{"id":2012814,"date":"2023-08-26T06:24:01","date_gmt":"2023-08-26T10:24:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-was-right-to-skip-gop-debate-defenders-and-critics-say\/"},"modified":"2023-08-26T06:28:52","modified_gmt":"2023-08-26T10:28:52","slug":"trump-was-right-to-skip-gop-debate-defenders-and-critics-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-was-right-to-skip-gop-debate-defenders-and-critics-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Defenders and critics agree: Trump made the right call by skipping GOP debate."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftrump-was-right-to-skip-gop-debate-defenders-and-critics-say%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2012814&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Two days after the first Republican primary debate \u2063of \u2064the 2024 election cycle&#8230;<\/h2>\n<p>It&#8217;s clear that former President Donald Trump was\u200d right to skip\u200d out on the proceedings in\u200d Milwaukee, Wisconsin, according to his supporters and \u2064a number of critics.<\/p>\n<p>Some \u200bcandidates, such as \u200cformer\u2063 Vice President Mike Pence, former United\u200b Nations Ambassador Nikki \u200cHaley, and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, put \u200bup positive debate performances.<\/p>\n<h3>TOP THREE TAKEAWAYS FROM THE REPUBLICAN DEBATE IN \u2064MILWAUKEE<\/h3>\n<p>However, no one, including Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), fully\u200c separated \u2062themselves from the \u200bpack or made a serious case to \u2062the Trump\u2064 faithful to \u200bditch the former\u200d president in light of \u2064his\u200d legal troubles, and even a day after\u200b being arrested and booked in\u2062 Fulton County, Georgia, Trump \u2063remains the GOP&#8217;s presumptive front-runner.<\/p>\n<p>As of Friday, Trump holds a\u200b 41.1-point average \u2063lead over DeSantis, according to the RealClearPolitics polling\u2064 aggregate, a lead that \u200bhas steadily grown amid a steady\u2063 stream of federal indictments for\u2063 the former president.<\/p>\n<p>Republican \u2064operatives supporting Trump&#8217;s campaign, and two backing other candidates this cycle, say that Trump&#8217;s decision not to \u200dshow up Wednesday once\u200b again forced the Republican field to rally\u200b behind the &#8220;elephant not in the room,&#8221; as Fox News&#8217; debate host\u2063 Bret Baier \u200breferred\u2063 to Trump Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n<p>And those who didn&#8217;t, such as former\u200c Govs. Chris Christie \u2064and Asa\u200b Hutchinson, hold \u200bno serious hopes of winning the nomination this cycle, those operatives say.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Trump skipped\u200c the debate, and he made\u2062 every \u2063other candidate on that \u2064stage defend him in the process,&#8221; one MAGA-affiliated operative told the Washington Examiner. &#8220;DeSantis had no idea what to do at first and \u2063was cowed into offering support by Ramaswamy. It was brilliant.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The incident that\u2063 operative \u200cwas referring to occurred just after the half-way\u200b point, when \u200d<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-was-right-to-skip-gop-debate-defenders-and-critics-say\/\" title=\"Defenders and critics agree: Trump made the right call by skipping GOP debate.\">debate moderators\u2062 asked candidates<\/a> to,\u200d by a show of hands, say if they would still back \u200bTrump as the nominee if he is \u2064convicted in any of his four indictments.\u2063 Ramaswamy&#8217;s hand shot up immediately, while DeSantis cast a furtive glance at the other candidates&#8217; reactions before also \u200braising \u2063his hand.<\/p>\n<p>Trump clearly noticed the moment, as \u2062he would later go on to declare Ramaswamy, who some \u2064Trump allies have floated \u2063as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gov-kim-reynolds-boosts-desantiss-efforts-in-iowa-as-he-scrambles-to-win-back-campaign-support\/\" title=\"Gov. Kim Reynolds supports DeSantis in Iowa as he fights to regain campaign backing.\">potential vice \u200dpresidential pick<\/a>, the winner of the debate.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;This answer\u2063 gave Vivek Ramaswamy a\u200d big\u200d WIN in \u200dthe debate because of\u200d a thing called TRUTH,&#8221; the former president wrote on \u2063Truth Social, noting \u2064Ramaswamy&#8217;s repeated claims that Trump was the &#8220;best president of the 21st century&#8221; and vow\u2062 to, if elected, pardon him on his first day in office. &#8220;Thank\u2062 you Vivek!