Politics- Donald Trump's absence led to a night of barbs between the remaining GOP presidential hopefuls.
- The first presidential debate of this cycle was dominated by attacks on Vivek Ramaswamy.
Without the presence of the polling leader, former President Donald Trump, eight candidates were granted the opportunity to boost their spotlight at the first Republican presidential debate.
And while many expected Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, the candidate in second place in the vast majority of national polls, to take a step forward and try to separate himself from the pack, he instead cautiously tiptoed around several much-needed policy stances regarding a federal abortion policy and the climate crisis.
While DeSantis failed to rise to the occasion, Vivek Ramaswamy, a young entrepreneurial candidate, made several comments throughout the evening that frequently resonated with the live audience, quickly cementing his status as a serious contender to DeSantis' second-place status.
1. Knives were out for Vivek Ramaswamy
From the get-go, after the moderator's very first question, it became clear that Ramaswamy had a target on his back.
The former governor of New Jersey Chris Christie, who was widely expected to go after Trump during the debate due to his extensive history of back-and-forth insults between the two, instead took the opportunity early on to attack the young candidate, Ramaswamy.
"I've had enough already tonight of a guy who sounds like ChatGPT," Christie said following Ramaswamy's beginning statements.
Christie wasn't the first nor the last candidate to exchange jabs with Ramswamy Wednesday night. Referring to Ramaswamy in a quip, Pence said: "We don't need to bring in a rookie. We don't need to bring in people without experience."
Toward the end of the evening, Haley and Ramaswamy exchanged barbs over his stated foreign policy plans.
"You would make America less safe," Haley said. "You have no foreign policy experience, and it shows. It shows."
Despite getting attacked on all sides by his fellow candidates, Ramaswamy largely held his own onstage Wednesday, drawing large rounds of applause from the crowd throughout the night.
At one notable point in the evening, however, the Republican-leaning audience loudly booed the candidate for his controversial stance that he thought "the climate-change agenda was a hoax."
2. Trump didn't overshadow the whole debate, but his power could still be felt.
Former President Donald Trump said he felt no need to attend a debate while he holds a double-digit national lead. For multiple stretches, Trump's absence receded out of view. But then Fox News started a segment focused on Trump's four indictments. The responses from the 8 candidates onstage illustrated Trump's power.
While tepid at times, most of the candidates onstage signaled they would support Trump even if he were convicted on one of the 91 felony counts he was facing. Ramaswamy went so far as to declare the former president "the greatest president of the 21st century." He even tried to force former Vice President Mike Pence to pledge to pardon Trump.
The former governors Chris Christie of New Jersey and Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas stuck to their anti-Trump rhetorics that had defined their respective campaigns. But the audience was not having it.
Bret Baier, one of the moderators, had to turn around to urge the crowd to boo less.
"Booing is allowed but it doesn't change the truth," Christie defiantly told the crowd.
3. DeSantis deflected several times when asked key policy questions
DeSantis, who's placed second in the vast majority of national GOP primary polls behind Trump, came into the evening needing to separate himself from the rest of the pack.
And while he was high-energy and made several points to pat himself on the back for how he's done as governor, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, DeSantis ignored repeated questions from the moderators about his policies if elected.
Namely, DeSantis refused to say if he'd support a federal 6-week abortion policy, simply saying "I'm gonna stand on the side of life."
When asked if humans were to account for the climate crisis, DeSantis deflected and instead chose to turn the topic to Biden's "no comment" to the media following the disastrous fires in Hawaii.
4. A face-off over abortion illustrated why Republicans are struggling post-Roe
Republicans have struggled to address abortion since the Supreme Court's landmark decision to reverse Roe v. Wade. The issue helped Democrats during midterms that were expected to sink the party. Abortion rights activists have swept ballot initiatives and referendums by either expanding access or beating back efforts to impose further restrictions. Ohio, a state that has turned increasingly conservative, may become the latest state to enshrine Roe-era protections in its state constitution this November.
Enter Haley. For a while, the former UN ambassador has argued that her party needs to ease up in how it talks about abortion. Wednesday's debate offered the biggest stage for her argument to balance anti-abortion policy with the realities of congressional policy thus far.
"Let's treat this like a respectful issue that it is and humanize the situation and stop demonizing the situation," Haley said, encouraging a realistic discussion of a potential nationwide ban on abortion.
Pence made it clear that not every candidate agreed.
"To be honest with you, Nikki — you're my friend, but consensus is the opposite of leadership," Pence responded.
5. The moderators lost control of the night
The debate's two moderators, Fox News' Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, quickly lost control of the candidates on Wednesday evening, allowing them to frequently talk far past their allotted time about topics entirely unrelated to the questions at hand.
About halfway through the debate, Baier and MacCallum were forced to remind the candidates of the rules of the evening and to please respect the buzzer.
During the closing lightning round, Baier had to remind the hopefuls, "This is a lightning round, not Rolling Thunder."