamy: “He wants to hand Ukraine to Russia … you don’t do that to friends.”
“Look at what Putin did today – he killed Prigozhin,” she said. “You are choosing a murderer over a pro-American country.”
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Pence, Ramaswamy squabble over Ukraine
Mike Pence is a career politician who has made it all the way to the vice-president’s office, while Vivek Ramaswamy has never been elected to anything. Nonetheless, their rivalry is among the most heated on the debate stage, and they engaged in a disagreement over aid to Ukraine.
Asked if he would support an increase in funding to Ukraine, Ramaswamy replied: “I would not, and I think that this is disastrous, protecting against an invasion across somebody else’s border when we should use those same military resources to prevent across the invasion of our own southern border here in the United States.”
Pence hit back. “Let me be clear, anybody that thinks we can’t solve the problems here in the United States, and be the leader of the free world has a pretty small view of the greatest nation on Earth. We can do both,” he said. Addressing the entrepreneur: “But, Vivek, if we do the giveaway that you want to give to Putin, to give him his land, it’s not going to be too long before he rolls across a Nato border. And frankly, our men and women of our armed forces are going to have to go and fight him.”
Then there was lots of cross-talk between the two men, who are one spot away from each other on the debate stage, and the moderators had to step in.
“Hear this bell? That means your time’s done,” said Bret Baier, pointing to a bell the moderators have been using to cut off the speakers. “So, Mr Vice-President, we appreciate your aggressiveness here.”
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Tonight’s debate is not just being watched on televisions across the US: the venue itself, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has attracted an august audience of political heavyweights, surrogates, reporters, observers, strategists, advisers, pollsters … and Nigel Farage.
Earlier, in his role as a host on GB News – sort of a British equivalent to Fox News, the host of tonight’s debate – the former leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (Ukip) and the Brexit Party offered a few thoughts.
One, with video of an interview with a Trump ally in the US House: “Congressman Byron Donalds is very impressive. One to watch.”
Another, in video of a conversation with a Trump adviser, Jason Miller: “Donald Trump sometimes will take your advice and other other times I’ve no doubt he’ll tell you your fortune, because that’s the way he is with people.”
Up to a point, Farage would know.
Our Andrew Anthony has some thoughts on Farage, and particularly the rumbling scandal over where he was allowed to have a bank account, which led to the resignation of the chief executive of NatWest:
Asked why he did not raise his hand when asked to do so if he will support Donald Trump as the party’s hypothetical nominee – even if he is convicted – the former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson said the Republican party needed to take a look in the mirror.
“I did not raise my hand because there’s an important issue we as a party have to face,” Hutchinson said.
He continued:
Well over a year ago, I said that Donald Trump was morally disqualified from being president again as a result of what happened on January 6. More people are understanding the importance of that, including conservative legal scholars who says he may be disqualified under the 14th amendment from being president again, as a result of the insurrection. This is something that could disqualify him under our rules, and under the constitution. And so obviously, I’m not going to support somebody who’s been convicted of a serious felony, or who has (been disqualified) under our constitution, and that’s consistent with our RNC rules, and I hope everybody would agree with that.
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Tim Scott turned a question about January 6 into an attack on the Department of Justice, claiming that the agency was being weaponized under attorney general Merrick Garland.
“We need lady justice to wear a blindfold,” he said, citing a figure that only 17% of Americans have confidence in the department. His comments come as House Republicans and others have made strategic attacks on the Justice Department as it continues to investigate January 6, Donald Trump and Hunter Biden.
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Here’s the moment the Republican candidates were asked to raise their hands if they would support Donald Trump as the party’s nominee, even if he was convicted in one of the trials he is facing:
Asked directly at the debate if they’d support Donald Trump if he is convicted of a felony, 6 out of 8 Republican presidential candidates raise their hand. pic.twitter.com/GbciS9sF6f
— The Recount (@therecount) August 24, 2023
Donald Trump has told Tucker Carlson that he is concerned his opponents will try to kill him in a rambling interview packed with conspiracy theories from whether Jeffrey Epstein was murdered to accusations that federal agencies are limiting the amount of water in washing machines.
Carlson asked Trump whether he was concerned that “the left”, after impeaching and then indicting him, would try and kill him.
“They’re savage animals. They are people that are sick, really sick,” said Trump. “You have great people that are Democrats. Most of the people in our country are fantastic. And I’m representing everybody … But I’ve seen what they do.”
