The second Republican debate between the Republican primary candidates was, like the first, marked by the absence of Donald Trump. Several of the candidates dared to criticize him. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie addressed him directly, looked into the camera and, with a play on words, said it was time to call him “Donald Duck.” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized his absence, saying he was “missing in action.” Former Vice President Mike Pence criticized his desire to monopolize power in Washington. But his legal troubles weren’t even mentioned.
However, the debate was disorganized, boring at times, lacking the novelty or frequent heated arguments between candidates that enlivened the first debate. This time there were almost shouting confrontations without anyone being able to understand them. The moderators failed to organize or stimulate the discussion. With seven participants on stage, no candidate managed to stand out from the others. Vivek Ramaswamy, who hogged the limelight in the first encounter, was attacked from all sides this time. DeSantis, who came second to Trump by a wide margin in the polls, did slightly better than on the first day, but never shone. Nikki Haley probably had the best performance.
The Trump campaign declared victory. He was the protagonist of the debate despite his absence and the attacks that ignored his criminal history and behavior after the 2020 elections remained mere scratches. The former president countered with a rally at a factory in Michigan, where he attacked the electric car and President Joe Biden, whom he sees as his true rival for the November 5, 2024 election. Republicans also took aim at Biden in a debate that discussed inflation, insecurity and immigration, but not the looming threat of a government shutdown or the 91 crimes with which Trump is accused.
These were some of the notable interventions in the debate.
Ron DeSantis
The governor of Florida initially criticized the situation in the United States: inflation, insecurity, immigration, and said: “And where is Joe Biden?” He completely lacks leadership in action. And do you know who else is missing in action? Donald Trump is missing from action. I should be on this stage tonight. “It’s up to you to defend your record of adding $7.8 trillion to the debt, laying the foundation for the inflation we have now.”
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The governor of Florida is in second place in the polls, but the gap to Donald Trump has hardly stopped widening. DeSantis decided to launch some attacks on him in the second debate. He criticized his absence but also boasted about his strong anti-abortion policies in the face of some ambiguity from Trump. Because he was the center of attention, he was the candidate who spoke the most. He made better use of his protocol than in the first debate, but he failed to rise high enough to be seen as a real alternative. “Polls don’t elect presidents. “Voters elect presidents,” he said toward the end of the debate. Do not lose hope.
Vivek Ramaswamy
The technology entrepreneur spoke out against children of immigrants who entered the country illegally acquiring citizenship through birth on US soil. “We want you to fill six million vacancies that we have here in this country, but only if you come to obey the law, and only if you come legally.”
Ramaswamy was the surprise of the first debate. He dominated the interventions and attacks on other candidates and performed relatively well in most confrontations, although he also suffered a few falls. He portrayed himself as a millennial Trumpist and defended the former president’s legacy. In the second debate, however, the surprise factor had already disappeared. He appealed for unity and overcoming divisions when they attacked him, but without seeming convincing. He has been criticized for, among other things, doing business in China, using TikTok and not supporting aid to Ukraine. He wasn’t good at defending himself. And his speech sounded artificial and at times he spread false reports, including that transgenderism was “a mental disorder.”
Nikki Haley
The former US ambassador to the United Nations has singled out Vivek Ramaswamy as the target of some of her attacks, including one over her use of TikTok: “This is annoying because TikTok is one of the most dangerous social media apps we can have.” Sincerely Every time I hear you, what you say makes me a little more stupid.”
Nikki Haley, the only woman running in the Republican primary, is considered one of the debate winners. He also stood out in the first one. He coped with ease, showed his own judgment, did not shy away from clashes with other candidates, including Ramaswamy and Senator Tim Scott, and delivered a flawless performance. Without the enormous lead Trump has over all candidates, he would seem like the rising star of the primaries.
Mike Pence
Donald Trump’s former vice president has attacked his former boss over his desire to seize power in Washington. On the other hand, he promised to provide states with more resources and powers. However, most of his attacks were directed against the sitting president. He criticized his support for green energy and his presence on a picket line in Michigan on Tuesday: “Joe Biden doesn’t belong on the picket lines, he belongs in the ranks of the unemployed.”
Pence’s reference to the unemployment limit is not very happy. Job creation has broken records during Joe Biden’s term. The American economy created more jobs in the first half of his presidency than in any of his predecessor’s first terms. The unemployment rate remains near its lowest level in half a century, consistently below 4%. What actually worries the Federal Reserve is that there is so much tension in the labor market and there are many more jobs than unemployed people. Otherwise, Pence had a gray debate. In the first case, he managed to get the remaining candidates to defend their decision to defy Trump when he called on him to overturn the election results. This time the topic wasn’t even discussed.
Chris Christie
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie looked into the camera to address Trump directly: “I know you’re watching because you can’t help it. You are not here tonight, neither because of the polls nor because of your accusations. He’s not here tonight because he’s afraid to stand on this stage and defend your record. dodges [ducking] these things. And let me tell you what’s going to happen: If you keep this up, Nobody will call you Donald Trump. We call you Donald Duck [Donald Duck]“.
Christie is Trump’s fiercest opponent among the Republican primary candidates. He said the former president was “hiding behind the walls of his golf clubs” instead of answering questions. And when the anchors unsuccessfully tried to turn the primary into Survivors and asked “who should get off the island,” he was the only one who got wet: “I’m now voting to kick Donald Trump off the island.” “It has “Not only has our country divided, it has also divided families.” Christie received some boos from participants in the debate at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California, but at times his contributions were met with laughter or applause.
Tim Scott
Tim Scott is the only black senator in the Republican Party and the only black candidate in the presidential primary. He criticized DeSantis for mentioning Florida’s history curriculum, which suggested that African Americans learned skills that would benefit them through slavery. “I should have removed that very sentence,” he said. “Black families survived slavery. We survived poll taxes and literacy tests. “We have survived the discrimination enshrined in our country’s laws.”
Despite this intervention, Scott maintains that the United States is not racist. He was completely slurred in the first debate, but in the second he had a few moments where he showed off his oratorical skills. He got into an argument with Nikki Haley where their words overlapped. Overall, his election campaign fell far short of expectations. He tried to gain notoriety after the Big Three strike in Detroit by claiming he was in favor of firing the strikers. Asked whether he would lay off hundreds of thousands of striking people, he relented, claiming that no president could lay off private sector workers.
Doug Burgum
The strike in the automobile sector came up several times in the debate. The governor of North Dakota has pointed out: “The reason why the people of Detroit are striking is Joe Biden’s interference in the capital markets and the free market. We subsidize car manufacturers and we subsidize cars, a certain type of car, not all cars. “We subsidize electric vehicles.”
Burgum is a fringe candidate who managed to enter the debate at the last moment, but his voting intent is minimal. He did not stand out for his interventions and was the one who spoke the least, although he once spoke for so long that the moderators had to threaten to turn off his microphone. He is unlikely to take part in the third debate, scheduled for November 8th in Miami.
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