Or rather who did best?
I watched it all on Rumble, the YouTube for folks that don’t like censorship.
Somehow Rumble got the exclusive rights to stream the debate. On cable, it was with Fox. Which we no longer have in Hong Kong, and we don’t bother to stream.
Below my hot take before watching any of the pundits.
First Trump didn’t bother to show up. He’s so far in front, in the primary polls that it was beneath him, I presume.
I don’t think the rest of the candidates laid a glove on Trump, in his absence. They should have. Cause he’s a loser. He lost the 2020 presidential, including losing the Senate because of his idiotic hissy fit, telling Reps not to bother voting in the Georgia Senate race; he lost the 2022 midterms for the Reps, by his poor choice of candidates to endorse; and is now under four indictments, three of which are completely unnecessary, as he brought them on himself.
Not to say that the Dems are not overreaching and prosecuting shameless partisan law-fare on Trump, because they most surely are, but that’s another issue. Trump is a loser and should have been hammered in this debate. He wasn’t. Trump was not even in the debate, yet didn’t suffer, at least at the hands of these milquetoasts.
The winners, according to me.
Note: These have no relationship to those that I think should be the Republican Presidential candidate. Which IMO ought to be one of: Ron DeSantis, Tim Scott or Vivek Ramaswami. A Latino, a Black or an Indian-American. That’s the depth and diversity of the Republican bench!
Still, this is who I feel did best:
Mike Pence: Trump’s VP. And Mr Boring. But came out swinging, powerful, clear, forceful. Definitely performed beyond expectations. Mine, at least.
Nicky Hailey: She was clear, forceful, fought back when attacked. Said strong stuff about actually getting things done, like a Federal law on abortion, post the overthrow of Roe v Wade, and also on the Ukraine war. She lingers in the memory after this debate. Where before she hadn’t made any impression. On me, at least.
Tim Scott: I’m going to say that he performed as I’d seen him perform before, in that he’s a powerful eloquent voice for working hard and making your own success: born dirt poor, of a poor single mum, nothing handed to him, but made it to community college, started and sold a successful business and is now a Federal Senator. That’s quite a resumé. A powerful message of non-victimhood and he got that across well in this debate. At least according to me.
That’s it for the winners. I’ll give all three a B-plus.
Now for the ones that underperformed:
Ron DeSantis was pretty much as we’ve seen him before. Steady, resolute, solid, dependable. But nothing out of the box. He gets a steady C from me. Which is my definition of underperforming. Because he had to do better, to break through to the top. To get near Trump.
Vivek Ramaswami: I’ve really liked what he’s been doing on the campaign trail, but I don’t think he gave us the best he can be. And he came across as sometimes crazy: like his “kill the Deep State” ideas. The other candidates really hit him hard, like he’s the main danger, especially Chris Christy, and Vivek didn’t take it well. Didn’t handle it as well as I’ve seen him do in the many appearances on podcasts and on cable, including in “enemy” territory, like CNN and MSNBC. He was on The Breakfast Club pod, very left wing, and did well. Killed them. Not here, not this time. He gets a C-minus from me.
Chris Christy: what to say? Nothing much. He’s supposed to be the Trump-killer, but no verbal homicide in this debate. He’s the B-minus bluster-blubber.
The two others there, I can barely recall. Asa Hutchison, ex (I think) Governor of Arizona (I think) only said stuff, mainly about Trump, which got the crowd booing. Rightly so, as he supported all the indictments, which to many-most Republicans, and to us here in this Hong Kong household, are clear cases of unequal treatment under the Law, no matter how much one might bleat “no one is above the law”. Right. Except Hillary (her emails), Joe (Ukraine, China, Romania, etc, etc...).
And there was another dude, a Governor, of somewhere mid western, I didn't catch, but was big bundle of nothing. Nothing I recall, anyway, ‘cept for something he said that the crowd really, really didn’t like. So I’m hoping he and Asa will go the way of the wisp. D-s to both.
There we have it from me. I wonder how the pundits see it. No doubt different from me. Then, that’s what they’re paid for. And many of them real smart cookies. And I’m just a fat old Aussie dude here in Hong Kong. What do I know?
Except this: that at the end of these primary performances, it’s going to be like they say about Germany v England in the Football (Soccer): play for 90 minutes and Germany wins on penalties. That’s how it goes. And with these Republican primaries it’s: you have the debates, and at the end Trump is the winner.
Sigh... and CYA!
ADDED: It was a pretty spicy debate! Fun to watch. Quick moving. The moderators (Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier) kept it pretty much under control, but also let it flow when needed. I thought, while watching: the best of democracy, the best of what the US does, open, transparent, even if -- of course! -- we don’t get to hear any detail, almost don’t get to hear any policy at all. But we do get to see how the would-be president of a great democracy handles themself, under tough questioning, in front of a large crowd. That takes some gall, and also takes high performative skills.