Trump took aim at his former attorney general Bill Barr. Carlson suggested to Trump that Barr had covered up the murder of the billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in a New York jail.
The former president didn’t bite, saying he thought Epstein had probably killed himself but he took the opportunity to take a shot at Barr, accusing him of failing to properly investigate Trump’s false allegations that he 2020 election was rigged.
“Barr became so petrified, so frightened of being impeached,” he said. “They play a much rougher game, the left, the lunatics, and they were going to impeach Bill Barr and he was petrified.”
That said, the Republican party has made participating in this debate conditional on the candidates supporting the party’s eventual nominee.
That may be why Chris Christie raised his hand when asked if he would support Donald Trump, even if he is convicted. Asa Hutchinson did not raise his hand, tacitly violating that deal.
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One of the more surprising candidates to raise their hands was Chris Christie, who from the start of the campaign has been a Donald Trump critic.
But, when asked to elaborate on why he would still support Trump, Christie made clear he was not happy to do it. “Someone’s got to stop normalizing this conduct, okay. Whether or not you believe that the criminal charges are right or wrong, the conduct is beneath the office of president of the United States.”
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Almost all GOP candidates would support Trump as nominee, even if convicted
After a commercial break, the debate continued with the moderator Bret Baier asking the candidates to raise their hands if they would support Donald Trump as the party’s presidential nominee, even if he is convicted in one of the criminal cases he is facing.
All candidates raised their hands, with the exception of the former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson. Chris Christie retracted his hand a moment after raising it and clarified that he was not really raising it.
Christie has deliberately positioned himself as the anti-Trump, almost the only Republican in a crowded field willing to directly take on and criticize the four-times-indicted frontrunner – despite being a former friend and ally.
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The debate then turned to crime – an animating issue for American voters, but one that mayors and city councilmembers, not presidents and members of Congress, are best positioned to address.
Nonetheless, the Republican candidates weighed in on what they would do to tamp down on crime, which rose from historic lows nationwide after Covid-19 broke out in 2020.
Mike Pence took on the politics of crime question with the usual Republican line. He said Democrats were focused on defunding police instead of making major cities safer. “Democrats and liberal prosecutors continue to work out their fanciful agendas,” he said, and “what we need is strong commitment to law enforcement”. He then used the question as a reason to talk about tax cuts passed by the Trump administration.
Vivek Ramaswamy focused on worsening mental health, calling to bring back mental health institutions, and then parroted a new rightwing focus on attacking psychiatric medications. “It’s not just drugging up people in those psychiatric institutions with Zoloft and Serequil,” he said, adding “The reason we have that mental health epidemic is people are so hungry for purpose and meaning.” He said as president he would offer a “tonal reset”.
Ron DeSantis pointed to his record as Florida governor, saying crime was at a record low in the state, and then attacking progressive prosecutors for making communities elsewhere more dangerous. “One of the biggest reasons is because you have George Soros funding these radical leftwing district attorneys that get into office and they say they’re not going to prosecute crimes they disagree with. The inmates are running the asylum!”
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GOP candidates split on federal abortion ban
Prompted for their thoughts on abortion, the Republican candidates differed over whether states should decide to restrict the procedure, or if they would push for a federal ban.
“What is going tor work in New York is never going to work in North Dakota and vice versa,” said Doug Burgum, who as governor of North Dakota signed a strict abortion ban.
The former UN ambassador Nikki Haley took a similar tack. “When it comes to a federal ban, let’s be honest with the American people ... let’s find consensus. Can’t we all agree we should ban late term abortions? … Let’s treat this like the respectful issue that it is.”
Ron DeSantis was vague, telling the story of “a lady in Florida named Penny. She survived multiple abortion attempts. She was left discarded in a pan. Fortunately, her grandmother saved her and brought her to a different hospital.”
“I’m gonna stand on the side of life. Look, I understand Wisconsin is going to do it different than Texas. I understand Iowa and New Hampshire are going to do different, but I will support the cause of life as governor and as president,” DeSantis said.
Mike Pence is one of the few candidates who from the start of his campaign called for a national ban, and repeated that tonight. “I’ve been a champion for life in Congress, a champion for life as governor and as vice-president,” he said. “It’s not a state’s only issue, it’s a moral issue to accomplish.”
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Christie lays into Ramaswamy, saying he 'sounds like ChatGPT'
The former New Jersey governor Chris Christie is known for his sharp tongue, and on the debate stage he turned it loose on Vivek Ramaswamy.
