‘They Are All Rotten’: DNC Chair Blasts GOP Debate Line-Up
Minus Trump, contenders meet for first Republican debate of 2024 season
Eight Republican presidential hopefuls sparred onstage Wednesday night in the first debate for such candidates heading into the 2024 election, with frontrunner Donald Trump notably taking a pass on the event.
The challengers who lined up to face-off in Milwaukee, Wis, went back and forth battling each other over leadership, foreign policy, the US economy and more.
They often fell over each other to try to run to the right of each other and frequently would embrace a variety of right-wing conspiracy theories, particularly candidate Vivek Ramaswamy who was particularly aggressive about battling his more-experienced rivals.
Other candidates at the debate included Florida Gov Ron DeSantis, one-time United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, and former vice president Mike Pence among others.
Jaime Harrison, chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), blasted the whole bunch.
“So, let me sum this up for you all. No matter who you pick, this group is as extreme as it gets,” he said. “A bag full of MAGA apples and they are all rotten.”
While the debate was carried live on right-wing Fox News, hosts on rival network MSNBC also skewered debate participants, particularly Ramaswamy.
“Ramaswamy seemed like sort of your annoying freshman roommate in college. And it is not clear why — what he was trying to do other than to be provocative at any moment he could. And DeSantis was just yelling a lot,” said host Joy Reid. “I’m not sure why he was yelling and why he thinks that yelling made him seem that he had more stature than he did.
“I mean, other than Nikki Haley, who I thought acquitted herself quite well, to be honest with you, and seemed like a reasonable Republican politician who kind of made sense, none of them, to me, even attempted to sort of project the kind of stature a president would have, other than at times Mike Pence, who of course is the most unpopular person,” she added.
“Mike Pence exceeded expectations in terms of being a more nimble debater than I expected him to be, more forceful and more punchy, I think, in terms of his fighting with Ramaswamy,” host Rachel Maddow said. “Ramaswamy certainly, I think, was the dominant figure in the debate, for good or for ill. I’m not sure he did himself any favors in terms of people liking him. But he took up the most airtime, it sort of felt like he was the snappy podcast host, podcaster, and everybody else was his guest.”
“I thought he was sort of running to be Jesse Watters’ fill-in,” host Nicholle Wallace interjected, referring to the Fox News personality.
All of those onstage Wednesday are trailing, by far, Trump, who is making his third bid for the White House amid a growing number of criminal indictments of the former president.
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