- During the Republicans’ first televised debate on the 2024 US presidential election, the candidates exchanged blows on factual issues.
- Former President Donald Trump, who according to polls is a promising candidate for the presidential elections, refrained from participating.
- Attacks on the popular opponent Trump were largely avoided.
The goal must be to reduce government spending, make the country independent of energy imports and demand more financial aid from the Europeans for Ukraine, said Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who according to polls was the most promising of the eight applicants on the stage.
Legend:
View of the Republican Party’s nomination field for the US presidency, at the Fox News televised debate.
Reuters/Brian Snyder
Ex-President Trump, who clearly leads the field in these surveys, had previously canceled his participation in the debate in Milwaukee on Wednesday. Most of the politicians on stage were conspicuously reluctant to criticize the former president, who faces four criminal cases and is expected in court in Georgia on Thursday.
Ramaswamy wants to pardon Trump as president
Vivek Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur who ranks third behind DeSantis in the polls, even said that Trump was the best president of the 21st century for him. If he moves into the White House himself, he will pardon him if he is convicted, the 38-year-old said.
There was cautious criticism from former Vice President Mike Pence, Trump’s former deputy, as well as from former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott. Only Chris Christie, the allegedly hopeless ex-governor of New Jersey, attacked Trump more clearly.
First primaries in mid-January
Other topics of the two-hour debate included abortion bans, Russia’s war against Ukraine and the fight against illegal immigration on the United States’ southern border with Mexico.
If you want to be a Republican presidential candidate, you first have to prevail in the primary elections in the individual states. For Republicans, voters in Iowa will be the first to decide their preferred candidate on January 15th. In the USA, a new president will be elected at the beginning of November 5, 2024. Incumbent Joe Biden wants to run again for the Democrats.