Elephant in the round

The first republican debate took place without Trump, but discussed mainly the former president and his new trials

The first republican debate of the stage of the primaries, Trump, who had come to them, contrasted a large interview with the scandalous and already ex-leading Fox News Takeor Carlson. The eight remaining participants in the debate discussed the assault on the White House in the winter of 2021, the youth of the 38-year-old candidate and participant in the Debats of Vivek by Ramasva, the support of Ukraine and, of course, Trump himself.

Why the past debate once again demonstrated a split in the Republican Party and whether this will play into the hands of the democrats, says American Maxim Pastukhov in his regular section for Novo-European.

This week, the presidential race in the United States, frozen in a summer break, has finally emerged from anbiotic sleep. The first pre -election debate among presidential candidates from the Republican Party, held in the city of Miluoi, Visconsin, helped awakening.

Despite the fact that Donald Trump Debata ignored, because he did not want to share the rating with any of the other eight participants, there is still the possibility that one of the debaters can be nominated from the Republican Party as a presidential candidate in the same scene exactly a year later.

The choice of location for the first debates of the Republicans, as well as the choice of the venue for the final conference on the nomination of the candidate, is not accidental. In the American elections, geography is of serious importance. Wisconsin enters the region of the “rusty belt” in the northeast of the United States, whose states are among the most “ oscillating ” for the last years. Therefore, the competition between the Democrats and the Republicans for voters in this region will be the most fierce.

Followers of Lincoln

The tradition of American political debate is far into the past. Historically, many American politicians were experienced lawyers and possessed outstanding oratory abilities, practicing in the court of trials before the jury.

American historians like to give the debate between Abraham Linkol and Stephen Douglas as an example in 1858 during the election campaign for the Senate chair in Illinois. Then in seven different cities of the state, each time for four hours, followed by the publication of the transcript of the debate in the country's newspapers, the Republican Lincoln and Democrat Douglas argued about the fate and future of slavery in America. Having lost the elections to the Senate in 1858, Lincoln was elected the first president of the United States from the Republicans two years later, and the issue of slavery led to a civil war between the North and the South.

In the 20th century, starting in 1960, television and a television department between two party candidates became an unchanging tradition. And as the popularity of the Institute of Primary Elections (primaries) grew, the practice of conducting intra -party debate with several candidates has spread. The first republican debate on primaries took place in 1980. Including, thanks to them and the television broadcast of the debate since the republican primaries, Ronald Reagan has increased, who later won universal elections with a record margin .

Eight Biden's enemies

To participate in the debates of the Republicans in 2024, the National Party Committee put forward several criteria for candidates who want to take part in this show. The rating of popularity should have been higher than 1%, and the number of donors who donated money to the candidate’s election fund to surpass 40 thousand people.

In addition, each of the participants had to sign the obligation not to participate in the presidential race as an independent candidate if he does not receive a nomination from the party. The leadership leadership of the Republican Party and before the 2016 elections. Like the last time, the establishment tried to achieve a guarantee from Trump that he would not put his candidacy as an independent candidate in a general election if he loses republican primaries.

Donald Trump is still the most popular candidate among the Republicans, who also has good financial support. Given the separation from all rivals available to him, Trump refused to participate in the debate on the primaries. The head of the National Republican Committee, Ronn McDaniel, expressed regret that Trump had not participated in the debate, but emphasized that it would be wrong to change the rules of debate in order to ensure the presence of the former president on the stage.

As a result, only eight presidential candidates from the Republican Party were able to achieve compliance with the criteria put forward by the National Committee of the National Committee and still performed on Wednesday in Miluoi.

On one stage were: Governor of Florida Ron landing, former Vice President of Trump's administration Michael Pence, an Indian entrepreneur Vice Ramasva, Senator from South Carolina Tim Scott, former representative of the UN under the administration of Trump Nickki Haley, former state governor of New Jersey, Chris Chrisi, governor of the governor Northern Dakota Dag Bergam and Governor of Arkanzas Asa Khatchinson.

"Do not need a beginner"

In general, the debate during the primaries is a specific event, since candidates must first demonstrate solidarity with each other, given that each of them represents one batch, and their main competitor from the opposition political camp.

Therefore, what happened in the strict sense of the word cannot be called debate - the presenters asked each candidate their own, and not common questions for all. The exchange of arguments between the participants took place at those moments when the candidates sharply did not agree with each other on any of the topics. It turned out that there are quite a lot of such disagreements in the camp of the Republicans, even without taking into account Trump's position.

The first block of debate was dedicated to the internal socio-economic situation in the United States. Most of the participants harshly criticized President Biden, but several participants also went to the work of the Trump administration.

In particular, Nikki Haley, who herself worked in the businessman’s team in the White House, made sharp comments that in one period of Trump’s administration, the state debt increased by $ 8 trillion. She also accused Michael Pensa, Tim Scott and landing in support of a fiscal policy that led to such results.