He compared the first-time candidate, who is performing decently in the polls, to the former Democratic president Barack Obama – and not in a good way:
Chris Christie slams Vivek Ramaswamy at the GOP presidential debate: “I've have had enough already tonight of a guy who sounds like ChatGPT.”
— The Recount (@therecount) August 24, 2023
Christie also calls Ramaswamy "the same type of amateur" as Barack Obama. pic.twitter.com/OlgD9Yqvvz
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Responding to a video-recorded question from a young voter, the Republican candidates were asked to raise their hand if they believed humans were causing climate change.
It looked to be an awkward moment for the politicians, who belong to a party where many outright deny the scientific consensus that humans have caused the Earth’s temperature to increase. Then, the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, came to the rescue, as you can see in the clip below:
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) interrupts a hand-raise question at the GOP debate about whether the field of candidates acknowledges the existence of human-caused climate change, redirecting to criticism of President Biden:
— The Recount (@therecount) August 24, 2023
“We’re not schoolchildren, let’s have the debate.” pic.twitter.com/ZoXjs3WeTS
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Ramaswamy: 'drill, frack, burn coal and embrace nuclear'
Fox News’s two debate moderators, Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier, kicked off with questions about how the Republican candidates will improve the economy, which provoked a spat between the former vice-president Mike Pence and Vivek Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur who has never held elected office.
“You’ve got people on this stage that won’t even talk about issues like social security and Medicare,” Pence said, then singled out Ramaswamy. “Vivek, you recently said, a president can’t do everything. Well, I’ve got news for you, Vivek, I’ve been in the hallway, I’ve been in the West Wing and the president of the United States has to confront every crisis facing America.”
“This isn’t that complicated guys. Unlock American energy, drill, frack, burn coal and embrace nuclear,” Ramaswamy responded, as he embarked on a recitation of his economic policies. “I’m not sure I exactly understood Mike Pence’s comment … but for me, it’s pretty simple. That’s something that US president can do,” he said.
But the spat was not over. Pence went after Ramaswamy again: “Joe Biden has weakened this country at home and abroad. Now is not the time for on the job training. We don’t need to bring in a rookie.”
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Ahead of the debate, Democratic leaders used the event as an opportunity to remind voters of the Republican Party’s rightward shift since Donald Trump’s time in the White House.
At a press conference this afternoon, Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison described the Republican primary as “a race to the bottom,” and as the candidates descended on Milwaukee, a plane circled downtown, trailing a sign reading “GOP 2024: A race for the extreme Maga base.”
“We’re really hoping to use this as an opportunity to highlight the Maga extremism we’re gonna see on the debate stage tonight,” Joe Oslund, a spokesperson for the Wisconsin Democratic Party, told the Guardian.
A fundraiser for the state party that launched today garnered more than $20,000 by 8.30pm ET.
Given Wisconsin’s status as a key battleground state, the RNC chose Milwaukee as the site of the first debate and will return for its nominating convention next July.
In 2016, Trump won the state by more than 22,000 votes and in 2020, Joe Biden defeated him by a similarly narrow margin. In an appeal for donations, the Wisconsin Democratic party chair, Ben Wikler, described the state as “the home of the political nailbiter.”
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At the Republican debate, the first question of the night was about Rich Men North of Richmond. If you are wondering who they are, the Guardian’s Matthew Cantor has the answer:
In Rich Men North of Richmond, Oliver Anthony, a bushy-bearded former North Carolina factory worker, sings passionately about working hard for “bullshit pay”.
Armed with just a guitar and his powerful voice, he identifies the source of the problem: “rich men north of Richmond” – federal politicians – who “want to have total control”. The song laments homelessness – “folks in the street ain’t got nothin’ to eat” – and a national suicide crisis: “Young men are putting themselves six feet in the ground / ’Cause all this damn country does is keep on kicking them down.”
So far, so resonant: the song has collected more than 12m views on YouTube alone, and on Tuesday afternoon, it sat at No 3 on Spotify’s Top 50 – USA list.
But things start to feel a little less empathetic when Anthony starts complaining about “the obese milking welfare”, reasoning that “if you’re 5-foot-3 and you’re 300 pounds / Taxes ought not to pay for your bags of fudge rounds”. We can all agree that politicians have caused many of America’s problems; it’s harder to argue that our country is being destroyed by short, overweight chocolate enthusiasts. He also rails against taxation, which he says means “your dollar ain’t shit”.
