Trump Spared by His Rivals

The name of the elephant in the room crossed the lips of Fox News moderators for the first time at the 52-minute mark of the first televised debate among the Republican presidential candidates Wednesday evening in Milwaukee.

Host Bret Baier, who used this colorful description to talk about former President Donald Trump, ended up saying his name when he asked the eight candidates if they would support the former president as the party nominee in the 2024 presidential election if he were convicted of charges in any of the four criminal cases he is facing.

Six candidates raised their hands, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who glanced at his rivals before doing so. Donald Trump’s campaign team immediately took to social media to denounce DeSantis’ hesitation, which may be one of the viral moments of the debate.

Mike Pence, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Vivek Ramaswamy and Doug Burgum also raised their hands. Only Chris Christie and Asa Hutchinson refused to do so.

The moment resonated. Despite the considerable lead, his rivals mostly spared Trump during the two-hour debate where the candidates briefly discussed Trump’s legal problems after questions on the economy, climate change, abortion and crime.

And the rival candidates who criticized Trump the most severely were loudly booed by members of the audience.

“Here’s the — here’s the bottom line. Someone’s got to stop normalizing this conduct. OK? Now — and now, whether or not — whether or not you believe that the criminal charges are right or wrong, the conduct is beneath the office of President of the United States,” said former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, whom the audience also jeered during his presentation to the audience.

DeSantis later declined to respond directly about whether former Vice President Mike Pence did the right thing by refusing to bow to pressure from Trump on Jan. 6, 2021.

“So, here’s what we need to do. We need to end the weaponization of these federal agents. This election is not about January 6 of 2021. It’s about January 20 of 2025, when the next president is going to take office,” DeSantis said.

When later pressed to respond to the question, he said, “Mike did his duty. I got no beef with him.”

DeSantis Eclipsed

Even if he was vocal and animated on other questions, DeSantis was eclipsed more than once by Ramaswamy, who is climbing in the polls and threatens to join or surpass DeSantis in second place.

“So, first, let me just address the question that is on everybody’s mind at home tonight,” declared the 38-year-old entrepreneur, introducing himself to the audience. “Who the heck is this skinny guy with a funny last name, and what the heck is he doing in the middle of this debate stage? I’ll tell you, I’m not a politician, Bret. You’re right about that. I’m an entrepreneur.”

The political neophyte was the one who faced the strongest attack during the debate. Christie reproached him for being “a guy who sounds like ChatGPT” and for stealing Barack Obama’s way of describing himself. Pence said the U.S. didn’t need to bring a “rookie” to the White House. And Haley reproached Ramaswamy for supporting a “murderer,” alluding to Ramaswamy’s casual attitude regarding Russian President Vladimir Putin when discussing Ukraine.

But Ramaswamy responded to his critics energetically and defended his ideas in a provocative way that set him apart.

“The climate change agenda is a hoax” he declared before adding, “And so, the reality is more people are dying of bad climate change policies than they are of actual climate change.”

The candidates were asked to raise their hand if they agreed that human actions were contributing to climate change. “Look, we’re not schoolchildren. Let’s have the debate,” DeSantis interrupted, refusing to comply with the moderator’s request, which remained unanswered.

Vigorous Debates

The abortion question gave way to vigorous debate between Pence and Haley. The former vice president said he was in favor of an abortion ban after 15 weeks of pregnancy in all states that don’t have a more restrictive policy in place. The former governor of South Carolina accused him of being dishonest with Americans.

“No Republican president can ban abortions,” she said, explaining that such a measure would require 60 Senate votes, which would be impossible. “When it comes to a federal ban, let’s be honest with the American people.”

The only woman on the stage among seven men all sporting a red tie, Haley alluded to her gender during a raucous debate on climate change.

“I think this is exactly why Margaret Thatcher said, ‘if you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman.’”

The debate opened with reference to the song of the hour in the U.S., “Rich Men North of Richmond” by Oliver Anthony, which talks of how frustrated American blue collar workers are with the elite.

In response to a question on the economic proposals that he could offer to blue collar workers, DeSantis promised to end Bidenomics, which is how President Joe Biden and the White House positively describe the administration’s management of the economy.

“We must reverse Bidenomics so that middle class families have a chance to succeed again,” DeSantis declared.

The Florida governor also cited his response to the COVID-19 epidemic as a model.

“And I can tell you this. As your president, I will never let the deep state bureaucrats lock you down,” he said, shaking his index finger. “You don’t take somebody like Fauci and coddle him. You bring Fauci in. You sit him down. And you say, ‘Anthony, you are fired,’” he added, in a veiled attack on Trump.

DeSantis received one of the most enthusiastic response from the audience when he attacked prosecutors financially supported by philanthropist George Soros and whom he said are not prosecuting criminals.

“And as President, we’re going to go after all of these people,” he promised.

Important Support

Trump’s decision to boycott the Milwaukee debate is easily understandable. Unless the race changes drastically, none of his rivals are likely to secure the Republican nomination.

According to the average of national polls, the former president enjoys the support of more than 50% of Republican voters, a figure that has remained stable after each of his four indictments.

No presidential candidate has lost the nomination of the party with such a lead. And no Republican candidate has enjoyed such a large lead in a race not involving an incumbent in more than 20 years.

And it was by alluding to this lead that Trump justified his decision to participate in an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson that aired on X, formerly Twitter, during the debate.

“Sparks will fly,” Trump said on Truth Social Wednesday morning to pique the interest of his followers.