Republican debate: CNN announces next two clashes in 2024
Best moments from the 2023 GOP presidential debates
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The fourth Republican[1] debate in Tuscaloosa, Alabama[2], this week pulled in the lowest ratings yet of all GOP primary debates during this 2024 presidential race. Over 4 million people tuned in to NewsNation and The CW to watch Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Chris Christie go head-to-head on stage on Wednesday night.
This is down from 7 million viewers of the third debate, which was down from 9 million and 12.8 million from the second and first. Wednesday’s debate frequently veered out of control as most of the attacks focused on former UN Ambassador Ms Haley who has been rising in the polls. [3] Entrepreneur Mr Ramaswamy was met with boos from the audience when he called her “corrupt” and a “fascist” [4]before going on a screed about her foreign policy experience, saying experience isn’t “wisdom”.
Former New Jersey Governor Mr Christie finally had enough of Mr Ramaswamy[5] calling him “the most obnoxious blowhard in America”. On Thursday, CNN announced that they will host two debates in January[6] – one on the 10th in Iowa, and another on the 21st in New Hampshire.
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VIDEO: Debate crowd boos as Vivek Ramaswamy accuses Nikki Haley of ‘fascism’
Debate crowd boos as Vivek Ramaswamy accuses Nikki Haley of ‘fascism’ Natalie Chinn8 December 2023 03:30
Ramaswamy calls Haley a ‘fascist’
Vivek Ramaswamy called Nikki Haley a “fascist” on Wednesday night.
“Nikki Haley was heaping praise on me when I wrote that book,” Mr Ramaswmay said about his anti-woke screed. “But now I worry I was warning about the woke industrial complex in this country … Apparently she read it as a how to manual,” she added. “We’re marching towards fascism under Biden,” he claimed. “Jack Smith has subpoenaed every last retweet that someone has issued from Donald Trump in the year 2020.
The only person more fascist than the Biden regime now is Nikki Haley who thinks the government should identify every one of those individuals with an ID that is not freedom that is fascism, and she should come nowhere near the levers of power, let alone the White House.” Gustaf Kilander8 December 2023 02:45
VIDEO: 4 Takeaways From the 4th Republican Presidential Debate
4 Takeaways From the 4th Republican Presidential Debate Gustaf Kilander8 December 2023 02:00
‘We begin with the question of electability,’ Kelly says as she asks DeSantis if he should drop out
The first question on Wednesday night went to Mr DeSantis, who again had to make the case for his struggling campaign.
“We begin with the question of electability,” moderator Megyn Kelly said at the beginning of the debate. “Governor DeSantis. Your campaign and its super PAC had spent the most money, had the most high net worth donors, and had a wave of momentum coming into this race after your big reelection win in Florida. You were seen by many as the candidate most likely to consolidate the non-Trump field.”
“But here we are a month out from the first real votes and you haven’t managed to do it. In fact, Nikki Haley is beating you in New Hampshire and South Carolina now and closing in on you in Iowa. Not to mention Trump, who was not only dominating in the early states, but he’s beating you in Florida by over 30 points.
Is it fair to say as Senator Tim Scott did when he dropped out that voters are telling you ‘not no, but not now’?” she asked. “So we have a great idea in America that the voters actually make these decisions, not pundits or pollsters,” the governor responded. “I’m sick of hearing about these polls because I remember those polls in November of 2022 – They said there was going to be a big red way if it was going to be monumental. And that crashed and burned.
The one place that didn’t crash and burn was in the state of Florida. They weren’t predicting that I would win the way I did. And I want the greatest Republican victory in the history of the state of Florida.
I’m looking forward to Iowa and New Hampshire.” Former GOP strategist Rick Wilson wrote on X on Wednesday: “Ron DeSantis is so weak he can’t even make @chrismziegler — his own Florida GOP Chairman — a man under police investigation for rape and sexual abuse — resign. DeSantis isn’t even trying that hard.
