The urgency of relevance characterized the second debate of the Republican candidates for the presidency of the United States. With Donald Trump more than 40 points away from the nomination, the seven participants sharpened the tone of their attacks in an attempt to narrow the gap to the absent front-runner. Instead, he traveled to Michigan to lead a rally with striking auto workers. Despite the emptiness, Trump emerged from the forum stronger. Criticism of his absence was the main consensus among visitors to the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California.
“Donald Trump is missing,” said Ron DeSantis, second in the polls before the primaries. “He should be here to defend the record of his presidency and respond to the $7.8 trillion he added to the debt of the United States,” the Florida president said. The strategy to attack the leader was initiated by Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, the only one among the seven who is an open and vocal critic of the former president. “Donald Trump, I know you see this. “There’s nothing you can do about it,” Christie said. “You are not absent because of the polls. You are afraid to defend your presidency. If you continue to not show up, we won’t call you Donald Trump, we’ll call you Donald Duck [además del personaje de Disney, duck es ponerse en cuclillas en inglés]” he joked.
The economy was the first topic of debate. The candidates tried to speak succinctly in the 60 seconds they had their turn to criticize Bidenomics and the 9 percent inflation that is devouring the income of millions of families through rising gasoline prices, which in California are at nearly seven Dollars per gallon. “Bidenomics was a failure… Biden’s agenda is good for China but very bad for Detroit,” said DeSantis, a candidate who held his own by invoking Reagan several times and selling his management in Florida as his vision for Bidenomics Country. DeSantis was the least attacked and was able to express his policies most clearly. He will play at home in the next debate in Miami.
While this was happening, Trump was surrounded by thousands of American workers in a key state. In the city of Clinton Township, he explained why their jobs went to countries like China and Mexico. And he mocked the forum co-organized by Fox Business and Univision. “It’s a job interview,” the former president assured his audience. “They want to be secretaries, maybe vice presidents. Did anyone see the vice presidential candidate in them? … I don’t think so, they don’t have an audience like mine,” Trump said to applause, 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) from the debate. The distance was a clear metaphor for the advantage he has.
The forum was held on Air Force One, the aircraft used by Ronald Reagan during his presidency and also used by six other world leaders between 1973 and 2001. The character of the actor, who became governor of California and then the White House, was present throughout the debate. Reagan won his second term in a landslide and is considered a key Republican leader thanks to his commitment to the free market and his aversion to government regulation.
However, the current Republican Party is closer to Trump than Reagan. When Univision journalist Ilia Calderón pointed to the amnesty the Republican president granted to three million undocumented immigrants in 1986, the candidates vowed to continue the tough policies of Trumpism. These include militarizing the border by deploying National Guard troops, continuing to build the wall with Mexico, and cutting funding from sanctuary cities. Nikki Haley even suggested deploying a “special force” against the drug cartels operating in Mexico.
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Ramaswamy, the 38-year-old pharmaceutical entrepreneur who surprised in the first debate, opted for the same strategy. He sold extreme policies with a big smile. “I am inclined to no longer grant citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants… If the son of a Mexican diplomat does not have the benefits of citizenship from birth, then neither should anyone whose parents have violated future laws,” he said . Ramaswamy is trying to approach DeSantis’ runner-up position by arguing that the nationalist agenda is not unique to Trump. Tonight he chose to give a unity speech despite accusing them last month of being corrupt and subservient to dark interests. He also starred in a controversial moment when he said that transgender people “suffer from a mental health problem.”
Ramaswamy’s rise in the polls has put him in the sights of his opponents this evening. South Carolina Senator Tim Scott attacked him over his business dealings with China and linked him to Hunter Biden, the bumbling son of Joe Biden, who is facing federal indictment. The owner of Roivant Sciences, a company with a presence in Asia, was also the victim of friendly fire from Nikki Haley, Trump’s former ambassador to the United Nations. “Honestly, every time I listen to you, I feel a little stupid,” she told him about the millennial’s presence on TikTok, a social network that has been banned by successive Republican administrations.
Tonight it was a battle to stay within the boundaries. The candidates were arranged on the stage according to their position in the polls. The middle went to DeSantis, who is polling between 14% and 21%. He was flanked by Ramaswamy and Nikky Halley, who saw a surge in donations after his appearance in the first debate. Tonight, Scott dared to criticize the only woman on stage, accusing her of spending $50,000 on curtains for the ambassador’s residence in New York. That’s wrong, the renovation of the apartment was ordered during Obama’s time.
Pence, Trump’s vice president, appeared from one end of the stage, an example of the difficulties of his campaign, which has between 3% and 6% of preferences. On the other side was Doug Burgum, the governor of North Dakota, one of those who most monopolized the microphone in the hope of remaining among the candidates. From August until tonight, the Republican list was reduced because Asa Hutchinson, the former governor of Arkansas, did not meet the requirements for a repeat appearance in the forum.
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