In 2015 and 2016, Donald Trump took advantage of televised debates to ridicule his opponents in the Republican primaries and defy the predictions. In this fall of 2023, the former president condemns these same debates, by his absence, to a form of insignificance. His lead in the polls is so considerable that he is already planning to run in the presidential election against Joe Biden. Meanwhile, his Republican rivals, too numerous, incapable of standing out in a frank manner, continue to struggle without knowing whether it is for victory – more and more improbable – or simply to set a date. Between now and the next debate, pressure will mount for skimming.
There were seven candidates, Wednesday September 27, gathered in front of the Fox News cameras, to preserve the appearance of a competition within the party. However, a sort of inevitability has established itself within the Grand Old Party, as if Donald Trump’s hold on the activist base resisted everything – and in particular the successive indictments by the courts. Organized in the Ronald Reagan presidential library in Simi Valley (California), this second televised meeting confirmed a consensus on several points, beyond personality differences and the clash of plastic swords: inflation and crime, entirely attributed to Joe Biden; China, seen as the absolute enemy of the United States; fentanyl (synthetic drug) and illegal immigration.
Here is a Republican Party entirely focused on popular anxieties, designing an America of apocalypse and incapable of projecting itself into the future. A historic intellectual shrinking and withdrawal has continued in the conservative camp since the start of the Trump era. The only burst of dignity: the candidates refused the request of the three presenters to write on their tablet the name of the one who, among them, should “leave the island”, or the competition, in reference to a famous reality TV show. Show politics? There was little spectacle, more of a hubbub. And politics, only in bits and pieces. Few comments on the “shutdown” which threatens the federal state with closure, Saturday at midnight, for lack of agreement in Congress. Not a word on the climate emergency, the speakers increasing their enthusiasm for all forms of exploitation of natural resources.
Iowa’s bet
Some candidates, this Wednesday, decided to attack Donald Trump more frankly, in particular on his absence. On the other hand, no one made reference to the judicial investigations and the prospect of several trials in the spring of 2024 during the primaries. Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, portrayed him hiding “behind the walls of his golf clubs”. This time he was joined by Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida. “He should be on stage tonight, he said, about Donald Trump. He owes you the fact of defending his record, in which they [Donald Trump et Joe Biden] added $7.8 trillion [7 400 milliards d’euros] to the debt, triggering the inflation we have. »
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