The Average Moderators Acquired No Good Solutions, And 5 Different Takeaways From The GOP Debate

The moderators of the second Republican presidential debate, hosted by Fox Enterprise and Univision, pressed the seven GOP hopefuls assembled within the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on Wednesday evening to deal with the considerations of the broader American public with questions that have been at occasions, nicely, downright reasonable in nature.

The candidates’ responses have been nonetheless usually aimed on the right-wing Republican base reasonably than the final voters or the inquiring moderators.

One after one, on subjects together with the United Auto Staff strike, the minority achievement hole, the Reasonably priced Care Act and Florida’s Black historical past curriculum, the moderators tried to push the candidates out of their consolation zones and got here again wanting.

Immigration and the fentanyl disaster ― an issue that, by the way, Republicans blame on undocumented immigrants ― have been two telling examples. Univision anchor Ilia Calderón, who started the night by extending a welcome in Spanish, performed then-President Ronald Reagan’s phrases in 1984 through which he expressed openness to granting “amnesty” to undocumented immigrants ― a step he formally took two years later.

She then pressed former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who supported bipartisan immigration reform earlier than lurching rightward on the subject throughout his 2016 presidential run, to make clear the place he stands on laws that would offer a pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants.

“The problem is that since no one has done anything since we first had this discussion 13 years ago, we’re not in a position to do any of that anymore,” Christie stated. “What we have to do now is first treat this like the law enforcement problem it is.”

Calderón later requested entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy how he would deal with an inflow of fentanyl that comes virtually fully by way of official U.S. ports of entry and is usually transported by U.S. residents ― reasonably than the right-wing narrative that it’s being smuggled over the border by undocumented immigrants.

Ramaswamy, who has promised to deport all undocumented immigrants and their U.S.-born youngsters, ignored the premise of the query and doubled down on his plan to have the navy go to struggle with the Mexican drug cartels.

“We have to use our own military to seal the Swiss cheese of a southern border,” he stated, including that he would deal with home “demand” for fentanyl by enhancing psychological well being care.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took the chance to chime in. “Everything he said I agree with. That is why as commander in chief I’m going to use the U.S. military to go after the Mexican drug cartels.”

“Those Mexican drug cartels are going to be treated like the terrorists,” DeSantis added.

Listed below are another takeaways from Wednesday’s debate:

The primary two questions of the night have been in regards to the United Auto Staff strike and the hole between government compensation and atypical employees’ pay.

However some lip service to rank-and-file union members’ considerations, the candidates virtually uniformly appeared like merchandise of Reagan’s union-busting GOP.

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina lately praised Reagan’s era-defining determination to fireside putting air visitors controllers in reference to the UAW strike, saying, “To the extent that we can use that once again, absolutely.”

Fox Enterprise’s Stuart Varney requested him flatly, “Would you fire thousands of striking autoworkers today, senator?”

“Obviously, the president of the United States cannot fire anybody in the private sector,” Scott replied, earlier than rattling off his grievances with organized labor.

Scott faulted the UAW for demanding a 32-hour workweek and blamed Biden for allotting $86 billion to bail out failing union pension funds. He didn’t point out that the pensions have been in hassle in no small half attributable to company bankruptcies in growing older industries.

Requested to reply subsequent, Ramaswamy declared that he agreed with the “spirit” of what Scott stated.

“I don’t have a lot of patience for the union bosses,” stated Ramaswamy, utilizing a pejorative for democratically elected union officers. “I think that’s where he and I actually have a common view. I do have a lot of sympathy for the workers.”

In a second query about earnings inequality, Varney famous that auto trade CEOs make 336 occasions what their common employees make. He requested Pence to clarify what he meant when he stated that he helps the autoworkers but in addition helps “how these companies operate” ― together with the excessive CEO pay. “Which is it?” Varney requested, framing it as a zero-sum tradeoff between employees and CEOs.

Pence was having none of it.

“While the union bosses are talking about class warfare and talking about the disparity in wages, I have to tell you, I really believe what’s driving that is that ‘Bidenomics’ has failed,” he stated earlier than lighting into the liberal financial and environmental insurance policies that he believes are stopping wages from preserving tempo with inflation.

Ron DeSantis has had a tricky main thus far. He fought for airtime in his first debate efficiency whereas failing to go away a mark. And his marketing campaign’s restructuring ― learn: mass layoffs ― has didn’t arrest a slide within the polls that has seen him drop to fifth place in a current survey of Republican main voters within the early main state of New Hampshire.

But when Ramaswamy stole the present in Milwaukee in August, DeSantis discovered time to shine in Wednesday’s showdown in Simi Valley, California. In actual fact, he narrowly bought the most talking time of any candidate.

The Florida governor turned a query about schooling coverage into an prolonged riff about his private biography, together with his determination to serve within the navy after 9/11, which drew applause from the gang.

“I’ve been a blue-collar kid, minimum wage and studied in Florida,” he stated. “I ended up getting through Yale and Harvard Law School and somehow came out more conservative than when I went in, and that is not easy to do. Had a lot of opportunities to make money, but I wanted to serve.”

DeSantis was maybe strongest whereas defending his report enacting right-wing insurance policies in Florida. He argued that solely he, a villain for the left, had endured the liberal resistance and nationwide scrutiny wanted to check his mettle for the presidency.

“You can always talk, but when it gets hot in there, when they’re shooting arrows at you, are you going to be stand-up for parents’ rights, keep the state free?” he requested. “I’ve done it while others have talked about it.”

In fact, DeSantis had his share of face-plants as nicely. His solutions when pressed on his state’s excessive charge of individuals with out medical health insurance have been missing.

