Wednesday night’s first 2024 GOP presidential primary debate might wind up being a bit of a wash for all the candidates involved — principally because nobody significantly exceeded or underperformed expectations.
Yet, simply because there was no clear winner or loser of the debate itself, does not mean that there weren’t both highlights and lowlights worth reviewing for each candidate. We’ll review some of those moments and more for each candidate involved (and not involved) in no particular order.
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy
Pros: Ramaswamy, the 38-year-old untested politician, arguably made the biggest splash in terms of proving that he can handle being on the stage with the seven other politicians vying for the nomination. As a political outsider, Ramaswamy has chosen to shy away from criticizing former President Donald Trump and his MAGA base — a trend that continued in Milwaukee.
To his credit, Ramaswamy was quick to answer many questions straightforwardly. He did nothing to turn off his more populist voters or those sympathetic to his platform. A particular highlight was his response to how to fix the education crisis in America, but he also spoke of intangibles not necessarily reflected in policies.
Conservative writer Amber Athey praised Vivek to that extent, saying, “Vivek is the only candidate on the stage who has identified the real underlying issues affecting Americans. Our lack of shared identity & values. The others laughed at his assertion that we are in decline, they don’t see our national malaise. They don’t get it.”
Vivek is the only candidate on the stage who has identified the real underlying issues affecting Americans. Our lack of shared identity & values. The others laughed at his assertion that we are in decline, they don't see our national malaise. They don't get it.
— Amber Athey (@amber_athey) August 24, 2023
Cons: Vivek has earned a nickname from political opponents as “Vivek the Fake” and his flip-flops on key issues hamper his success. He didn’t do himself any favors toward shedding that label after he appeared to steal former President Barack Obama’s line about being “a skinny guy with a funny last name. “
Watch for yourself:
Vivek Ramaswamy dropped a not-so-subtle reference to Obama's 2004 DNC speech last night… pic.twitter.com/TGmAazHzuC
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 24, 2023
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis
Pros: The Florida governor had a quality night — not necessarily for what he said, but for what he did not say. DeSantis avoided verbal landmines that could turn off MAGA voters and largely stayed out of the fray in terms of personal attacks. He stayed on message: America is in decline. We need to fix it. I know how to fix it. Look at Florida for results.
Those who are squarely aligned with DeSantis are likely to stay with him after last night’s appearance. Maybe as a result of his personal and political discipline, and perhaps because of his popularity amongst the GOP base, the other candidates avoided lobbing assaults at him as well.
Cons: While DeSantis didn’t get attacked all that much, he also didn’t make the impact he needed to be seen as the pre-eminent opponent to Trump. Trump is 40 points ahead of DeSantis. He is going to need to peel away that support in order to defeat him.
To that end, it doesn’t seem like he did anything to win over the Trump primary voters he needs — especially compared to Ramaswamy. As we’ll discuss with former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, he may even lose some of the more hawkish GOP voters who want more aid sent to Ukraine.
There are many voters waiting for DeSantis to have a big, breakout moment that shows he can be entertaining, connect with voters, and be able to stand on his own two feet against Trump. That didn’t happen here.
Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley
Pros: Haley’s most passionate and arguably best moment of the night came in her defense of the moral and political need to help Ukraine defend itself. Watch here:
Nikki Haley slams Ramaswamy at the GOP debate on foreign policy:
“Ukraine is the first line of defence for us. Vivek wants to hand Ukraine to Russia. He wants to let China eat Taiwan. He wants to stop funding Israel. You don’t do that to friends.” 👏👏pic.twitter.com/LMVDTOuGws— Bella Wallersteiner 🇺🇦 (@BellaWallerstei) August 24, 2023
If you are somebody who believes that the U.S. should be doing more to help President Volodymyr Zelensky in his fight against Putin, it’s tough not to see Haley as your preferred candidate. That could be bad news for DeSantis, who might have voters turn their backs on him in favor of Haley.
Cons: Ukraine isn’t that much of a priority for voters and polling indicates that an increasing number of Republican voters want less money and weapons sent to the Eastern European country — not more.
North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum
Pros: Burgum was one of the only candidates on stage who didn’t sound exasperated when speaking. His calm statesman-like approach was appreciated to some degree in contrast to the hyperbolic yelling that has become the norm at these events. He seems like a very likable guy.