Trump interview with Tucker Carlson starts airing five minutes before GOP debate
The former Fox News host Tucker Carlson launched his interview with Donald Trump five minutes before the first Republican primary debate was to begin in Milwaukee in an attempt to sabotage both the former president’s rivals in the 2024 election and their host, Carlson’s former employer, Fox News.
Carlson opened the 46 minute interview with a question about why Trump wasn’t at the Milwaukee debate.
“You see the polls that have come out and I’m leading by 50 and 60 points and some of them are at one and zero and two. And I’m saying do I sit there for an hour or two hours or whatever it’s going to be and get harassed by people who shouldn’t even be running for president?” he said.
“I just felt it would be more appropriate not to do the debate.”
It was perhaps remarkable that the conversation was taking place at all. Just five months ago it was revealed that Carlson said of Trump in a text message: “I hate him passionately.”
“We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights,” The then Fox News anchor said in a message to a colleague in early January 2021 as the former president continued a futile battle to remain in office. “I truly can’t wait.”
But the two men set aside their differences to jointly take on their respective enemies – Fox and the rest of the Republican primary field.
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First Republican debate begins
The first debate of the 2024 Republican presidential primary has kicked off in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Follow along here as we cover it live.
Onstage at the Republican presidential debate tonight is the governor of North Dakota, Doug Burgum – who almost didn’t make it.
He has managed to make the event despite requiring crutches and wearing a boot after hurting his Achilles tendon while playing basketball.
“I’m in,” the 67-year-old rank outsider said in a tweet earlier, before his campaign confirmed his participation.
“Doug feels very strongly that his voice is necessary on the stage this evening, and has said he will fight through the pain and challenge standing in order to make that happen,” a statement said, as reported by NBC News.
I’m in pic.twitter.com/DZqLf3Yxik
— Doug Burgum (Text "DOUG" to 70177) (@DougBurgum) August 23, 2023
Citing “sources close to Burgum”, NBC said he “suffered a high-grade tear in a pickup basketball game with campaign staff” on Tuesday, and was admitted to a local emergency room.
Burgum himself told CNN: “I think the first piece of good news is tonight’s not a dance contest. If this was Dancing with the Stars, I’d be scratched from the competition. But it’s a debate. We’re standing at a podium for two hours and I may just have to cowboy up and we’ll just get through it.”
Tucker Carlson releases interview with Donald Trump
Just as the Republican presidential contenders took the debate stage in Milwaukee, the conservative commentator Tucker Carlson posted what looks to be the entirety of his interview with Donald Trump:
Ep. 19 Debate Night with Donald J Trump pic.twitter.com/ayPfII48CO
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) August 24, 2023
Trump is skipping the debate, opting for the interview with Carlson instead. In April, Fox News, which is hosting tonight’s encounter with the GOP candidates, booted Carlson off the air, and the conservative commentator has since tried to rebuild his audience on Twitter (also known as X).
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Republicans take the stage in Milwaukee as first presidential debate kicks off
The eight Republicans who have qualified for the first debate of the 2024 presidential primary process have taken the stage in Milwaukee.
Frontrunner Donald Trump is not among them, having opted to sit for an interview with the conservative commentator Tucker Carlson. The debate stage is instead filled with candidates looking to oust him from the top of the polls, such as the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, who is currently in second place in most surveys, as well as the entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who has seen some momentum in recent polling.
The former vice-president Mike Pence, Senator Tim Scott and the ex-UN ambassador Nikki Haley are among the other candidates still in the running who are onstage.
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Preparations for the debate were entering the final stages on Wednesday, with the stage in Milwaukee set up well in advance of the candidates’ arrival.
Here are some of the latest images coming to us from the newswires as Wisconsin’s largest city prepared for the debate:
While Trump is a no-show, some of his family members and most fervent supporters did make it to the debate venue.
The former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, who, much like Trump, refuses to accept her election defeat last year, was seen talking to the ex-president’s son Donald Jr outside the arena in Milwaukee:
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Donald Trump’s opponents for the Republican nomination took his announcement earlier this week that he would skip the debate in stride – at least publicly. But as the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly reported, the former president will nonetheless loom large over the debate stage:
Donald Trump’s rivals for the Republican presidential nomination reacted in mostly muted fashion to his declaration that he will skip all the party’s primary debates, not just the first in Milwaukee on Wednesday.