People are asking what Ziegler and his wife Bridget have on Ron and Casey.” “I said as early as in the spring of 2021 that Ron DeSantis was the most overpriced stock in American politics,” Mr Wilson told The Independent last week. “He didn’t win in Florida by some magical gift of his own, he inherited the best Republican machine in the country – it elected him, he didn’t win – he was hustled in there on the backs of 30 years of Republican dominance in the state and an infinite amount of money.” Calling Mr DeSantis “the opposite of political charisma”, Mr Wilson added that “the initial idea of Ron DeSantis being a great campaigner was rapidly put to the test and discovered to be a lie”.
Mr Wilson said that the governor is “without a question, the worst-performing, best-funded primary candidate I’ve seen in a long time”. Gustaf Kilander8 December 2023 01:15
Ron DeSantis struggles for air
Say what you will about the Florida governor, he came to Alabama tonight with a clear purpose: Stop Nikki Haley. Chastened by pundits for a robotic smile, Mr DeSantis on Wednesday exhibited a Terminator-esque determination as he went after Ms Haley time and time again, undeterred and seemingly barely noticing the increasingly caustic Vivek Ramaswamy standing directly beside him.
He was also prepared for the worst, which was why the governor was ready out of the gate when moderator Megyn Kelly, in her own first debate performance since a showdown with Donald Trump in 2016, fired him a fastball about his sagging poll numbers and inability to consolidate his rivals’ support. For Mr DeSantis, tonight was a do-or-die moment. And he did about as well as could have been expected.
If he is able to blunt Ms Haley’s momentum in Iowa, he may still eke out an impressive second-place finish there. But the polls of the race remain unchanged — he is far behind Donald Trump, the man he barely mentioned on Wednesday night. And one can question whether there is anything to be gained from beating up the third-place contender when the race’s frontrunner is a mile ahead.
Tonight was likely the final matchup for the candidates until at least the first if not the second primary contest is decided. The Republican National Committee has not scheduled any debates yet for 2024, though that could obviously change if an early state produces a result that changes this race somehow. Over the holidays, the candidates will make their final pleas to voters as the nation prepares for these candidates to finally face their first electoral test on 15 January.
Onwards to Iowa! John Bowden7 December 2023 23:30
DeSantis raises eyebrows by telling GOP debate his favourite president is Calvin Coolidge
Mr Coolidge got his nickname “Silent Cal” for his reserved and quiet manner in social situations, with at least two people allegedly reacting to his death with questions[13] like “How can they tell?” and “How do they know?” “One of the guys I’ll take inspiration from is Calvin Coolidge, and people don’t talk about him a lot,” Mr DeSantis said on Wednesday. “He’s one of the few presidents that got almost everything right.
He understood the proper role of the federal government under the Constitution – we need to restore the US Constitution as the centerpiece of our national life and that requires a president who understands the original understanding of the Constitution, who has a good sense of the Bill of Rights and who knows how we’ve gone off track with this massive fourth branch of government, this administrative state which is imposing his will on us and it’s being weaponized against us.” “Silent Cal knew the proper role of the federal government. The country was in great shape when he was president of the United States, and we can learn a lot a lot from Calvin Coolidge,” he added.
Gustaf Kilander7 December 2023 22:45
Even Fox News has had enough of Ramaswamy as host slams ‘naive’ Ukraine policy
“You sound so naive!” Mr Kilmeade told Mr Ramaswamy. Right-wing commentator Jack Posobiec posted the footage on X, writing “Fox and Friends blasts Vivek for calling for a peace deal in Ukraine, he responds that their neocon logic got us the disaster in Afghanistan in fiery throwdown”. Gustaf Kilander7 December 2023 22:00
The transgender debate takes centre stage, finally
As much as many praised the previous debates for focusing mainly on kitchen-table issues and foreign policy, tonight we got to see a revealing look at where the modern GOP stands on the issue of transgender equality.
