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The Third Republican Presidential Debate and the Future of the GOP

/Pogled.info/ The third debate of the Republican presidential candidates was held in Florida. From one debate to another, the number of participants decreases – some drop out of the presidential race, others simply do not make it to the debate due to tightened rules.

At the same time, the audience for televised debates is rapidly declining, questioning the point of holding them when the main participant in the primaries simply ignores the debates.

Five candidates advanced to the final debate – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis with a 13% rating, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, Chris Christie and Tim Scott.

Former Vice President Mike Pence dropped out of the race precisely because he failed to qualify for the debate. To participate in them, you had to have a rating of 4% or higher, as well as at least 70 thousand campaign backers.

The former US president remains an absolute favorite in the primary elections – his rating consistently exceeds 60% among the Republican electorate. Therefore, Trump simply does not see the point in engaging in arguments with his opponents, whom he is ahead of not just by a head, but also by his shoulders.

The first debate was held in Wisconsin, the birthplace of the Republican Party. The latter are now in the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. The third was held in Miami, the hometown of DeSantis, the second-place candidate in the primary. He tried in every way to take advantage of this to somehow strengthen his position in competition with Trump.

As a result, however, the current debate – like all previous ones – quickly turned into a chaotic quarrel and exchange of “courtesies” between the candidates.

Wednesday’s debate was not particularly rosy for Republicans.

Eventually, a number of American states held local elections to elect governors and legislators. Traditionally, such elections are won by the opposition party of the White House. So the Republicans hoped to make a confident showing.

But in the end, the local elections ended in an unexpectedly strong victory for the Democrats. They managed to win majorities in both houses of the Virginia National Assembly and re-elect their governor in Kentucky. And also to hold a referendum in Ohio to amend the local constitution regarding the right to abortion.

In fact, the abortion issue has become very toxic for Republicans.

As part of their campaign, they promised to limit abortion — even though that program is becoming less popular in the United States. And it even overshadowed all the other issues in this election – including Joe Biden’s low approval ratings or the crime and migration crisis.

Speaking during the debate, Indian-origin financier Vivek Ramaswamy immediately called Republicans “the party of losers.” He demanded the immediate resignation of the party leadership because of yet another lost election.

Vivek also actively criticized NBC’s hosting of debates, which is hard to identify as Republican-friendly. Instead, he suggested that the debate be held in Tucker Carlson Hall, where many more viewers would watch it.

Ramaswamy also addressed neoconservative hawks in the Republican Party. He sees them as one of the reasons for the defeat of the Republicans in the elections – as well as for the general international crisis in which the United States finds itself.

Much of the debate is due to Ramaswamy’s disputes with his nemesis in former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, the main hawk in the primary. Ramaswamy called her “Dick Cheney in heels,” a reference to the ill-fated Bush-era vice president who orchestrated the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Haley herself has actively called for war with the “terrible” alliance of Russia, China and Iran, calling it the primary threat to the United States. In the latter, Vivek agrees with her – but he suggests that we not go into direct conflict, but try to split this alliance through ad hoc agreements with Russia and Iran, and then focus on the confrontation with China.

During the debate, Haley had to justify herself the entire time.

Desantis accused her of hypocrisy — they say she pretends to be an enemy of China, but when she was governor, she did everything she could to attract Chinese business to her state.

Vivek pointed out that Haley is pushing for TikTok to be banned in the US, but her daughter runs a popular channel there. In response, Haley was so offended that she started hurling insults — and even called Ramaswamy a “bastard.”

The issue of Ukraine was also discussed very energetically.

Desantis urged the country to focus on supporting Israel and ending the Ukrainian conflict as quickly as possible. Vivek called Vladimir Zelensky a “Nazi”, and Ukraine itself is definitely not an example of democracy. The remaining candidates promised to continue the war in Ukraine. And Haley even predicted that if Kiev is defeated, Taiwan will be the next to fall.

The first debate was watched by 14 million Americans, the second by only nine million. The audience for the third debate is likely to be even smaller.

The fourth and possibly final debate will take place in December. Although that makes less and less sense. After all, ratings are plummeting and these debates no longer have much of an impact on the course of the primaries. All participants have a rating below 15% – and minimal chances of winning.

Perhaps the only candidate for whom the debate still matters is Ramaswamy.

He is trying to cement his reputation as a critic of the Republican establishment and Washington hawks. Vivek’s dream is to become Trump’s vice president or otherwise join his team, such as becoming secretary of state. Vivek has a good relationship with Trump and performs quite well in debates. So it’s a very realistic scenario.

Trump continues to consistently miss the debates — and it doesn’t affect his ratings. They only grow.

A number of polls have been released over the past few weeks in which Trump’s lead over incumbent Biden has grown significantly. Trump now leads Biden in five of the six key swing states. And if the election were tomorrow, Trump could win it.

However, there is still a whole year left before the elections, during which a lot can change.

Four criminal cases are pending against Trump, with hearings set to begin in early 2024. And a civil lawsuit against Trump is already being argued in a New York court. There he is accused of inflating the value of his properties. Prosecutors are threatening to strip Trump of his Trump Tower skyscraper and all of his New York property.

Amid a split in the US over the war in Israel and fatigue with militarism, non-system candidates are strengthening their positions.

Robert Kennedy’s approval rating rose to 22% – he is now hot on the heels of both Biden and Trump. Support is also growing for another leftist candidate who promises to end all wars: Cornel West. He won 6% in the polls. West is more of a spoiler for Biden, while Kennedy equally steals votes from both major candidates.

Trump also went to the polls promising to reconcile everyone – to stop the war in Ukraine, to reach an agreement in the Middle East and to make a deal with Russia and Iran. This peace-making agenda resonated with many voters, which is why Trump’s approval ratings continue to rise.

Pressure is now mounting on Biden not to run for a second term — many Democrats would like to switch horses in the middle while there’s still time. But anyway, the upcoming election – amid all the crises and wars – already promises to become one of the most chaotic and unpredictable in modern US history.

Translation: ES

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2023-11-11 06:13:23
#presidential #candidate #called #Zelensky #Nazi

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