At the end , when asked if they’d support Trump , Christie was the last one to (tentatively) raise his hand. On another longer clip I’ve seen he waves it away straight after.
I don’t believe he did. That was a humorous moment, when they were asked to raise their hands if they’d support Trump as the nominee. Vivik raised his hand fast and high like a Teacher’s Pet. Then a couple of others raised their hands. DeSantis, seeing others raising their hands, then belatedly raised his. Hilarious. I’m pretty sure only Christie and Hutchinson kept theirs down and were pretty consistent in their attacks on Trump.
Ha ha ha, Chris Christie as the white knight of decency. What a joke
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On the 3 min clip Nikki Haley seemed fairly principled in apportioning blame to Trump for loading on debt, and also being the most disliked politician in America, saying the country doesn’t want to see another round of Trump v Biden, and that Trump would lose.
A while ago I half wondered if she might be Trump’s VP, assuming it went that far, but not now. Someone like Marjorie Greene will get the job. Ugh.
I don’t especially like Haley but in the short clip she was quite willing to have a pop at Trump, and as such, good for her.
The overall impression? Shitshow!
The audience was a baying mob, no respect, nobody listening, and the format seemed like pantomime, with a few clowns looking for a sound bite.
If this is political discourse and debate, we are plumbing new depths, and as such, it represents a tawdry victory for Trump, as this is just the sort of shite he excels in.
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The video clip I saw was every one of them raising their hands (albeit some a little more tentatively than others).
Did Pence raise his hand? I will review.
The guy on the left did not raise his hand. First viewing I thought it was Pence, but it wasn’t. Taller guy, silver hair.
It’s true Christie appeared to raise his hand about three inches. That’s when the moderator asked him for clarity. He waved the notion off and then began his attack of Trump on moral grounds and got massively booed. I don’t actually recall if Hutchinson raised his hand. That moment seemed to reinforce that Trump will be the nominee.
Ultimately the whole thing is pointless. Trump will win the nomination and they’ll all fall into line behind him.
No no. The people who are attacking the DoJ and running on a platform of abolishing the FBI were claiming violent crime is at an all time high (it isnt) and our urban centers are doing terrible (they not) because the Dems have spent 4 years talking about “defund the police”.
The two best bits of the night were
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the first question from the public. A young man, college aged at the oldest, stated that for young people climate change is their number 1 issue. He then asked the candidates what will they do to assure Republican voters that they dont care about climate change
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at some point the male moderator responded to something DeSantis said by telling him “well, Trump is ahead of you in the polls by 30-40 points.” It wasnt as part of a question, it was just a staement as he then moved on to ask someone else a question. It just looked like he was sick of his shit and wanted to put him in his place
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Yeah, it’s shocking how poor a candidate DeSantis is. He seems a lock to sink into the quagmire with the lot of them. Vivek looks to be the one who will break out because of his “ideological purity.” To me the best debater is Nikki Haley. She’s a bit like Elizabeth Warren. You don’t want to be in her gunsights (no pun intended?).
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I have tons of issue with Haley. She does that conservative thing of weaponizing her womanhood and non-whiteness to demean and undercut other women and non-white people, which I find the most detestable sort of politics. She has also been possibly the most two faced person in the entire party over Trump, even more so than Christie. She supports him when she thinks it suits her and attacks him at other times in ways that reveal no ideological line only a principal of saying what she thinks needs to be said to advance her own position. Sure, that’s politics, but it still needs to be called out when someone does that to raise themselves up on the back of fascism.
But last night she was the only one grappling with the reality of a general election, and in many cases reality. She did it on issues of the economy (The Trump deficits caused by tax cuts that the party supported), abortion (a federal 6 week ban is impossible and running on it is a lie), and Putin.
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This. I find it odd that WSJ has migrated from DeSantis to Scott without ever seeming to have considered Haley. Her performance during her CNN town hall was also exceptional. Will be interesting to see if she gets any bump at all from last night. Although she could double her support and still be considerably below 10%.
Pence definitely did, which isnt surprising because it’s in line with weird version of events.
His primary mission is to uphold our constitution, which was brought down from Mt Sinai by Jesus and Ronald Regan. He did what he did on Jan 6th because its what Jesus said in our constitution he should do, something Dan Quale told him about, but it was not an anti trump thing. If Trump wins he will continue to support him, just like he has always done even when Trump was trying to get him killed and trying to violate our constitution, because that’s what supporting the constitution means. Did I mention Ronald Regan yet?
He is hysterical. He is so out of touch with his own party he is speaking to a constituency of like 2 guys in the National Review editorial office, both of whom would drop him in a second for someone who was just as Jesusey and Reganey, but used the N word liberally.
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Yep, Pence definitely raised his hand.
I didn’t know the name of the guy on the left who did not raise his hand. It was Asa Hutchinson.
Yeah, former governor of Arkansas, a state that is near the bottom of just about every metric of success, which somehow makes him think he is a qualified candidate. But he did improve the number of students taking computer science courses in high school 3 fold, so suck on that China.
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Of the ones on the debate stage, which would you rate as the best? Say, top three?
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None of them. It was an insane exercise in talking about insane solution to problems in a made up world.
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Sure. Just on debate performance.
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Nikki, for what I mentioned above. She’s a poised tiger who thinks and speaks well on her feet.
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Actually, Mike Pence. Showed the depth of his experience. As an aside, I find it weird that this guy stood up for the Constitution while a mad mob shouted “Hang Mike Pence!” and whether or not he is a hero is a question, though I guess his behavior later played some role in that.
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In terms of having helped his cause, Tivek. I don’t much like him, but the debate was largely about him, which raised his profile.
I think is favourable framing and one he has been happy to present. But he agonized over this way harder than someone would have who was genuinely driven by upholding the constitution. I think he baulked here not because of an oath he swore but because he was being asked to commit an affirmative action to violate it, and that is a different proposition to simply standing aside and letting someone violate it, something he did for the best part of 4 years.
I really think his behavior was more one of lack of bravery than fidelity to rule of law. Maybe that’s a harsh assessment, but its one that would be difficult to shake me from.
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He’s said as much himself. i.e. that he bent over backwards to try and accomodate Trump’s demand , before getting definitive legal advice that tipped his hand. I couldn’t think of anyone less deserving of being called a hero than that nodding dog.
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