Republican debate highlights and analysis: Fiery faceoff on Trump, Ukraine and more
Republican debate highlights and analysis: Fiery faceoff on Trump, Ukraine and more
i hate them as much as you, but always good to get intel on the enemy
I wasn't familiar with Ramaswamy before, and part of me wishes that I still wasn't. That guy is a whacko even in that stage and most of them told him so, which was about the only highlight. Audience cheered waaaay too much for comfort at some if the things coming out of his mouth including being the only one to explicitly claim climate change is a hoax. The others never said if they believe in it or not, they let Ramaswamy take the attention off that.
Christie did his Trump bashing, but doesn't seem to have improved on any of his it beliefs. Mostly blamed libs for NJ problems. Did have a bit of fun when they asked him about aliens though.
Haley was, well, not a pleasant surprise, but it's amazing how a few years can really affect who is "moderate." She went for the throat regarding Putin, had a moderate, respectable for a Republican view about abortion rights, and called out China, and also a few fellow candidates for making up stuff.
Pence was about how you would expect. Got everyone to admit he did the right thing ignoring Trump on Jan 6. Otherwise nothing new from him. Still says he would support Trump as president.
Desantis did his anti woke crap and took credit for the federal aid Florida got after emergencies. Pretty much promised to make the US into Florida. Repeated a few times how he's going to serve Biden "back to his basement." He didn't get much more attention than anyone else, so no new momentum for him.
Others were pretty much a snooze other than talking about using the military on the southern border. Won't be dedicating any extra of my time to those guys. That's about all I remember. Only half paid attention through most of it, I don't swing that way, but I'll hear them out.
oh no, you actually sat through the whole thing? Thank you for the roundup, I have a hard time stomaching the actual event. 5 minutes in i feel like a brain worm has burrowed deep into my frontal lobe
Honestly it was better than I expected. If Ramaswamy wasn't there, I really wouldn't have minded it that much. He just came off so sleazy to me. Christy said something along the lines of he was the ChatGPT candidate. If you had an AI make a young, slick, influencer-looking MAGA Republican, it probably would look a lot like him. He was very Trump-like in behavior, talking over people and saying purposely ignorant things. The rest were plain vanilla Republicans closer to what we used to get, except Desantis, and Scott to a lesser extent.
If either the Bush presidents seem bearable at this point to you, the rest of the candidates were as tolerable as Reps get. More just Crap Original Strength instead of Crap Ulta Plus Xtreme.
Any thoughts from the Beeple on how last night's debate affected the primary field? I did not watch it, but i always like the read the analysis after.
Sounds like Vivek Ramaswamy got the biggest boost, but who knows how durable that will be. I have a hard time envisioning xenophobic Trump voters picking Ramaswamy when they probably can't even pronounce his name. They pronounce it on Fox News, sure, but many voters don't watch or even follow the news.
It's hard to say because I'm not a Republican. So while some of the candidates -- basically everyone other than Vivek...and maybe Pence, but even he's pretty traditional as a pol -- seemed fine to me, I'm not they're target audience, right? With Trump still polling ridiculously high compared to any of the field from the last night, that kinda tells me that none of these people stand a chance. I don't even know what it would take for Trump to lose frontrunner status. I'm not even convinced that him going to jail, if it happens, changes that.
Vivek certainly made a splash and definitely falls in with Trump voters. But then why wouldn't Trump supporters just vote for Trump? Is there really a large enough faction of the party or base that can separate Trump from Trumpism? In that they're done with Trump the person but still want Trump the idea? Idk. And like you said, I can't imagine Trump voters willingly voting for a brown man with a "strange name." We saw how people reacted last time a brown man with a "funny name" was actually elected! At least Nikki Haley is able to pass as a white woman, even though she too shares Vivek's Indian heritage.
I suppose we'll see what happens by the next debate in September. The polling requirements to be at the next debate will increase, so I suspect we'll lose at least a couple from last night. Not that it may matter as long as Trump is the frontrunner by a country mile or two.
yeah this whole thing strikes me as a weird exercise. the GOP is clearly still on the fence about whether they want to stick with Trump. I think your point about trying to divorce Trump from Trumpism is very salient. I guess this is what primaries are about: the party doesn't want to make this decision, so they're leaving it to the base and the candidates to hash it out. Personally, I love watching them squirm. i'm sure by the next debate they'll be even more at each others' throats.
FWIW my elderly father, who is a two time Trump voter, admitted that he couldn't pronounce Ramaswamy's name right but thought that he'd be a better candidate this time than Trump himself. That's only one person but if he would make the switch I have to imagine there's a bunch more as there's nothing special about my dad. He's just another Fox News watching Boomer Republican.
That's good to know! I agree, I think the opinion of Fox News boomer dads is actually very valuable. They've proven that they are a powerful voting bloc.
See, I would love to know how widespead that idea is. I know there are some Trump supporters who are tiring of Trump the person and all the controversy surrounding him, but love the idea of Trump. But do they form a significant number? Polling currently suggets no, but it's also early in the process.
Imagine if Vivek did start rivaling Trump. Could you imagine the shitshow that'd be? Terrifying. I wouldn't know whether to laugh or cry.
They all look unhinged, every single one of them
At some point polling becomes unassailable. Things could change but it seems impossible that one of these candidates gathers enough groundswell to upset Trump. Most of the people on stage are already known to Republicans except for vivek so there's not a lot of room for growth, and given that Trump sets the tone of what is important for republicans he's always going to be on the right side. I don't see any world in which the number of Republicans who dislike Trump goes from 15 percent to 60 percent.
I can guarantee you they're all garbage and i don't even have to watch it once, and i won't.