That look revealed a party that is playing firmly to a right-wing base on this issue. None were willing to speak about transgender people with anything resembling kindness or compassion — Vivek Ramaswamy called all transgender persons mentally ill, while Ron DeSantis described gender-affirming care as “mutilation” and “child abuse” in the case of underage persons. One Republican you don’t hear talking like this too much?
Donald Trump, who was probably pretty glad to have skipped this particular debate segment. How do tonight’s diatribes by the assembled candidates square with polling that shows nearly two thirds of Americans supporting legislation to prevent discrimination against transgender persons? Or the 47 per cent of Americans age 18-29 who say that acceptance of transgender people in society is not yet sufficient?
John Bowden7 December 2023 21:30
Knives out for Nikki
The most unsurprising dynamic of the night played out around rising star Nikki Haley. As pointed out by the debate’s moderators in the opening moments of the night, Ms Haley is leading everyone but Donald Trump in New Hampshire and South Carolina, and gaining on Ron DeSantis in Iowa. Mr DeSantis and Mr Ramaswamy, her two closest rivals in national polling, clearly realised this and were prepared with canned attacks.
She batted down some, left others awkwardly hanging with simple denunciations of her opponents for not telling the truth. Overall, she had a strong performance — at least strong enough that it won’t hurt her poll numbers as she continues to climb in the early states. “I love all the attention, fellas,” she quipped at one point, earning a laugh from the crowd.
But she remains fifty points behind Donald Trump in recent national polling — for Ms Haley, the only thing that matters now is whether her efforts on the ground, especially in New Hampshire and South Carolina. Tonight won’t help, or particularly hurt that effort. John Bowden7 December 2023 21:00
The return of Chris Christie
Chris Christie appears to have found the energy he summoned in 2016 eviscerate Marco Rubio and brought it to bear tonight: his systematic dressing down of Vivek Ramaswamy, Ron DeSantis[18], and at times the entire stage (during moments when he questioned their reluctance to criticise Donald Trump) was masterful, the best debate performance possibly of any candidate so far.
One of his best moments — and there were several quips in contention — came seventeen minutes into the debate as he admonished the entire state of rivals as well as tonight’s moderators for not addressing the elephant not in the room. As he called out his opponents for being unwilling to mention or offer even lukewarm criticism of Donald Trump and reminded Americans that they pledged to vote for Mr Trump should he be criminally convicted next year, none raised their voices against him. Again, it won’t matter.
He’s dead last in the polls, even if you don’t factor in the frontrunner. Tonight’s debate, which likely won’t reach the number of eyeballs needed to move the needle for Mr Christie in New Hampshire, was emblematic of his greatest problem: he is a candidate running in a party with a base that fundamentally doesn’t agree with him. His message was best received among independents, not hardline conservatives.
And the former governor has shown no sign of making inroads with that latter group.
John Bowden7 December 2023 20:30
References
- ^ Republican (www.independent.co.uk)
- ^ Alabama (www.independent.co.uk)
- ^ Haley attacked by Ramaswamy: ‘It’s not worth my time to respond to him’ (www.independent.co.uk)
- ^ Christie dubs Ramaswamy ‘most obnoxious blowhard in America’ in GOP debate (www.the-independent.com)
- ^ Vivek Ramaswamy booed at GOP debate after calling Nikki Haley ‘fascist’ (www.the-independent.com)
- ^ CNN announced that they will host two debates in January (www.cnn.com)
- ^ 1702006234 (www.independent.co.uk)
- ^ 1702003534 (www.independent.co.uk)
- ^ 1702000834 (www.independent.co.uk)
- ^ 1701998134 (www.independent.co.uk)
- ^ 1701991834 (www.independent.co.uk)
- ^ 1701989134 (www.independent.co.uk)
- ^ allegedly reacting to his death with questions (quoteinvestigator.com)
- ^ 1701986434 (www.independent.co.uk)
- ^ 1701984634 (www.independent.co.uk)
- ^ 1701982834 (www.independent.co.uk)
- ^ 1701981034 (www.independent.co.uk)
- ^ Ron DeSantis (www.the-independent.com)