Trump Dominates Fourth GOP Debate Without Appearing
The fourth GOP presidential primary debate was held Wednesday evening, and there was no shortage of fireworks and heated exchanges as the remaining field contending for a distant second place to President Donald Trump took their best shots at one another.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy all had plenty of air time during the two-hour discussion. Even though he declined to appear at Wednesday’s debate or any other first three, President Trump dominated the discussion.
As he has done throughout the debate season, Christie took the lead in attacking Trump and the America First movement. He labeled the 45th president a “dictator” and a “bully” as he criticized the other three candidates for not being as aggressive as he was in hammering Trump. In an attempt at a catchy pop culture reference, he referred to President Trump as “Voldemort, he who shall not be named.”
Ramaswamy captured much of the spotlight with his sharp criticism of Haley and the corporate support she receives from the military-industrial complex. He held up a legal pad with “NIKKI = CORRUPT” written in large letters to emphasize his point. Ramaswamy’s allegation that Haley would “send your kids to die so she can buy a bigger house” was aimed directly at her close relationship with corporate donors since acting as UN ambassador.
Ramaswamy also laid in against Christie, sharply criticizing his neoconservative foreign policy that he said would lead to the loss of American life and treasure without tangible benefits. Christie did not respond substantively but used bluster to accuse Ramaswamy of the same tactic, calling him the “most obnoxious blowhard in America.”
DeSantis took a slightly more nuanced approach to attacking President Trump by claiming he was mainly interested in younger leadership. While carefully avoiding criticizing anything other than Trump’s age, he said, “We need to have somebody younger, I think when you get up to 80 I don’t think it’s the right age to be president.” He appeared to see that approach as a way to go after both President Trump and Joe Biden.
Conservative commentator Benny Johnson wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter, about how some voters saw the debate shortly after it concluded. He noted: “A group of Georgia voters watched the GOP debate and organized a straw poll to pick their winners. The results: Haley: 1, Christie: 1, DeSantis: 2, Ramaswamy: 5, Trump, who wasn’t there: 18.”
NewsNation hosted the debate in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and it marked the last face-to-face meeting of the candidates before the Iowa caucuses in six weeks.
