(C) Common Dreams
This story was originally published by Common Dreams and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



DeSantis Disappears, Vivek Rises and Woke Wanes: Seven Takeaways from the GOP Debate [1]

[]

Date: 2023-08-24 04:17:20

MILWAUKEE – Even without the most dominant man in politics on stage, the Republican debate proved to be a raucous, spicy affair that revealed a rising star, a struggling campaign and some subtle shifts on abortion and culture wars.

Across two hours here at the Fiserv Forum, a handful of candidates showed they were ready to separate from the pack and compete for second place to Donald Trump, who has a huge lead in every GOP primary poll.

Some candidates came ready with zingers – like Chris Christie, who has virtually no chance at the nomination but proved to be an effective bomb thrower. Other candidates shrunk or even disappeared from the debate.

Here are The Messenger’s seven takeaways from the Fox News debate:

DeSantis Disappears

Ron DeSantis stood center stage at the first GOP primary debate — prime real estate for a presidential candidate. But the Florida governor seemed to disappear throughout the night. He dodged questions on key issues for the party, like abortion and the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The attacks that his Never Back Down super PAC prepared for in detailed memos never materialized.

Meanwhile, his lower-polling rivals took up much of the airtime and attention. At one point, former Vice President Pence backed DeSantis into answering whether he did the right thing on Jan. 6 after the Florida governor acknowledged he was dodging the moderators' question. “Mike did his duty. I got no beef with him,” DeSantis finally said.

DeSantis has struggled to break past his second place position in the polls and step out of Trump’s shadow, and even his allies said he needed a breakout debate moment. But DeSantis was in fourth place in terms of debate speaking time. DeSantis campaign surrogate Rep. Chip Roy brushed off concerns that his candidate didn’t talk enough.

“You don't need quantity of minutes to demonstrate leadership,” Roy told The Messenger after the debate.

Vivek Rises

Vivek Ramaswamy sparred with Mike Pence. He battled Chris Christie. And he picked a fight with Nikki Haley. The longshot candidate and entrepreneur dominated the debate stage on Wednesday night, using his outlier policy views to grab attention and stoke the outrage of his opponents. Ramaswamy also gave his rivals an opponent to attack without alienating Trump supporters or elevating the second-place DeSantis.

“Climate change is a hoax,” Ramaswamy said at one point, prompting Christie to deride him as a “ChatGPT” candidate. Pence called him a “rookie” and Haley accused him of “choosing a murderer” for his stance on the war in Ukraine. He also suggested the U.S. government is paying single mothers “not to have a man in the house.”

For a relatively unknown candidate, the debate stage attention – positive or negative – seemed to be the goal.

After the debate, in the “spin room” next to the media center, Vivek told a gaggle of reporters “I was the clear winner of the night. But we are just getting started. … My sense is that it landed very well. Pretty soon it’ll be down to a two horse race between Trump and myself.”

Abortion Muddle

Republicans are still struggling to find their footing on abortion little over a year after the fall of Roe v. Wade, especially when it comes to pivoting from a GOP primary to a general election. Even staunchly anti-abortion candidates are undecided on how far to take proposed abortion bans, particularly as polls show that a majority of Americans support abortion to some degree.

Pence pitched a 15-week abortion ban, while DeSantis continued to dodge questions about whether he would sign a national law banning abortion at six weeks, like the 6-week abortion ban he signed in Florida. Haley was less committal, saying that she is against abortion but believes Republicans need to “stop demonizing the issue.”

“Can't we all agree that doctors and nurses who don't believe in abortion shouldn't have to perform them? Can't we all agree that contraception should be available? And can't we all agree that we are not going to put a woman in jail or give her the death penalty if she gets an abortion?” Haley said.

Pence Holds His Own

Pence came into the debate knowing that the Trump base still has deep disdain for him for not trying to overturn the 2020 election on Jan. 6, 2021.

But Pence came out swinging against several candidates during the debate, whacking Ramaswamy for his inexperience and other candidates for abandoning the muscular foreign policy views of Reagan Republicans.

Regarding Jan. 6, Pence said the “American people deserve to know” what happened, and reminded the crowd in the Milwaukee hall that Vice President Kamala Harris will have the same constitutional duties in Jan. 2025.

Pence also defended funding for Ukraine, defense of Taiwan against China and a more hawkish foreign policy than Trump-era Republicans support.

Pence was perhaps at his fiercest in going after Ramaswamy. “Now it's not the time for on-the-job training, we don't need to bring in a rookie,” Pence hit back.

Will it make a difference in the race for Pence? Probably not. But people who tuned in thinking Pence would be ignored, booed or overshadowed by fresher Republican talent saw a side of Pence that could give him more runway in the primary.

Woke Wanes: Where Did The Culture Wars Go?

The war on woke sort of died here Wednesday night.

There was very little talk of political correctness, book bans and only a few mentions of transgender rights. In fact, the word “woke” was only used once the entire night – by Nikki Haley.

To be sure, the culture wars are still animating conservative cable news shows, social media debates and campaign trail speeches. But polling has shown that GOP voters see the culture wars to be a distraction and would rather candidates focus on economics, crime and national security.

Eight Republican presidential candidates debated on Wednesday night in Milwaukee Scott Olson/Getty Images

There were a few passing references to making sure only biological girls participate in girls sports, but for the most part, the culture wars weren’t as dominant in the debate as they have been in the larger GOP conversation.

“There’s a lot of crazy woke things happening in schools,” Haley said, the only time the term came up.

Even DeSantis, who has promoted his “war on woke” ideology during the campaign, didn’t dive into the fray.

The Invisibles: Burgum, Hutchinson, Scott

The candidates at the end of the stage always have a tough time. And if you forgot that North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Sen. Tim Scott and Asa Hutchinson were participants in this affair you could be forgiven.

Those three had the least amount of speaking time, the least notable sound bites, and didn’t stand out in a two hour show that’s more about theater than policy substance.

Hutchinson’s standout moment was being the only one on stage who did not raise his hand to say he’d vote for Trump even if the ex-president is convicted of crimes. Scott had a series of solid, if predictable series of comments that were classically conservative on abortion, faith and crime, but it was hard to find a headliner sound bite from the South Carolina senator.

And Burgum’s most famous moment came before the debate: He injured himself playing basketball on Tuesday and had to limp in on crutches. It’s not clear if he’ll meet the polling standards to limp into the next GOP debate on Sept. 27.

Trump’s Long Legal Shadow

Trump will be arrested, fingerprinted and mug shotted on Thursday in Atlanta. The dozens of federal and state felony charges he faces across four different legal jurisdictions represent a wildly unprecedented moment in American politics.

And yet, every candidate on the stage raised their hands to say they would vote for Trump for president even if he’s convicted of a felony, except for Asa Hutchinson. Christie kind of did a finger wag that indicated he wasn’t sure what he’d do in the voting booth next year.

That moment says a lot about this Republican undercard: Trump remains the heavy favorite, the dominant force in Republican politics, even if he becomes a convicted felon.

Ramaswamy went even further, emphasizing his belief that Trump was "the best president of the 21st century."

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://themessenger.com/politics/desantis-disappears-vivek-rises-and-woke-wanes-seven-takeaways-from-the-gop-debate

Published and (C) by Common Dreams
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0..

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/commondreams/