Cons: He just doesn’t have the name recognition, policies, or the “it” factor that could help him win the nomination. He reminds this author of Eugene Levy in “Best in Show.”
Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson
Pros: The performance was classic Hutchinson — if that is even a thing. At one or two percent in the polls, it is pretty impressive that he made it to the debate stage at all. If you’re somebody who hasn’t completely given up on Reaganite principles and Bush-era Republicanism — Hutchinson might be your guy.
Cons: Hutchinson is somebody who hasn’t completely given up on Reaganite principles and Bush-era Republicanism. It is apparent he doesn’t know what decade it is.
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott
Pros: Scott also didn’t do anything to turn away voters. As a strong supporter of reforming education for all Americans, Scott made a great point that tends to get overlooked in conservative politics these days.
“The only way we change education in this nation is to break the backs of the teachers unions,” he said.
TIM SCOTT says "the only way we change education in this nation is to BREAK THE BACKS OF THE TEACHERS UNIONS" pic.twitter.com/9Jzw8axHjD
— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) August 24, 2023
Scott is right. Even if we got all the woke stuff out of the classroom and barred remote learning from ever happening again, teachers unions would still wield tremendous force. Their goal is to protect all teachers — good and bad — from being fired while increasing benefits regardless of merit. In turn, public education suffers — and your child is left in the dust.
Cons: Haley outshone him as the traditional GOP choice and his answers were a bit boring. Scott is good at moving around the crowd, which isn’t possible during this style of debate. Perhaps it just wasn’t his format.
Former Governor Chris Christie
Pros: Christie had one moment that was vintage Christie — nailing down Vivek as “VivekGPT” and comparing him to Obama. Watch here:
Someone had to unplug the computer. pic.twitter.com/3dac0fpZ1x
— Chris Christie (@GovChristie) August 24, 2023
Cons: It’s unclear why Christie is running other than to torpedo Trump. He took aim at the absent frontrunner several times Thursday night but failed to land any direct hits.
Former Vice President Mike Pence
Pros: Pence’s best moment came in his defense of the unborn. He spoke with clarity and conviction while making the case that a leader must not govern based on consensus.
Watch for yourself:
Can't we have a minimum standard that says when a baby is capable of feeling pain, an abortion cannot be allowed? @Mike_Pence stands for national 15 week pro-life protections at tonight's #GOPDebate: pic.twitter.com/ZPQGIVshPw
— SBA Pro-Life America (@sbaprolife) August 24, 2023
Cons: When he wasn’t doing that, he came across as out-of-touch and not in-sync with the base of the party. His solutions were reminiscent — again — of policies from the 1980s and early 2000s. The success of politicians like Trump and DeSantis prove that what worked then won’t work now.
Former President Donald J. Trump
Pros: By staying out of the spotlight for once, Trump actually might have helped his campaign. He certainly didn’t lose any voters — the only other “MAGA”-style candidate was Vivek. But his performance certainly wasn’t commanding enough to replace Trump as the top dog.
The other aspect at play is that many Americans have wondered what a Republican Party without Trump would actually look like. For example, after January 6, many politicians and pundits argued that the GOP should move away from Trump altogether. DeSantis, when first being floated as a GOP contender, was billed as the embodiment of “Trumpism without Trump.”
Yet what Americans saw last night is that a GOP without Trump actually looks a lot like the GOP before his ascent. Both in recognition of the problems facing America as well as the policy solutions presented, the majority of candidates offered a pre-2015 Republican Party vision. The party’s base revolted against that and there remains little to no appetite amongst most Republican voters for a return to a GOP sans populism.
To that extent, just two out of eight candidates came remotely close to offering a “Trumpism without Trump” agenda: DeSantis and Vivek.
Cons: One sharp political commentator told me in private what were the two biggest risks for Trump not appearing. His no-show performance could hurt him in Iowa. Recent polls showed 59% of Iowans view skipping debates as a weakness, he explained. The second is that his lack of presence could keep challengers in the game for longer. There was no opportunity for Trump to deal a presidential death blow, as we witnessed multiple times in 2016.
As predicted by columnist and friend of The Daily Wire David Marcus, “It will take a week to see how or if the debate moved the polling needle. I’m most curious to see if Trump’s number moves significantly one way or the other.”
Conclusion
This debate might not move the needle in any direction, but it’s also unlikely any candidate will be dropping out after that performance.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.