Second Republican debate: 1 winner and three losers

The second Republican debate, like the primary, happened in a parallel political universe wherein Donald Trump was an obscure determine of no critical significance.

The candidates who confirmed up on the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California, engaged in a largely vapid change of canned traces and speaking factors, repeatedly making an attempt to create “moments” that didn’t fairly land.

Nikki Haley confirmed some spirit in selecting fights together with her rivals, I suppose. Ron DeSantis tried to appear above all of it. Doug Burgum tried to get somebody to note him, the “governor of an vitality state.” Nobody had all that a lot to say about Trump.

It’s troublesome for me to think about how this debate will make any affect on the race. The central attribute of the competition continues to be that Trump has a large lead. A debate with extraordinarily restricted dialogue of Trump was a ineffective waste of time.

In a method, everybody onstage was a loser for failing to shake up that underlying dynamic. In a method, everybody watching was a loser for having spent these two hours and gotten so little out of it. However some notably earned that loser standing.

Loser: Vivek Ramaswamy

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Love him or hate him, Vivek Ramaswamy was the point of interest of the primary GOP debate. He was a brand new face whose rhetoric model contrasted with the profession politicians onstage — and he usually clearly drew their ire and contempt. Ramaswamy was the topic of a lot pundit dialog afterward.

However regardless of some predictions, the excitement did not translate right into a bounce within the polls. And at tonight’s debate, Ramaswamy’s schtick sounded stale.

When his rivals made him a punching bag once more — Tim Scott, Nikki Haley, and Mike Pence all took their photographs at him, saying he did enterprise in China and that his Ukraine coverage would assist Russia — he failed to reply memorably.

Most significantly, he didn’t actually have an efficient approach to advance his argument about why he needs to be president. At one level, he acknowledged that some would possibly view him as a “know-it-all;” he admitted he didn’t know every part and must search recommendation from others.

The affected humility wasn’t convincing given his normal conduct all through the race, however it additionally wasn’t a case for why he deserves to be within the Oval Workplace. If Ramaswamy desires to get out of the mid-single digits in polls, he’ll need to attempt one thing completely different.

Loser: The moderators

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Moderating a debate with seven candidates onstage in order that it may be fascinating, revealing, and coherent is not any straightforward feat. Having stated that, Dana Perino, Stuart Varney, and Ilia Calderón appeared puzzlingly reluctant to have the candidates truly, properly, debate one another.

In an try to retain tight management of the proceedings, the moderators usually lower off exchanges between the candidates, speeding onward to get to the subsequent query of their preset listing. At one level, Perino even chided the candidates for mentioning one another an excessive amount of, saying that will imply they’d get fewer questions.

These questions have been additionally usually hyper-specific to every candidate. It was as if the moderators have been making an attempt to conduct “gotcha” interviews with seven folks concurrently. Do we actually care whether or not Chris Christie flip-flopped on his immigration place of 13 years in the past?

A superb debate attracts out how the candidates differ from one another to tell voters about their selection, and for essentially the most half, the moderators failed to do this. Additionally they nearly fully prevented posing questions concerning the overwhelming ballot chief: Trump. Seven candidates trailing badly within the polls have been as a substitute scrutinized by the moderators, whereas the ballot chief obtained off scot-free.

Loser: Fox Information

Earlier Wednesday, Semafor’s Max Tani reported that Fox needed to cut back its advert time slot costs by lots of of 1000’s of {dollars} for this debate, in comparison with the primary one, as a result of curiosity was anticipated to be low. That’s a really tangible demonstration of Fox’s failure to make these debates matter — a failure that primarily stems from Trump making clear, but once more, that Fox wants him greater than he wants them.

Again on January 8, 2021, Fox chairman Rupert Murdoch wrote in an e-mail that Fox Information was “pivoting” as a result of he needed to “make Trump a non individual.” And all through 2021 and 2022, the community’s enthusiasm towards Trump appeared to have cooled, and its protection did a lot to construct up Ron DeSantis as a reputable nationwide rival to him.

However these plans fell aside this yr as Trump’s candidacy and indictments made him not possible to disregard. As has been demonstrated every time Fox tries to hurt Trump, the community’s leaders and stars really feel they’re hemmed in by their viewers who love him. Trump has paid no worth for skipping these two Fox debates — however Fox has.

Winner: You understand who

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This was one other debate the place the man main by 40 factors was not onstage and took solely the slightest of blows from those that have been onstage. (Sorry, Chris Christie, calling him “Donald Duck” is tacky and ineffective.) It was additionally one other debate the place there was no clear winner — no breakout star that may very well be elevated to Trump’s principal challenger.

There was a time, earlier this yr, when the polling between Trump and DeSantis wasn’t completely lopsided, and it appeared no less than doable that Trump’s lead may very well be dislodged. That point has lengthy handed. And any marketing campaign occasion that fails to shake up that establishment is successfully one which aids Trump’s path to the nomination.