And it’s not clear how a lot the talk improved his standing relative to Trump, who stays the sphere’s runaway chief. However at a second when DeSantis wanted evening, he bought one.

An vital factor occurred when Fox Information’ Dana Perino requested Pence whether or not Obamacare was “here to stay.” As an alternative of answering the query, Pence determined to reply to a earlier query about mass shootings and gun violence. Perino adopted up: “Does that mean Obamacare is here to stay?” He nonetheless didn’t reply the query.

No candidate had an actual reply about what to do about medical health insurance within the debate. Nobody referred to as for repealing Obamacare, as each candidate did in each the 2012 and 2016 GOP primaries. And nobody provided a lot of an answer for rising well being care costs, that are the main reason for chapter, or for the hundreds of thousands who nonetheless lack medical health insurance even with Obamacare.

Haley gave essentially the most substantive response by arguing for value transparency in well being care and tort reform. Her reply was a standard-issue, market-oriented, anti-trial lawyer reply that any Republican might have given over the previous two or three a long time.

When DeSantis was requested why 2.5 million Floridians don’t have medical health insurance, he couldn’t reply the query. (Florida is one among 11 states that haven’t expanded Medicaid as offered for beneath Obamacare.)

On one of many largest points and prices for People, the GOP appears to be utterly out of concepts.

Ramaswamy was the massive story following the primary GOP debate after he attacked his opponents as “bought and paid for,” derided Reagan’s “Morning in America” sunny disposition and heaped reward on Donald Trump. By the tip of the second GOP debate, he was begging for his rivals to comply with Reagan’s eleventh commandment: “Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican.”

Along with his highschool debate type and smarmy presentation, Ramaswamy, who at 38 was the youngest candidate on stage, clearly aggravated his fellow main candidates, particularly Haley.

“Every time I hear you, I feel a little bit dumber for what you say,” Haley stated to Ramaswamy after he defined how social media influencer Jake Paul satisfied him to hitch TikTok.

Scott bought the Vivek-bashing off to a begin by attacking Ramaswamy for doing enterprise in China when he ran a pharmaceutical firm. However the huge pile-on got here on a serious coverage level that presently divides the Republican Get together: the Russia-Ukraine Battle. After Ramaswamy declared that “just because Putin is an evil dictator does not mean that Ukraine is good,” the candidates jumped on him.

“A win for Russia, is a win for China,” Haley repeated quite a few occasions.

“Vivek, if you let Putin have Ukraine, that is a green light for China to take Taiwan,” Pence shouted over Ramaswamy.

Trump, the front-runner within the race, additionally took hits, however this time from somebody aside from Christie, who has made it his mission to run in opposition to Trump. In his first response of the evening, DeSantis attacked Trump for being “missing in action” from the talk stage and blamed him for rising inflation.

“He owes it to you to defend his record, where they added $7.8 trillion to the debt that set the stage for the inflation that we have,” DeSantis stated.

DeSantis additionally attacked Trump for not being on the debate to defend his criticism of six-week abortion bans, just like the one DeSantis signed into regulation in Florida.

“[Trump] should be here explaining his comments … that pro-life protections are somehow a terrible thing,” DeSantis stated.

Haley additionally attacked Trump for his report on China. She claimed that Trump centered solely on the difficulty of commerce concerning China however ignored “that they were buying up our farmland,” “stealing $600 billion in intellectual property,” “put a spy base off our shores in Cuba” and “that all of our law enforcement drones in America are Chinese.”

“Who am I? What am I doing here?” That’s what you could be asking your self after watching this second GOP presidential debate.

The explanation it’s possible you’ll be questioning the purpose of all of that is that, for the second time, the GOP debate stage didn’t embrace the front-runner, Donald Trump. Regardless of the first marketing campaign raging for many of 2023, Trump has solely gained floor within the polls. In February, he led DeSantis by simply 2 proportion factors in polling averages. Now? Trump leads all the different GOP candidates mixed by practically 20 factors.

Trump’s place is so strong that President Joe Biden is already working adverts attacking him, and Trump spent the evening campaigning in swingy Macomb County, Michigan, reasonably than worrying in regards to the debate in California.

So what’s even the purpose of those debates? Listed below are seven candidates who assume they need to be the following president of america, however solely one among them is cracking 10% within the polls. None of them have damaged out with main voters to date. In actual fact, DeSantis, that one candidate over 10%, has seen his ballot numbers slide because the first debate. He could have had a strong evening within the second debate, however neither he nor any of the opposite candidates did something to reply the 2 primary questions on this race: How are they completely different from Trump? And why shouldn’t Trump be the occasion’s nominee?

It’s not all on them. This race is exclusive. There isn’t any precedent for difficult a former president in an open main because the adoption of the fashionable main system in 1972. Trump has additionally reached a legendary standing with the GOP base. He got here out of the tv, descended that escalator in 2015 and spoke on to the anxieties and fears within the Republican soul.

So, what’s left for these also-rans? In his speech at a non-union auto elements store on Wednesday evening, Trump declared that he is not going to decide any of his 2024 main rivals as his vice presidential nominee. In order that’s out of the query, relying on how a lot you assume Trump’s phrases are value. Some, like Ramaswamy, could also be positioning themselves for future political campaigns.

However for the remainder of them, what’s the purpose? Maybe it’s that politicians are like sharks. They will solely transfer ahead. As soon as they’ve reached a sure level of their careers, working for president is the final ahead transfer to make. However if you wish to win, you need to be keen to chew. And none of those sharks have figured that out but.