“Trump must be removed”
US Republicans sharply attack former presidents
By Roland Peters
September 28, 2023, 8:22 a.m
The second television debate between the Republican presidential candidates begins with embarrassing stammering and ends with a heretical demand. In between, one shows off his chameleon skills. An old friend scores points with content.
At some point, Nikki Haley’s collar bursts: “Every time I hear you, I feel a little stupider,” she throws at Vivek Ramaswamy in disbelief. The two candidates for the 2024 US Republican presidential nomination stand in the middle of the television stage and have a disagreement over how to deal with the Chinese social network Tiktok. Ban it or use it for the election campaign?
Haley and Ramaswamy lead the polls among US Republicans, just behind Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and miles, around 40 percent, behind Donald Trump. As with the first television debate, the ex-president did not consider it necessary to appear. Even without him, the level of content of the discussion between the seven applicants is relatively low, but symbolically significant: They are standing in the Ronald Reagan Library in California, diagonally under an Air Force One. Every now and then, television viewers are shown small snippets of quotes from the revered ex-president.
Unusual setting: The applicants discuss next to Air Force One.
(Photo: AP)
The bigger issues are the southern border and migration, consumer prices, education and, again and again, China. But: In the end, almost everyone will have opposed Trump, which amounts to an immense independence movement within the party. Ramaswamy, for example, who raved about Trump’s “best president” during the first television debate, now considers himself to be his political heir: “I will take America First to the next level,” says the 38-year-old.
New Jersey’s former governor Chris Christie rarely misses an opportunity to attack Trump. At one point he looks directly at the camera: “Donald, I know you’re watching because you can’t help it. You’re not here today because you’re afraid of defending your balance sheet,” he complains, referring primarily to the $7.8 trillion national debt that Trump and his deputy Mike Pence left behind. Haley will also later carry out a sweeping attack on Trump regarding his opioid and China policies. Remarkable: His legal problems are not even hinted at in the two hours of debate.
From know-it-all to mediator
The answers to the initial questions are still unpleasant. The intense chatter, stammering and heckling have a high potential to embarrass others. But one thing stands out: Ramaswamy, who had received a lot of attention in the first debate with a very offensive, know-it-all appearance and discussed everything with everyone, suddenly purrs in all directions, acts collegially and can hardly be lured out of his reserve by attacks. He acts as a mediator. “The real division is not on this stage!” he says at one point. In the first debate he attacked everyone (“You’re all paid”). The youngest applicant demonstrates unexpected chameleon abilities.
In terms of content, the entrepreneur sticks to his tough positions: rely on fossil fuels and nuclear energy, lay off 75 percent of government employees, close the southern border, and let the US military eliminate the drug cartels in Mexico. In view of the historically high number of migrants reaching the border, Haley, former Trump’s US ambassador to the United Nations, is also calling for tightening measures. 25,000 more emergency services should secure the border and those caught should be deported directly. Mike Pence says: As Trump’s deputy, he has already reduced migration. He doesn’t say that the pandemic also played a role.
Chris Christie probably wants to get rid of former President Donald Trump as quickly as possible.
(Photo: AP)
When it comes to questions about health care, Haley stands out by miles. She has the numbers ready and presents a solution to the horrendous prices in the sector: reduce the risk of lawsuits for doctors and mandate cost transparency for pharmaceutical companies. Pence is asked twice whether abolishing Obamacare is still a goal – he and Trump campaigned on it, but did not implement it – until Pence eventually replies that he will transfer all the money back to the states and close the Department of Education along the way.
Haley is also extremely well prepared when it comes to education. The other applicants, on the other hand, hardly make it, several of them simply turn away from the health sector and education and talk about completely different things. There is also little content with regard to the abolished general abortion rights, which gave the Democrats success in the 2022 congressional elections. Virtually everyone avoids a clear position.
“Don’t cuddle with Putin”
When it comes to foreign policy, things are heated up: Ramaswamy says that just because Vladimir Putin “is an evil dictator” doesn’t mean Ukraine is good. Haley gets upset about this. Chris Christie, former governor of the state of New Jersey, wants to fight the Russian-Chinese alliance: “We won’t achieve that by cozying up to Putin.” Then he lashes out at Trump because he said the Russian leader was a genius. Pence warns not to listen to the “populist sirens” in the Republican Party.
The loudest of these sirens is Trump, who does not see the entire party under his spell as he did during his time in power, but still sees the Republican base under his spell. While the other seven are still on stage, one of Trump’s advisors tweets that the Republicans should simply cancel the further planned primary debates so that everyone can concentrate on the election campaign against US President Joe Biden: “Nothing said will change the dynamic. “
Trump preferred to go to Detroit to speak to workers there: at a non-union auto parts factory; like the others currently leading a historic strike by the United Auto Workers UAW against Ford, General Motors and Stellaris. Corporate investments in electric cars are “stupid or cowardly,” he said, because “the damn things don’t go far enough and they’re too expensive.” Because of the UAW’s unsustainable wage demands, the plants would eventually close. “They will build these cars in China and elsewhere.”
Finally, the moderators ask the candidates to write on a piece of paper which of the others should drop out of the primary race. After all, no one will be able to stand against Trump if everyone stays. An open revolt breaks out and the applicants refuse. Only Christie writes something: Trump. After all, he doesn’t even appear on stage. “I have respect for everyone here, but this guy has not only divided the country, but also family and friends. He must be excluded.” A demand that, given the Republicans’ past years, borders on heresy.