First Republican 2023 Debate
The First Republican Debate took place on August 23rd with strong showings from Mike Pence, newcomer Vivek Ramaswamy, Ron DeSantis and surprisingly Nikki Haley. Trump did not show up for the debate but instead did an interview with Tucker Carlson.
The main positions discussed were Government spending, supporting Trump, Abortion, The War in Ukraine, Fentanyl and Illegal Immigration from Mexico.
Most surprising performances from this debate were from Mike Pence, Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley. While Ron DeSantis had a fair performance but did not perform as had been expected.
Mike Pence’s best moments came when he was able to tow the line between condoning Trump on January 6th, touting his experience in politics and achievements of the Trump administration.
Vivek Ramaswamy for being relatively unknown before the debate gained traction as he was extremely aggressive and attacked many candidates on the stage. He also touted many extreme positions, saying that the “Climate Change agenda was a hoax” and he was the only candidate on stage to openly say so. He also said that he is the only one on the stage who isn’t bought and paid for so he can say this, taking something right out of Trump’s playbook. Even at one point Chris Christie tried to attack Vivek by stating
“I’ve had enough of a guy who sounds like Chat GPT, the last person who stood in the middle of stage, what a skinny guy with an odd last name doing here, was Barack Obama, and we’re dealing with the same kinda amateur right here.”
Vivek slyly responded “ give me a big bear hug, like you did to Obama to help elect him?” showing his political awareness and on the stop debate skills. Claimed he is the only candidate on stage that would pardon Donald Trump.
Nikki Haley had a strong showing, appearing as more moderate and reserved compared to the other people on the stage. She still was able to tout many conservative talking points, but was able to attack others on the stage, specifically all main people responsible for the out of control inflation because of the spending they passed. Haley also had a strong showing on foreign policy hitting Vivek Ramaswamy who said he would cut aid to Israel and Ukraine, stating that it was not a way to treat allies or friends.
Ron DeSantis held a decent showing on the stage, at numerous times he was never directly attacked, except a few times by Vivek. However, the Governor seemed to struggle at some points to catch social ques and had awkward pauses. He did however, have a good showing regarding his repetition of hitting his point that American Decline was a decision. I had expected him to perform a bit better, seeing that he was the second contender under Trump. DeSantis might not have had as great a showing because apart from abortion there was not much talk of social policy. Ron DeSantis did try to move further to the right then Trump stating that locking down the economy was a mistake during COVID.
When it came to government spending, every single candidate was in agreement that there needs to be major cuts. Pence stated that Entitlements need to be on the table, meaning cuts to social security, medicaid and medicare. Vivek claims he will reduce government employees by 75% and 50% in the first year. Vivek is in favor of shutting down the FBI, the Department of Education, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. He is also in favor of cutting IRS, CDC, and ATF.
Nikki Haley was the only candidate that held a moderate position regarding abortion, along with Doug Burgum who said leave it up to the states. Haley said while also stating that she supports a federal 15 week ban. Haley stated, “Contraception should be available. Women shouldn’t be put in jail or given the death penalty.”
Ron DeSantis signed the heartbeat bill in Florida making a 6 week abortion ban. Ron DeSantis did not state whether or not he would support a 6 week ban federally, but he probably would. Mike Pence calls out Nikki Haley, saying that it’s not a states only issue, it’s a moral issue. Minimum standard in each state stating when a baby is capable of feeling pain, abortion can not be allowed, 15 week ban time has come. However in the past Mike Pence has stated he supports a 6 week abortion ban, a much more extreme position, he made this clear when he stated he disagrees with Nikki stating that not going for a national abortion ban is not leadership.
During the portion of supporting aid to Ukraine, only Ron DeSantis and Vivek said they would not give support. Vivek at one point licks his finger and puts it up in the air to symbolize that Ron DeSantis answer that Europe needs to step up was not a full no, that he was just doing what was popular and seeing which ways the wind was blowing.
Ron DeSantis states he would send troops over the Mexican border in Mexico to take out the cartel. DeSantis and Vivek both support deploying the military into Mexico to fight the cartels.
Chris Christie was the candidate on the stage who was the loudest against Trump running for the nominee, Asa Hutchinson being second. However, Chris Christie’s attacks on Trump did not seem to land with the audience, as after this moment they began booing so loudly that he couldn’t talk.
How to grade a Republican Debate performance
I took a bit out of Ben Shapiro’s book by grading each part of the audience own grade for by how they perceived each candidate before and after the debate. I broke down the party as follows: Far Right this is the extreme wing of the party that have far right wing reactionary tendencies further to the right than Trump, often openly Fascist. Trumpers, the voters that say Trump no matter what. Traditional GOP, this is your Reaganite Bush style Republicans not super strong on social issues as other far right wingers but they still care. Moderate GOP voters are those who consider themselves Republicans but aren’t die hard loyalists, sometimes swing voters. Normies, these are your average Americans. Below are how I perceived each candidate doing on a scale out of 10 before the debate, and how they did after.
- Donald Trump
- Vivek Ramaswamy
- Ron DeSantis
- Mike Pence
- Nikki Haley
- Chris Christie
- Doug Burgum
- Asa Hutchinson
- Tim Scott
The main takeaway is that Vivek Ramaswamy gained traction as a major player. Ron DeSantis had a fair showing, and Nikki Haley was rather a surprise. Tim Scott had a terrible performance stumbling over his words and repeating himself in the same sentence. Doug Burgum comes off as a nice guy but he is rather forgetful and far too moderate in a party that’s gotten more and more extreme. Asa Hutchinson is Pence but more boring and trying to never be a Trumper. Chris Christie’s strategy seems like it would make sense if Trump was already indicted or convicted.
Donald Trump’s absence in the debate had nearly no hindrance on his polling or support. However in my opinion I believe Trump should have done the debate and schooled the rest. It would have been more entertaining, but it really showed that it had no impact on his perception by not participating. The only thing that shows is that Ron DeSantis popularity has begun going down, Nikki Haley went up in popularity, even above Pence, most likely due to her ability to come off as moderate.
In the Second Debate there only needs to be four candidates or five if Trump participates, DeSantis, Haley, Ramaswamy, and Pence. The rest are nonfactors and have no obvious path to victory or appeal, especially when the front runner has over 50% of the vote.
