The second 2024 Republican presidential primary debate ended as it began, with former President Donald Trump – who hasn’t yet appeared on stage alongside his rivals – as the party’s dominant frontrunner.
The seven GOP contenders in Wednesday night’s showdown at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California provided a handful of memorable moments, including former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley taking out what often seemed like the entire field’s pent-up frustration on entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
Two candidates also criticised Trump’s absence. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said he was “missing in action”. Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie called the former president “Donald Duck” and said he was “hiding behind his golf clubs” instead of defending his record on stage. The GOP field also took early shots at President Joe Biden.
But what played out in the debate, hosted by Fox Business Network and Univision, is unlikely to change the trajectory of a GOP race in which Trump has remained dominant in national and early state polls. And the often chaotic, hard-to-follow crosstalk may have caused many viewers to tune out altogether.
Here are some key takeaways from the second GOP primary debate:
Trump’s safe approach seems to be paying off: Trump may be playing it safe by skipping the debates and taking a run-as-incumbent approach to the 2024 GOP primary. However, it’s hard to see how he would pay a significant price in the eyes of primary voters for missing Wednesday night’s messy engagement. Trump’s rivals took a few shots at the former president. DeSantis hammered him on deficit spending. Christie mocked him, calling him “Donald Duck” for skipping the debate. But he largely escaped serious scrutiny of his four years in the Oval Office from a field of rivals courting voters who have largely positive views of Trump’s presidency.
A chaotic two hours: The second GOP primary debate was plagued by interruptions, cross-talk and lengthy arguments between the candidates and moderators over speaking time. It’s difficult for viewers trying to make sense of it all, but even worse for the candidates, who were trying to present themselves as viable alternatives to the absent Trump. To make matters worse, some of the candidates with the highest poll numbers after Trump – DeSantis and Haley – were among the least willing to dive into the muck, especially in the crucial first hour.
Candidates piled on Vivek Ramaswamy: Some of the candidates on stage didn’t want a repeat of the first debate, in which Ramaswamy emerged as a formidable debater and showman. Other candidates still clashed with him. South Carolina Senator Tim Scott went after the tech entrepreneur, saying his business record included links to the Chinese Communist Party and money going to Hunter Biden. At another point, after Ramaswamy responded to a question about his use of TikTok, Haley jumped in, saying, “Every time I listen to you, I feel a little bit dumber from what you’re saying,” adding, “We can’t trust you.”
Palmetto Pummeling: All night long, Scott seemed to be looking for a fight with someone, and he finally got one when he set his sights on fellow South Carolinian Haley. He began his line of attack – which Haley interjected with a “Bring it” – by accusing her of spending $50,000 on curtains in a $15 million subsidised venue during her time as US ambassador to the United Nations. What followed was a back and forth between the two Republicans about the drapes.
An uneven performance for DeSantis: Facing his Republican rivals for the first time in earnest, DeSantis delivered an uneven performance from the centre of the stage – a much less secure spot than the first debate in Milwaukee. Despite rules that allowed candidates to respond when called upon, DeSantis let Fox slip into a commercial break when Pence appeared to blame the governor for a jury’s decision to give the mass murderer in the Parkland high school shooting a life sentence rather than the death penalty. The Florida governor managed to speak for the first time on Wednesday night at the last minute – 16 minutes into the debate. And when he finally spoke, he continued the sharper attacks on the GOP frontrunner that he has been previewing in recent weeks.
