Four takeaways from the first 2024 Republican presidential debate

WASHINGTON - Eight contenders for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination jockeyed for voters’ attention on Wednesday at the party’s first debate, while the front-runner Donald Trump, the former president,

bypassed the event.

Here are four takeaways from the debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin:

New kid in town

In his first political debate, Mr Vivek Ramaswamy, 38, was widely expected to be a wild card. He quickly learned that fire brings fire.

Mr Ramaswamy, a businessman with no political experience who has been rising in some opinion polls, branded his rivals “professional politicians” and “bought and paid for”. That brought howls of protest from others on the stage.

He also referred to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, 44, as a “super PAC puppet.” Mr DeSantis has been backed throughout his run by a deep-pocketed political action committee Never Back Down.

Mr Mike Pence, 64, defending his four-year record as Trump’s vice president, tried to cut Mr Ramaswamy down to size. “We don’t need to bring in a rookie, we don’t need to bring in people without experience,” Mr Pence said.

Mr Pence’s problem? There seemed to be more supporters of the outsider Mr Ramaswamy in the audience than for Pence, illustrating the difficulty his candidacy has had mustering traction. His critique brought forth a cascade of boos.

That did not stop former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, 60, who tried to finish Mr Ramaswamy off much as he famously took down Senator Marco Rubio during the 2016 presidential campaign.

“I’ve had enough, already tonight, of a guy who sounds like ChatGPT standing up here,” Mr Christie said.

Then Mr Christie went further.

“And the last person in one of these debates ... who stood in the middle of the stage and said, ‘What’s a skinny guy with an odd last name doing up here,’ was (Democrat) Barack Obama. And I’m afraid we’re dealing with the same type of amateur standing on the stage tonight,” Mr Christie said.

‘Elephant not in the room’

Not only did Trump skip the debate,

he counter-programmed it.

The former host of NBC’s reality show “The Apprentice” sat with conservative broadcaster Tucker Carlson for a pre-recorded interview that was posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, just as the debate began.

Debate moderator Bret Baier of Fox News called Trump “the elephant not in the room.”

As the debate entered its second hour, the candidates on stage were asked about Trump’s efforts to overturn

the 2020 election.

By and large, they fell into predictable patterns. Pence defended certifying the electoral vote in the US Congress despite pressure from Trump. Mr Christie, Trump’s most persistent critic, said his conduct was beneath “the office of president.” DeSantis argued the party needed to focus on the future.

Trump had a fierce defender in Mr Ramaswamy, who called him “the best president of the 21st century” and vowed to pardon him if he is convicted of federal crimes. He later argued against US support for Ukraine in

its war against Russia,

a key Trump talking point that separates him from many in the party.

Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley,

however, sought to speak frankly to the millions of Republicans watching at home.

“We have to look at the fact that three quarters of Americans don’t want a rematch between Trump and Biden,” said Mrs Haley, 51. “And we have to face the fact that Trump is the most disliked politician in America. We can’t win a general election that way.”

Angst over abortion

The debate found the candidates grappling with the best way to approach abortion as a political issue. While most on stage support restrictions in some form, the issue has proven to be a profound vulnerability for the party in recent general elections.

Mrs Haley, who said she was strongly anti-abortion, seemed to try to find a better way to speak to moderate voters on the topic.

“Can’t we all agree that we’re not going to put a woman in jail or give her the death penalty if she gets an abortion?” said Mrs Haley, the only woman on the debate stage. “Let’s treat this like a respectful issue that it is and humanize the situation and stop demonizing that situation.”

Mr DeSantis was pressed on his support for Florida’s six-week abortion ban, which he signed into law in April, a move some wealthy supporters found too extreme.

Asked if he would support a six-week federal ban, Mr DeSantis was evasive, suggesting it was an issue that would be best left to the states but also saying he would support “the cause of life.”

Mr Pence accused Mrs Haley of being too soft on the issue.

“Consensus is the opposite of leadership,” he told her. “It’s not a states-only issue. It’s a moral issue.”

Mrs Haley countered by saying Mr Pence wasn’t being honest with voters, arguing there would not be enough support in Congress for a federal ban. “Don’t make women feel like they have to decide on this issue,” she said.

Bashing Bidenomics

How do you run on the economy when the Biden administration insists it’s in good shape and inflation is cooling? For the candidates on the debate stage, it was by talking about on how regular Americans are struggling with the cost of items such as groceries, fuel and cars.

The first question of the debate gave the Republicans a free shot at criticizing

so-called “Bidenomics,”

the nickname given to Democratic President Joe Biden’s economic policies.

It was a topic Mr DeSantis had been waiting for. He has increasingly been raising the issue of affordability as he has re-tooled his campaign message to try to gain ground on Trump. And he was ready with a line.

“If you are working hard and you can’t afford groceries, a car or a new home while Hunter Biden can make hundreds of thousands of dollars on lousy paintings, that is wrong,” Mr DeSantis said, referring to the president’s son.

Many Americans who voted for Mr Biden in 2020 say they believe the economy has fared poorly under his stewardship and that they might not vote for him in the 2024 election, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released this month.

Forty-two per cent of Mr Biden’s 2020 voters in the poll said the economy was “worse” than it was in 2020, compared to 33 per cent who said it was “better” and 24 per cent who said it was “about the same”. REUTERS