Impressions from the First Republican Debate
Vivek Ramaswamy came across as a motor mouth who believes he knows it all while in fact he is simply parroting Trumpian lies, although far more articulately.
DeSantis is simply Trump-lite, who actually has done lots of horrible things as Florida’s Governor (miseducation of public school students on slavery is a prime example) and is very proud of them. He has become not an attractive candidate to most outside the extreme right, and Trump already has that market cornered.
Haley came across as potentially the most formidable candidate against Democrats in the general election. She appeared to be knowledgeable and realistic, far more so than many of the others on stage were willing to be on truly important issues like climate change, reproductive rights, national security and the national debt. I’m not sure that the majority of Republican primary voters relish truth tellers, but she could be attractive to independent moderate voters in a general election.
Christie seems to be on a one-man mission to take down Donald Trump because of 1/6; I cannot agree more. He deserves better poll numbers for his efforts and his honesty about his erstwhile pal. I don’t know where that truth telling gets him in a Republican primary unless he becomes the last person standing between a multiple-convicted Trump and the nomination.
Pence is looking far more knowledgeable and capable than Ramaswamy or DeSantis and less abrasive than Chris Christie. He appears to have some unexpected backbone in his critiques of some of his fellow candidates and standing up his role in defeating the abortive Trump coup. He is an old-style Republican conservative out of step with the semi-fascist Trump true believers.
Trump is saddled with indictments, all fully earned and well deserved, for his efforts to overthrow a free and fair election that he lost by overwhelming numbers. Yet he outpolls all of his Republican opponents -- a feat of gravitational defiance one can equally deplore and admire for its inherent implausibility. I don’t think he can keep that ball in the air, and he is well served by avoiding (chickening out) any and all debate stages in favor of soft ball interviewers and other sycophants. But quite honestly, what can you say about the six wanna be presidents who said they would vote for Trump even if he was a convicted felon?