Trump’s team have strategized that as the overwhelming frontrunner, the former president would gain little from appearing on stage with his many rivals. At the same time, his legal team are probably wary Trump may be tempted to wade into subject matter at the heart of proliferating legal cases against him.
Andrew Romeo, a spokesperson for Ron DeSantis, Trump’s closest if distant rival, insisted: “No one is entitled to this nomination, including Donald Trump. You have to show up and earn it.”
But while Trump is betting that not showing up will not hurt him with voters – and that his son Donald Trump Jr will prove an effective media surrogate in Milwaukee – DeSantis has a pressing need to earn support. With his campaign widely seen to be tanking, the hard-right Florida governor will take the stage in Wisconsin on Wednesday with serious work to do.
In a Sunday night post to his online platform, Truth Social, Trump cited a CBS News poll that gave him a 46-point national lead. Bragging of “legendary numbers”, he said: “The public knows who I am and what a successful presidency I had … I WILL THEREFORE NOT BE DOING THE DEBATES!”
Trump to discuss debate skipping, indictments and 'civil war' in Tucker Carlson interview
Donald Trump is leading the Republican primary field, but rather than participate in tonight’s debate, he sat for an interview with Tucker Carlson – a conservative commentator whose views are often aligned with the former president’s.
Expect their interview, which airs on Twitter (also known as X) at 8.55pm ET, five minutes before the debate starts, to be a particularly friendly encounter. Carlson, who was booted from his primetime spot on Fox News earlier this year, has released a teaser that indicates he asked Trump about everything from his legal troubles to the death of Jeffrey Epstein:
Donald Trump. Tucker Carlson.
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) August 23, 2023
Debate Night in Bedminster
8:55pm ET pic.twitter.com/w8nGhOfEdv
Carlson is getting back on his feet after Fox showed him the door without warning in April, and has opted to broadcast the interview on Twitter/X, which, since billionaire Elon Musk’s purchase last year, has become an increasingly friendly platform for the right. In the below video, Carlson says Trump approached him about doing the interview, seeking “a far larger audience than he’d receive on cable news” – which sure sounds like a dig at his former employer:
Here’s what’s happening at 8:55pm ET. pic.twitter.com/UZcgSnv6Nm
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) August 23, 2023
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For an idea of what the eight Republicans who qualified for the debate might say on stage, the Guardian’s Mary Yang has a comprehensive look at their stances on the major issues.
Such as abortion access, the economy and the January 6 insurrection. Read it here:
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Everything you need to know about tonight's Republican debate
Fox News is hosting the first Republican primary debate, which begins at 9pm ET in Milwaukee.
Wisconsin is a perennial swing state that has lately become viewed as the “tipping point” in determining the winner of presidential elections. Racially diverse and reliably Democratic, Milwaukee is its most populous city, but voters in its suburbs often play a major role in deciding elections. The debate will be held at the city’s Fiserv Forum.
The Guardian’s David Smith is in Milwaukee, and has this look at what tonight’s debates mean for the city:
The Republican party faces an electability test on Wednesday when candidates including election deniers, climate deniers and anti-abortion extremists take the debate stage in a city that rebukes them and a state they cannot afford to lose.
The first presidential primary debate will be held in Milwaukee, a racially diverse Democratic stronghold in Wisconsin, a battleground that could decide who wins the White House in 2024.
Even without Donald Trump, who is skipping the primetime televised event, the juxtaposition between Republicans who have embraced his far-right agenda and their sceptical host city offers a preview of the party’s struggle to broaden its appeal.
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Republicans set to joust in first presidential debate, sans Trump
Good evening, and welcome to our live coverage of the first Republican primary debate, which will feature all of the party’s main presidential contenders – except for the frontrunner, Donald Trump.
While his eight rivals slug it out on the debate stage in Milwaukee, Trump will sit down for an interview with far-right commentator Tucker Carlson, which will air at the same time.
Meanwhile, in Georgia, the former president’s co-defendants in the indictment filed by Fulton county prosecutor Fani Willis over their attempt to disrupt the 2020 election spent the day surrendering, including Rudy Giuliani, who turned himself in after posting a $150,000 bail.
The debate kicks off at 9pm eastern time on Fox News, and will feature the following candidates: Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, South Carolina senator Tim Scott, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, Trump’s ex-UN ambassador Nikki Haley and his former vice-president Mike Pence, and former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson. North Dakota governor Doug Burgum was supposed to be there, but just injured his leg at a baseball game and may not attend.
Follow along here as we cover it live.
