Takeaways from the first Republican presidential primary debate
By: Eric Bradner, Daniel Strauss, Arit John and Steve Contorno (CNN)
What debate? I didn't see any debate. If Republicans are going to run pay-per-view politics from Biden's basement then Trump is the nominee by default.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
With Donald Trump skipping the first 2024 Republican presidential primary debate, eight of his primary rivals – most of them men wearing ties similar to the bright red one regularly worn by the former president – brawled for second-place status Wednesday night.
Vivek Ramaswamy, the 38-year-old entrepreneur and first-time candidate, was alongside Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the center of the stage – and he was the central figure for much of the night. Ramaswamy clashed with former Vice President Mike Pence over his experience, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley over foreign policy, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie over Trump, and more.
And because he has positioned himself as a defender of Trump, Ramaswamy was, at times, a stand-in for the former president, who momentarily ceded the stage Wednesday night but will take it back Thursday when he turns himself in at the Fulton County jail in Georgia as he faces election subversion charges.
The former president’s absence meant several candidates who have positioned themselves as strident critics of the former president were denied opportunities to directly confront him. Christie, who Ramaswamy said is running a campaign “based on vengeance and grievance” against Trump, spent more time brawling with the entrepreneur than the former president. Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson went long stretches of the debate without being acknowledged.
Meanwhile, for North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, the most significant development Wednesday was that he was able to participate in the debate at all. Burgum was taken to a Milwaukee emergency room Tuesday after suffering a high-grade tear of his Achilles tendon.
“I think I took it too literally when they said, ‘Go to Milwaukee and break a leg,’” he joked.
The debate played out in front of a rowdy crowd of about 4,000 people at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee. The crowd’s reactions – including jeers and boos when candidates criticized Trump – at times drowned out the Fox News moderators.
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The Republican Party kissing Rupert Murdoch's ass ain't gonna win my support. Don't know what this so-called debate was supposed to accomplish but it certainly didn't do anything to inform voters.
As expected the Republican establishment is trying to ignore voters and serve itself first. Republicans are rigging their own primaries to pander to the elites, screw the voters. Apparently we're going to need a bigger Trump to change that.
"... it certainly didn't do anything to inform voters."
From the audience reactions, it did not sound as though they wanted to be informed.
In their defense, they are FoxNews viewers. The location where the uninformed know more than the Fox informed.
I wouldn't know since I don't waste money on pay-per-view broadcasts. For me, the debate never happened. So, Trump is the nominee by default.
It wasnt pay for view, although you did have to have access to Fox News Channel.
Im pretty sure the whole thing is on You Tube by now.
So, Trump is the nominee by default.
I have the same feeling even if I did not buy a lotto ticket. I won by default.
Republicans expect me to pay a middleman to access commercial television. How very neoliberal.
The whole setup pretty much fails the MAGA test.
You seem to have a butt boil when it comes to neoliberalism, does that include when it comes to the likes of a Margaret Thatcher or a Ronald Reagan?
My impression of 'the GOP debates'. When someone tells you what they are, believe them.