Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy at the debate for Republican presidential candidates — © Reuters
Five candidates for the Republican presidential nomination debated American foreign policy, abortion and Donald Trump. The latter sent his cat.
The Washington Post puts Donald Trump as the winner of the third debate among Republican presidential candidates. Even without being in the room, the ex-president determined the entire debate. Some dismiss Trump as a weak president who has lost his footing. Others hold back. “Tim Scott avoids moments throughout the debate that could eliminate him as Trump’s running mate,” the analysis reads Bloomberg.
Vivek Ramaswamy, the eccentric entrepreneur who advocates isolationism in American foreign policy, mainly opposed Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis. Those two are like ex-Vice President Dick Cheney, a hawk. “But on high heels,” he laughingly refers to Haley’s footwear and DeSantis’ cowboy boots.
No longer the Trump of 2016
Ron DeSantis, current governor of Florida, pointed to Trump’s ‘wall’. It has still not been built, he accuses the former president. “Trump is a different man than he was in 2016. He said the Republicans would get tired of winning. But I’m tired of them always losing.’
Haley, former ambassador to the UN, is also starting to understand Trump less and less. ‘He used to have his own views on Ukraine and foreign problems. Now he’s getting weak. We can’t live in the past.’ Chris Cristie, another participant in the debate, pointed out the laundry list of lawsuits against Trump.
Trump couldn’t care less about the entire debate. “A waste of time,” he says at a nearby rally. It took 25 minutes for the ex-president to talk about the candidate debate. ‘I’m standing alone in front of an audience of 10,000 people. And it’s broadcast on television. That’s much more difficult.’ He also spoke sympathetically about the other candidates. They are ‘weak, inefficient and undesirable’, Trump says.
