{"id":2047491,"date":"2023-09-28T00:06:01","date_gmt":"2023-09-28T04:06:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/a-dud-debate\/"},"modified":"2023-09-28T00:06:49","modified_gmt":"2023-09-28T04:06:49","slug":"a-dud-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/a-dud-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"A Failed 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\">6<\/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%2Fa-dud-debate%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=2047491&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>Donald \u2064Trump&#8217;s Absence Gives Him the Upper Hand in Lackluster\u200c Republican Debate<\/h2>\n<p>Donald Trump \u200dmust be grinning \u2064from ear to ear right now. \u2063The former\u200b president emerged victorious simply by not participating\u200d in the underwhelming second Republican \u200bdebate on \u200bWednesday evening. Instead, the seven\u200d non-indicted presidential\u200b candidates engaged in a \u200cchaotic exchange of incoherent \u200dinterjections and \u200ccarefully crafted zingers at the Reagan Library.<\/p>\n<h3>Nikki\u2063 Haley Shines Again<\/h3>\n<p>Former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley proved \u2062that\u2064 her impressive\u2062 performance in the first debate was \u200bno fluke. She demonstrated\u200b her ability to skillfully handle the young entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who left the audience dumbfounded with his praise for the dangerous Chinese spyware app, TikTok.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;Honestly, every time I hear you, I\u200d feel a little bit\u2062 dumber for what you \u200dsay,&#8221; Haley fired back \u2064at Ramaswamy. &#8220;This is infuriating because TikTok is one of\u200b the most dangerous social media apps that we could \u200bhave.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The Fox Business Network then cut to a TikTok ad, adding to the irony of the situation.<\/p>\n<h3>Trump Becomes the Center of Attention<\/h3>\n<p>The most memorable moments of the debate revolved around Donald Trump. Florida governor Ron DeSantis and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie took shots at him for \u2062skipping the event to deliver remarks at a factory in Michigan.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;Donald Trump is missing in action,&#8221; DeSantis criticized. &#8220;He owes it to\u200b you\u2064 to defend his record.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You keep doing that, no one up here \u200bis\u2063 going to \u200bcall you Donald Trump anymore. We&#8217;re gonna call you Donald Duck,&#8221; Christie cleverly added.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>However, none of the candidates managed to convince viewers that they truly\u200c wanted to \u200dstand on \u2062stage next \u200cto Trump and face his \u200battacks. The absence of the commanding frontrunner allowed relatively strong performances from Haley and DeSantis, \u2063but their true potential remains uncertain.<\/p>\n<p>The debate itself was poorly managed, plagued by terrible \u200dlighting\u2062 and moderators who struggled to \u2062control the candidates.\u200b At one point, they even threatened to cut the\u2063 microphone of Gov. Doug Burgum\u200d (R., N.D.), who persistently interrupted\u200d from the edge of the stage. Some of the questions \u2063seemed more fitting for a Democratic primary debate, focusing on topics \u2064like income inequality, DREAMers, and gun\u2064 safety.<\/p>\n<p>While Trump may \u2063have won\u200b the debate by not participating, the real losers were the viewers who endured a\u2063 lackluster event. \u200dHowever, there\u200d were a few winners and losers worth mentioning:<\/p>\n<h3>Winners<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Asa Hutchinson: The former governor of Arkansas, who failed to qualify for the debate, may benefit from his \u2063absence and prolong\u2062 his campaign.<\/li>\n<li>Doug Burgum: Aggressively interrupting journalists proved to be a\u200d winning strategy for him.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Losers<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Reagan&#8217;s \u2064legacy: The former president&#8217;s library was an unfortunate backdrop for\u200d such a \u200ddismal contest. Perhaps his family should consider relocating his\u2064 remains.<\/li>\n<li>The moderators: Their crowd \u200bcontrol was subpar, \u2062and their choice of\u2063 questions left many scratching their heads. Journalists, oh boy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h2> \u2064 In what ways did Trump&#8217;s absence from the\u200c second Republican debate give him an \u2063advantage and reinforce his status as a dominant figure in\u200d American politics<\/h2>\n<p><span>  Ron DeSantis, who is widely seen as a potential successor \u200cto the former president, found himself constantly being compared to Trump. Whether it was his similar style or his pro-Trump policies, DeSantis could not escape the\u200b shadow of the man he hopes to replace.<\/p>\n<p>Senator Ted Cruz also faced questions about\u2063 his relationship with Trump. Cruz, who had\u2062 famously\u2062 clashed with Trump during the 2016 Republican primary, now \u2062finds himself praising the \u2063former president at every\u200d opportunity. It \u2062is clear \u200dthat Cruz, \u200clike many other Republican candidates, recognizes the power and influence \u200dthat Trump still holds\u200b over the party.<\/p>\n<p>Even without being physically present, Trump&#8217;s \u2062absence \u2064was felt\u2063 throughout the debate. His name was mentioned countless times, and his policies \u200cwere discussed at length. The other candidates seemed to constantly\u2063 be trying to either distance themselves from Trump or align themselves with him, depending on their\u200b own political calculations.<\/p>\n<p>Trump&#8217;s absence also gave\u2064 him the upper hand in another way. By not participating in the lackluster \u2064debate, he maintained his \u200dimage as a strong and decisive leader. \u2062While the other candidates bickered and\u200b struggled to articulate clear positions, Trump remained uncharacteristically silent. This silence only added to the perception that Trump is a force \u2063to be \u2062reckoned with, able to command attention without even saying a\u200b word.<\/p>\n<p>In\u200b the end, the second Republican debate was a \u2062forgettable affair. The candidates failed to inspire or differentiate\u200b themselves from one another. It was clear that\u2063 without Trump,\u2064 the debate lacked the excitement and energy that he brings to any political event. Love \u2063him \u200dor hate \u2063him, \u200dDonald Trump has an undeniable presence \u200din American politics, and his absence from the debate only served to highlight\u2063 that \u200dfact.<\/p>\n<p>As the race for \u200dthe \u2064Republican\u200d nomination continues, \u200bit is clear \u2064that Trump will remain a dominant\u200c figure. Whether\u200b he\u200d decides to run for\u200b president\u2062 again or not, \u2063his influence and impact are \u200cundeniable. The other \u200ccandidates will have to navigate the tricky\u200b task\u2064 of either distancing themselves from Trump \u2064or embracing his legacy, all while\u200c trying to carve out their own path to the nomination. Trump&#8217;s absence from the second \u200cdebate only solidified his position as the center of\u2062 attention and the man to beat in the race for the Republican nomination.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Donald Trump is likely pleased. His absence from the lackluster second Republican debate allowed him to come out on top. The seven non-indicted candidates engaged in incoherent interjections and rehearsed zingers at the Reagan Library. Nikki Haley, former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador, was also present.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":97,"featured_media":2047492,"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":[544],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2047491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-free-beacon"],"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\/2047491","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\/97"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2047491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2047491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2047492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2047491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2047491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2047491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}