Osita Nwanevu: The real winner was Donald Trump
It’s been ages since the Republican party has had a national debate this bland. But as easily forgotten as this debate will be in a matter of weeks, if not days, it’s notable as perhaps the first glimpse we’ve had in years of what Republican politics might have looked like in an alternate reality where Trump never happened. Much of the top half of the debate seemed to proceed uninterrupted from the policy discourse of 2012, with most of the candidates trading lines about the profligate spending of the Democratic administration. Inflation was part of the complaint, but there’s evidently a real itch, beyond that, to return to the rhetoric of plain old fiscal unsustainability and generational debt.
The big man himself did intrude upon the evening, of course. Some of the major exchanges of the debate revolved around whether Mike Pence — posing grandly as the question was asked — acted rightly in refusing Trump’s entreaties to help overturn the 2020 election on January 6. Just about everyone agreed that he had. But Vivek Ramaswamy flipped the script with a promise to pardon Trump if he’s elected.
Ramaswamy was really the story of the evening all told. He will not be the nominee much less the president. But he’ll be annoying the devil out of the rest of the field for as long as he’s in the race — these governors and other experienced pols, current and former, who ought to know by now that their records aren’t enough to elevate them over the charlatans and randoms who might find their way to the center of the conservative media ecosystem post-Trump. That’s especially bad news for DeSantis who didn’t seem to manage much more screen time than Doug Burgum all night. The race remains unchanged as best as I can tell. The field remains in a holding pattern. Which means the real winner of the debate was one Donald J Trump.
Osita Nwanevu is a Guardian US columnist
Jill Filipovic: This was a disgrace
It’s hard to pick a single term to describe the first Republican debate, but a few come to mind. Embarrassing spectacle. Utter disgrace. Absolute clown show.
And Donald Trump wasn’t even there.
Not a single candidate on the stage came across as sufficiently honest, distinguished, or even competent to be put in charge of the circus, let alone a nation. Some were certainly better than others – Chris Christie and Nikki Haley at least answered most of the questions they were asked, unlike Ron DeSantis and Tim Scott, who offered direct answers to virtually none – but “that was mediocre, but at least it wasn’t an abject embarrassment” is not exactly high praise.
There have been many moments when Trump’s diminishing of the Republican party has become readily apparent, and this debate goes on the list. The party, and the candidates representing it, has become meaner, dumber, and wholly divorced from the issues Americans actually care about.
What did the Republican candidates identify as the problems plaguing America? Hunter Biden. Teachers’ unions. George-Soros-funded district attorneys. Critical race theory in schools and trans kids in locker rooms.
What did they shrug off? Climate change and the deadly disasters it has caused. Endemic gun violence that is now the leading killer of American children. The man who will likely beat them all for the Republican nomination being indicted for a slew of crimes.
This country is worse thanks to today’s Republican party, and today’s Republican party is among the worst aspects of this country.
Over and over again, Republican politicians and conservative commentators talk about all of the ways in which life in America has deteriorated, how we are no longer as great as we once were. They often pin the blame on immigrants, feminists, racial justice activists, Democrats, and changing social mores. But if Americans really want to see a striking example of our national nosedive, they needn’t look further than at the ridiculous men (and one woman) on a Fox News stage tonight.
Jill Filipovic is the author of The H-Spot: The Feminist Pursuit of Happiness
Ben Davis: Ron DeSantis was sidelined. Ramaswamy dominated
To get this out of the way: this was a debate entirely conducted in the shadow of the missing frontrunner, Donald Trump. The debate was, as expected, defined by his absence. Several of the debate blocks were specifically about him and his conduct: his numerous indictments, the events of January 6, and whether former vice-president and current candidate Mike Pence did the right thing by not attempting to overturn the election and seize power on behalf of Trump. The more serious candidates tried to mold their politics after Trump, act like Trump, and talk like Trump. Based on all evidence, this was a race for second place. These candidates are running for the vice-presidency, a cabinet spot, or a lucrative role on Fox News.
The candidates were defined by Trump but seemed to have learned nothing from his victory and appeal to the Republican base. There was a focus on culture war issues (thankfully, they have given up on the grating “wokeness” obsession), but not the ones that powered Trump’s appeal or animate the Republican base. Instead, there was a focus on the cultural preoccupations of the Republican party’s cloistered elite, like astroturfed country songs and transgender participation in women’s sports. The field still hewed to pre-Trump Republican orthodoxy on issues like spending cuts and crushing unions. So much for a “pro-worker” Republican party.
The main winner and the candidate who seems like the frontrunner for the coveted second-place spot was not who you would expect. Despite all of the money, media coverage, and second-place polling status, Ron Desantis was sidelined. He dodged every question, refused to take a position on any of the major disagreements on the stage, and had no memorable soundbites. Instead, the most distinctive, most aggressive, most attacked candidate was the least experienced: Vivek Ramaswamy. He stayed strongly and boldly on the very far right on every issue on stage. He was the center of attention.
He seems like a potential breakout internal figure for the Republican party in the mold of Andrew Yang or even Peter Buttigieg from the 2020 Democratic primary. He felt like the only candidate who had learned anything from Trump’s success beyond rote recitation of apocalyptic culture war rhetoric and attacks on the “deep state” and other Trumpian catchphrases. If there is anything to remember from this idea-less, Trump-less debate, it’s the floundering DeSantis campaign and Ramaswamy asserting himself as the tone-setter.
Ben Davis works in political data in Washington DC. He worked on the data team for the Bernie Sanders 2020 campaign
Lloyd Green: Donald Trump’s lead remains intact
On Wednesday night, eight Republicans clashed in Milwaukee. The debate was more than simply an audition to be the former guy’s running mate. Over the course of two hours, real differences emerged within the field. Donald Trump’s impregnable lead remains intact.
Ron DeSantis dodged the question of whether Mike Pence did the right thing on January 6. Florida’s governor emerged diminished. Tim Scott won the vice-president wannabe contest. An oleaginous and belligerent Vivek Ramaswamy repeatedly puckered-up to Joe Biden’s predecessor.
Nikki Haley, Trump’s UN ambassador, jabbed at the Trump administration’s spending record, called him the “most disliked politician in America”, and defended aid to Ukraine.
Chris Christie dinged Trump and Hunter Biden. New Jersey’s former governor also reminded the audience of the Trump-Putin bromance and Russia’s lawlessness.
On January 6, a mob prepared makeshift gallows for Mike Pence to his former boss’s delectation. With the cameras rolling, Pence again embraced the “Trump-Pence” label.
As the 45th president avoided his competitors, his legal woes mount. His bail in Georgia is set at $200,000, conditioned on not threatening witnesses or co-defendants.
On Tuesday night, a filing by the special counsel’s office laid out a failed effort to destroy Mar-a-Lago videos when faced with a federal grand jury subpoena. Trump as mob boss, Goodfellas repeats itself.
His interview with Tucker Carlson, where he reveled in the prospect of civil war and bloodshed, did not confer the immunity he so badly craves.
Lloyd Green is an attorney in New York and served in the US Department of Justice from 1990 to 1992
