The debate often pivoted around fiery exchanges, including several involving entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, a first-time millennial candidate.
Republican presidential contenders targeted each other Wednesday as much as they did the absent front-runner, Donald Trump, in a combative first debate with a series of heated clashes reflecting the fierce competition to emerge as the main alternative to the former president.
Trump’s decision to skip the event, a choice that highlighted his commanding polling lead, left him without a defense over two hours that marked the official start of the nomination battle. His biggest consolation came when all but one of the candidates onstage raised their hands to signal they would support Trump if he won the nomination and was convicted of a crime in a court of law. Trump has been indicted four times and faces 91 criminal charges and will surrender in Georgia on Thursday.
But the debate more often pivoted around other fiery exchanges between candidates who are seeking to differentiate themselves, including several involving entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who has risen in some polls and appeared to irritate other candidates onstage. The first-time millennial candidate is casting his candidacy as a next iteration of Trump and got into tense back-and-forths with more experienced politicians, including former vice president Mike Pence, former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie.
He aggressively attacked his rivals on the stage from the start, describing them as “super PAC puppets” and “professional politicians” who were “bought and paid for.”
“I’ve had enough already tonight of a guy who sounds like ChatGPT standing up here,” Christie said in response. “The last person in one of these debates … who stood in the middle of the stage and said what’s a skinny guy with an odd last name doing up here was Barack Obama, and I’m afraid we’re dealing with the same type of amateur standing on the stage tonight.”
A noticeably combative Pence, who repeatedly talked over the moderators’ pleas to abide by time limits and went directly after several rivals, took aim at Ramaswamy’s lack of political experience, saying that “now is not the time for on-the-job training” and that “we don’t need to bring in a rookie.”
Much of the debate onstage was not about policy but about each candidate’s personal characteristics and experience. And for large portions, the candidates largely ignored Trump — though some of them criticized him on particular issues.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis with a fiery demeanor attacked Trump for agreeing to lock down the country during the pandemic on the advice of former White House medical adviser Anthony S. Fauci. Trump allies have noted repeatedly that DeSantis praised Fauci early in the pandemic as well.
“I will never let the deep state bureaucrats lock you down. You don’t take somebody like Fauci and coddle him. You bring Fauci in, you sit him down, and you say: Anthony, you are fired,” DeSantis said.
Haley blamed Trump for failing to rein in spending. “Donald Trump added $8 trillion to our debt, and our kids are never going to forgive us,” she said. Later in the debate, she called Trump “the most disliked politician in America,” drawing some boos. “We can’t win a general election that way,” Haley said, calling for a “new generation.”
At points, the crowd stepped in to defend the former president, booing Christie audibly when he denounced Trump’s “conduct.