However, the main target of the criticism of the opponents was the 38-year-old entrepreneur Vice Ramasva present on the stage. Former Vice President Michael Pence said about the Canasa: “We do not need a beginner” (“We Don 'NEED A ROOKIE”), hinting at his youth and inexperience. Pence self -confidently called himself the most qualified and having the most suitable experience for the presidential chair.

Former president

The whole block during the debate was dedicated to accusations against Trump. Probably, it was the prospect of discussing this topic that became the main reason why the former president refused to participate in the show. Not only did he have to make excuses, he could say something that would subsequently be used against him in court.

When, when discussing Trump, the line reached Chris Christie, he made a pre -prepared speech that, regardless of the upcoming court decision, Trump's behavior was unworthy for the president.

In the same block, the benefit of Michael Pence, the only participant in the events on January 6, 2021, was the only participant in the events on the stage, when the crowd of his supporters, which was adjusted by Trump’s tweet, captured the Capitol. The former vice president also spoke with a convincing speech that he had an oath to protect the constitution and never regretted his actions.

Chris Christie supported Michael Pence, but in defense of Trump spoke to Vivek, who said that Trump was the best American president in the 21st century.

Support for Ukraine

But the most fierce dispute in the debate caused not even Trump and criminal cases against him, but the support of Ukraine.

The moderators turned to Vivek with a manasy with the clarifying question whether he intends to reduce help to Kyiv. In June, he published a tweet in which he condemned his one -party members for solidarity with the Biden administration in the issue of supplying military assistance to Ukraine. If the president was elected by the Ramas, he plans to stop deliveries, to recognize the territories captured by the Kremlin, to restore relations between Moscow and the West, which, in his opinion, will weaken China.

On the debate themselves, the Ramasva explained its position, saying that Ukraine is not a priority for US foreign policy, and military resources are necessary for America on the southern border, referring to Mexico. He was immediately objected by Nikki Haley, who possesses the richest experience in foreign policy from those present on the stage. She emotionally stated that it was impossible to stop the support of Ukraine in any case, since “Putin will not stop and you can’t agree with him - look what he did with Prigozhin!” The news about the explosion of the aircraft with the head of the Wagner PMC appeared literally a couple of hours before the debate, so it is unlikely that all participants on the stage were in the event, and this argument remained suspended in the air.

But Chris Christie was very convincing, who a few days ago surprised his voters with an unexpected visit to Ukraine . Apparently, as a result of this trip, according to polls , the rating of Chris Christie exceeded Ron Landamis's rating in New Hampshire. On the debate, Christie shared his impressions of his visit and turned the conversation towards the accusations against Trump, who called Putin his friend. Michael Pence, who also recently visited Kyiv, also joined the discussion, but on stage he came up with the idea that Washington could not stop the support of Ukraine, as this will deprive America of the status of a free world leader.

Ron landing, until recently, was considered the main opponent of Trump in competition for the republican nomination, also stated that Ukraine’s support is not priority for the United States.

In the dry residue

Judging by the reaction of the press, there is no unequivocal winner or lost on the debate. Vivek has a good impression on observers and the media in the first half of the debate, but could not fix his success at the end.

The neutral impression was left by the landing, which, apparently, was highly hopes, since he remains a leader in public opinion polls among the participants in the debate. True, starting from the end of February, the landing rating of landing is steadily reduced and is currently 34.5 points of approval against 46.2 points of a negative attitude.

Probably, a few points in their favor, according to the results of the debate, will receive Michael Pence and Nikki Haley. Their criticism against the former president and their former boss seems balanced and reasonable. Criticism of Trump is also positively reflected in the popularity of Chris Christie.

Real winners

Of course, Donald Trump could not stay away and also became a newsmaker during the debate. Simultaneously with the broadcast from Miluoi on the Internet there was a record of a large interview with Donald Trump, the scandalously famous Takera Karlson, a former host of Fox.

The rating of the popularity of the ex-president remains at the same level over the past year, despite the fact that he had recently been charged with the fourth accusation , this time related to the attempt to falsify the results of elections in the state of Georgia. This confirms that legal problems do not concern his loyal supporters, but the oscillating voters are in no hurry to support the former president.

The day after Debatov, Trump appeared in Georgia for a formal arrest in the case of pressure on the state secretary during the announcement of the results of the 2020 presidential election. The former president spent 20 minutes in prison while he was read out the charges. Perhaps, of all criminal cases against Trump, this is the most serious and possibly the most unpleasant for the election campaign, as it is directly related to an attempt to illegal intervention in the elections.

Later, a photo taken as part of the criminal process spread on the Internet. Trump himself instantly launched a pre -election merch with this photo. Trump posted the same picture on Twitter , which he did not use for several years. For two days, tweet was viewed 222 million times.

Several American analysts at once said that Joseph Biden became the winner of the republican debate. The show in Miluoi once again demonstrated that the crisis of leadership in the Republican Party has not been overcome, candidates diverge on many issues.

It remains likely that in the fall, among the participants in the presidential race for nomination from the Republican Party, new persons will appear who will be able to take part in the next rounds of the debate. Traditionally, five to six rounds of debate on primaries are held. The next round will be held on September 27 in California, in the library of Ronald Reagan.