Taegan Goddard sums it up:
Tonight’s debate was the worst I’ve ever seen.
The candidates disgraced themselves. I’ve seen more enlightening discussions during elementary school food fights.
Fox Business disgraced the process. The degree to which the moderators lost control of this debate was embarrassing. They even tried to get the candidates to “vote one off the island” like it’s a game show.
Well, maybe not the very worst debate I’ve ever seen. Ballpark, certainly. Let me say a little bit more.
First, about Fox Business: You are a business and economic news network and you do not ask the candidates about the New York judge who has just ruled the Republican front-runner is a business fraud? To say nothing of ignoring Trump’s theoretical suggestion that in the good ol’ days General Mark Milley would be executed for disloyalty? (This from a man who tried to overthrow the government—still no direct question about that, either, by the way.) Usually Fox does better than this at debates. But Dana Perino’s idiot question—asked from beneath several blinding tons of eye makeup—about voting a fellow candidate “off the island” seemed to sum up the nit-wittery of the occasion. The moderators were so inept that I couldn’t understand much of what the candidates were saying, or interjecting, or interrupting, or inciting. The show was, for the most part, incomprehensible.
People are saying Nikki Haley won, which is a sort of hangover from the last debate when the commentariat wrongly thought Ramaswamy did—belatedly bestowing credit where it should have been due last time. This time, Haley wasn’t as good. Part of it was that all the cross-talk prevented her, or any of the others, from making a coherent argument. But she remains a professional politician, a strong and substantive presence (until she allowed Tim Scott to lure her into a cul-du-silly about draperies at the UN Ambassador’s residence). This distinguishes her from most of the other pretenders on stage—Scott, Ron DeSantis, Doug Burgum (who, I understand, comes from North Dakota) and Vivek Ramaswamy. Again, I would not be surprised if big Republican donors—like Harlan Crow, apparently—begin to drift her way.
Ramaswamy was even more annoying and transparent this time, striving for phony comity by invoking Reagan’s Eleventh Commandment after roasting his fellow candidates as quasi-criminals—bought and paid for!—last time out. Ramaswamy attacks these debates with the fervent insincerity of a no-scratch-kitchen-pan salesman on late night TV. Hilariously, he tried to humble-talk his arrogance. Did not work; it was about as true as the synthetic enamel-slash of his smile. Haley’s line “Every time I hear you, I feel a little bit dumber” was a rare moment when the other candidates shut up and let the hammer fall.
Somebody told Tim Scott he had to be more aggressive this time and he tried, Lord, did he try. But his thin, scratchy voice doesn’t carry vitriol very well. And his entire campaign seems too entangled in his “story,” except for an occasional venture into silly extremism, like his over-the-top and impolitic disapproval of the UAW strikers, who—message to Tim—the GOP is courting this time. Not enough there, I’m beginning to suspect.
DeSantis had a few good moments, especially when—for a change—he actually told us who he was and where he came from. His “story,” working-class to Ivy League to US Military, would be a good one if he didn’t seem so…self-conscious and pre-meditated about every last little thing. (He’s sort of like Hillary Clinton, another awkward public presence, in that regard; no sense of spontaneity even when he’s being spontaneous). He did lead the rebellion—for the second consecutive debate—against the moderators’ attempt at a gimmick question, Perino’s “Island” folly. But he comes across as smaller than life.
The two other professionals on stage, Chris Christie and Mike Pence, didn’t fare so well. Both are smart, but neither seems entirely on target in these spectacles. Christie flopped with canned lines—Donald Duck, Biden sleeping with a teachers’ union member; his native, Jersey iconoclastic wit would be more effective. He was better talking about substance, about the failure of American education—boy, is there an argument to be made against Democrats there!—and the social chaos Trump has caused, but his pitch isn’t compelling enough to transcend the kamikaze nature of his candidacy.
I still think there’s room for Pence in this race—he is authentically devout and bland, a real conservative rather than a reactionary populist. Then again, this has become a reactionary populist party. His style seems as antique as Biden’s, if not as doddering.
If Doug Burgum were honest, he would have answered the “Who should be kicked off the Island” question by saying “Me.”
In sum: Not much. But then, not much was to be expected. Trump’s death-grip on the nomination was neither strengthened nor weakened. If he—perhaps Donald Quack would be more appropriate—slips, it will be sudden not gradual, and it will not happen until the folks in Iowa and New Hampshire begin the tedious process of making up their minds in December and January.
For now, it’s possible that Trump’s lead in the polls is just a lot of Republicans saying “screw you” to the pollsters and “stop with the legal crap” to Democrats. It may be a gesture, not a commitment. But middle-fingering is a fun gesture—the story of Trump’s enduring success—and certainly more satisfying than watching the candidates onstage at the Reagan Library last night.
And please consider this option:
As a community college professor of 23 years and private liberal arts one for 11 years before that, I can attest to the fact that the education of the older baby boomers was considerably worse. Just look at Trump’s base. It’s not the younger folks that fell for the transparent grifter.
To the Democrats, “stop with the legal crap” 👏🏻 and wake Sleepy Joe up the country’s being invaded🙄