&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;If Trump had been there Wednesday, I think \u200cthe second portion, where candidates were forced to pick\u2062 a side\u2064 on his indictments, \u200bwould have gone very\u200b differently,&#8221; a Republican operative opposed \u2064to \u200cTrump added. &#8220;If \u200bhe was on the stage,\u200d I\u2064 think you \u2063would have\u2062 seen folks like Mike \u200dPence, maybe Nikki \u2064Haley go\u200c after\u2062 him a little bit more. I&#8217;m not\u200b sure if DeSantis\u2062 would have played \u2063things\u200c differently, but he couldn&#8217;t possibly have \u200dlooked worse than\u200b he already did\u2063 Wednesday.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Instead of debating, Trump opted to appear\u2063 before\u2063 voters\u200c in a different format Wednesday evening: A taped-to-live interview with \u200bformer Fox host\u200d Tucker\u2063 Carlson that was published on X, formerly known as\u2063 Twitter.<\/p>\n<p>Though many criticized\u200c some of the &#8220;softball&#8221; questions Carlson asked of \u2063the former president, the interview had still \u200bgarnered more than 250\u200d million \u2064views as of Friday morning. For comparison, the Fox News debate earned roughly 13 million viewers on \u2063Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>And \u2062while Democrats declared President Joe Biden the &#8220;big winner&#8221; Wednesday night,\u200c multiple Democratic officials tell \u200dthe Washington Examiner that \u2063the debate &#8220;moved us that much closer to a\u200c rematch next year.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Democratic officials have suggested to the\u2062 Washington Examiner in the \u2064past that\u2063 the president wants to run against Trump again. His campaign and the party\u200d believe that, coupled with a handful \u200dof <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/republicans-smell-blood-in-the-water-as-democrats-scramble-before-midterms\/\" title=\"Republicans Smell Blood in the Water as Democrats Scramble Before Midterms\">positive economic indicators<\/a>, \u2064Trump&#8217;s legal problems \u200dwill slowly pull votes away \u2063from him in the general election, even if they help\u2062 him during\u2062 the primary.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;President Biden is focused on his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-the-pope-yale-foundations-and-plutocrats-got-corporations-involved-in-politics\/\" title=\"How the Pope, Yale, Foundations, and \u2018Plutocrats\u2019 Got Corporations Involved In Politics\">economic agenda<\/a> and\u2063 delivering\u2064 for \u200bhardworking, American \u200bfamilies,&#8221; one campaign \u200bofficial told the Washington Examiner. \u2063&#8221;We know that, no matter who wins the Republican nomination, they\u200b will be supporting \u2062an agenda that seeks to directly undermine the economic progress ushered in by this administration, raising costs and \u200ctaxes on lower and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/teachers-union-president-attacks-desantis-millions-will-die-gets-slammed-offers-only-partial-apology\/\" title=\"Teachers Union\u2019 President Attacks DeSantis, \u2018Millions Will Die,\u2019 Gets Slammed, Offers Only Partial Apology\">middle income families<\/a> while\u2064 providing tax handouts to the rich and corporations in the process.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Biden campaign officials also say not \u2062to expect the president to specifically criticize Trump amid the\u2063 wash of legal \u200dissues \u2064he \u2063is facing, though \u200che did take a\u2062 subtle dig at his\u2063 likely 2024 opponent Wednesday night.<\/p>\n<p>Biden&#8217;s political account posted a clip of Haley blaming not only Democrats for\u2063 the current federal \u2062deficit, but\u2062 also the Trump administration.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE \u200cWASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>other prominent Republicans, took the stage to present their visions for the future. However, Trump&#8217;s absence allowed him to maintain his influential presence and avoid potential clashes. Supporters argue that his decision was strategic, while critics question his commitment to the democratic process. The debate highlighted the ongoing influence and polarization surrounding Trump within the Republican Party.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2012815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2012814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2012814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2012814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2012814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2012815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2012814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2012814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2012814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}