Who Won the First GOP Debate?
So who won the first GOP debate? Let’s be honest. The winner was clearly the elephant not in the room: Donald Trump. From the start, one sensed the junior varsity team was on the stage while the varsity team was being interviewed by Tucker Carlson on X (formerly Twitter).
Ultimately, Trump won the debate because no one moved the needle to even come close to challenging his seemingly insurmountable lead in the polls.
From first-time candidate Vivek Ramaswamy grabbing the most attention to a usually mild-mannered former Vice President Mike Pence repeatedly on the attack, the first Republican presidential nomination debate of the 2024 election cycle tossed out the expected script and offered up plenty of fireworks and surprises. . . .
With former President Donald Trump — the commanding front-runner in the GOP nomination race as he makes his third straight White House run — skipping out on the debate, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was expected to bear the brunt of the attacks. DeSantis sits at a distant second to Trump in most polls, but is ahead of the rest of the large field of contenders.
Let’s dive into who hurt or helped their chances to go head-to-head against President Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential election. The debate participants were former Vice President Mike Pence, Governor Ron DeSantis, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former Governor Nikki Haley, former Governor Chris Christie, Senator Tim Scott, Governor Doug Burgum, and former Governor Asa Hutchinson.
Ramaswamy’s claim that the only war he’d start as President was on the federal agencies was “naïve.” You don’t know what kind of hand you’ll be dealt as President and what will happen on the world stage. Just ask George W. Bush how he expected his presidency to turn out after running on education in 2000.
Christie had one of the night’s most memorable lines, saying that Ramaswamy “sounds like “ChatGPT,” as he slammed the young entrepreneur’s inexperience. Ramaswamy’s being less than 100% supportive of Israel is concerning and merits watching.
But criticisms of Ramaswamy aside, he had a very strong night, and the candidate with zero political experience might receive the biggest bump in the polls. Ramaswamy also didn’t criticize Trump either, but in fact seemed like a Trump booster, which the Milwaukee crowd appreciated.
Did anyone expect Pence to come out so aggressively? He sometimes interrupted the moderator and went directly after Ramaswamy for most of the night. Seeing the normally reserved Pence transform suddenly into a Trump-like candidate on the stage was a bit surprising.
Haley also showed that she represents more of the neo-con side of the Republican Party. If nothing else, you can’t deny that she was honest about her foreign policy positions.
DeSantis also had a bit of a disappointing night. Nothing he said was problematic per se. But he probably didn’t do what he needed to do by winning the night and establishing himself as the clear-cut challenger to Trump.
Is there a possible VP choice for Trump from this field? Scott’s positive message could be seen as a good addition to Trump’s platform. Another interesting takeaway from last night is that Trump is usually the one verbally beating up other candidates, but he wisely let the candidates batter each other. We’ll see what happens as further GOP debates unfold.
Today’s Sekulow broadcast also featured ACLJ Senior Advisor for National Security and Foreign Policy Ric Grenell, who gave his take on the winners and losers of the debate. We are in the waning days of our Life & Liberty Drive. Every dollar you give is matched instantly to support our mission of defending cases related to life and liberty. Donate today to join us in the fight. Finally, download our Life & Liberty Drive Prayer Guide to partner with us in praying for our work.
Watch the full broadcast below:
