The first Republican debate turned into a defensive struggle against a new outsider. That’s good for him and Trump, but bad for Trump’s most dangerous pursuer.
Donald Trump must have liked this performance. There stood Wednesday night in Milwaukee seven candidates and one candidate from the Republican Party who want to spoil his re-election as president – and worked on him and on the consequences of his presidency. And then they also helped attract the attention of a man who looks like a younger copy of Donald Trump: 38-year-old Vivek Ramaswamy.
Trump’s strategy of deliberately not taking part in this first Republican debate in Milwaukee seemed to have worked, at least for the time being. Instead, he had given former “Fox News” commentator Tucker Carlson an interview hours earlier, which was also broadcast on his Twitter profile.
That should be his message: Why don’t you all give up? In fact, at this point in time, in all serious polls, he leads by a wide margin ahead of all of these inner-party opponents.
Almost everyone against Donald Trump
Last night in Milwaukee, it initially looked as if there would be a dynamic against Donald Trump. Because his now hated former Vice President Mike Pence received a surprising amount of applause from the audience. And the other candidates, with a few exceptions, also stood by his side.
The Tenor: What Mike Pence did on January 6, 2021 when a mob of violent Trumpists stormed the US Capitol was correct. He went through the formal election process to elect Joe Biden and put the US Constitution ahead of Donald Trump’s plans to ignore the election result.
Even Tim Scott, a black senator from South Carolina, who has so far almost completely refrained from criticizing Donald Trump, said: “What Mike Pence did was right.” After numerous twists and turns to avoid questions, Trump’s most dangerous pursuer, Ron DeSantis, Florida’s governor, also agreed: “Mike did his duty that day and I have no problem with that.” For such statements, the audience even rewarded the candidates with cheers and applause.
A younger, a second Trump
But then came Vivek Ramaswamy. He was the only candidate not to stand at Pence’s side. The young billionaire is the new rising star in the Republican polls. And perhaps Trump doesn’t need more than this ally to know that his own populist strategy can still work.
Vivek Ramaswamy is now firmly in third place in the polls. The rhetorically fluent businessman with Indian parents cultivated his reputation as Trump 2.0 throughout the debate. The short version: Ukraine aid? Cancel! Trump? Pardon! climate change? Does not exist!
In fact, that first major Republican exchange morphed into a concerted attack on Vivek Ramaswamy. The spearhead was then, of all people, Trump’s ex-vice president Mike Pence, who seemed visibly annoyed and as if he would not endure a second Trump at the head of the country.
“We don’t need a beginner here” and “We’re not looking for a new America,” he hurled at Ramaswamy, who for months has been campaigning for “an American revolution” because the country has lost its patriotism.
Vivek Ramaswamy also clashed with the only woman in the group. Nikki Haley, Trump’s former US ambassador to the United Nations, attacked the political newcomer where he thinks he has a strength: he’s never been a politician. “You can see that you have no foreign policy experience. It’s easy to see,” Haley exclaimed indignantly. Ramaswamy had previously outlined how he would end the Ukraine war.
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