Apologies, but I couldn't really keep focused on the Republican debate tonight. Instead I spent my time shopping Time's Cat of the Year cover—which, honestly, was probably a better use of energy than watching the TV.
Basically, there were two things going on tonight. On one side you had Chris Christie and Vivek Ramaswamy, who know they have no chance of anything and can therefore say whatever they feel like. In Christie's case this mostly meant taking weak shots at Donald Trump. In Ramaswamy's case it meant being a childish asshole.
Then you have Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis, both of whom have minimal but real chances of winning the Republican nomination. This meant spending lots of time calling each other liars. DeSantis accused Haley of being insufficiently dedicated to the degradation of trans people. Haley said he was lying. Haley said DeSantis was insufficiently dedicated to bathroom exclusions for trans people. DeSantis said she was lying. Very uplifting stuff.
On substance there was precious little daylight between the two. They love Israel. They hate university presidents. They love Taiwan. They hate China. They love parents. They hate trans people. They hate illegal immigrants. They hate the Deep State. They hate the FBI. And they are going to CLEAN HOUSE when they're elected president.
Yawn. It was a nightlong insult fest with little else going for it. My guess is that DeSantis made his points better than Haley, but his affect is so unlikeable that Haley might have won on points.
The one thing that continues to perplex me is Chris Christie's attacks on Donald Trump. Tonight he went after Trump more persistently than he's done in the past, but his actual criticisms of Trump are astonishingly weak. "He's unfit for the job" is fine as a summation, but only after you've reeled off all the reasons he's unfit for the job. Christie never does that. He talked tonight about Trump being all about retribution and revenge, which is fine, but hardly something that's going to change anyone's mind. I wonder why he doesn't go after Trump more thoroughly?
You just watch the media over coming months cover the contest to run a distant second in the Republican primary as if it's a vitally important political event. Haley "wins" New Hampshire but Christie did surprisingly well! Well yes Trump got all the delegates, but he's not playing the game so he doesn't count. And DeSantis looks like he might "win" Iowa with 14% of the vote, while Ramaswamy's 9% means he can't yet be counted out! It's the most exciting primary in years!
Yeah, the media is only interested in what gets the most eyeballs and influences advertising rates. Exciting! indeed.
if "the media" were only interested in what gets the most eyeballs, they'd ignore these so-called debates altogether especially considering that its clear by now that they'll almost certainly have no influence in deciding the republican nominee. . also note that media is plural and not a monolithic entity. and yes, given the financial model most media enterprises employ, they depend on eyeballs to cover expenses and make a profit. what's the point of publishing a newspaper or airing a news program that nobody reads or views?
I wonder why he doesn't go after Trump more thoroughly?
Really?
Perhaps "brand management?" Perhaps simple survival?
Christie hopes to survive in the Republican Party, ideally as some form of the Tough Guy Who Tells It Like It Is. But you cannot seriously dig into Trump's vulnerabilities and still survive in the Republican Party, because Trump's vulnerabilities are the Party's vulnerabilities, very much including those of its voters, MAGAts and Good
GermansRepublicans alike.Criticize Trump for his faux Christianism and you criticize a huge swath of the Republican Party personally. Criticize Trump for his absurd, ignorant, and contradictory views on immigration (aka "the border") and you criticize the majority of the Republican Party personally. Ditto taxes, ditto the rule of law, and most especially ditto anything to do with race or sexual identity.
If Christie didn't pull his punches, he'd be hitting the Republican rank and file in the face again and again, and he'd be finished in the party.
Exactly. None of them have cultivated enough of a media personality to take over.
that may be his reasoning, but it doesn't make sense because ANY attacks on trump make him persona non grata in the GOP. if he was going to go after trump, he might as well have gone hard. he's not going to have a place in the party either way, but he's done it all for nothing with this weak sauce.
Looking at his poll numbers & recalling the 2016 Republican primaries, I'd say Christie is already persona non grata to the Republican voters. Does he have any friends or supporters among elected Republicans?
Who knows what his future might be? He doesn't have the right personality for a cable show. He has nothing of any worth to say that isn't already widely known.
ding! ding! ding! we have a winner!. it will be years, maybe decades, before the republican party returns to a position of relative sanity. by that time christie will have shuffled off the public scene. if there was any kind of anti trump lane to exploit in this year's primary, the only way to play it would be to go after tfg with guns ablazing.
Why doesn't Christie really criticize Trump?
With wingnuttism you're either all in or all out. Pull out any stick and your whole jenga tower comes down.
Personally, I think Ramaswamy is just a shill for Trump. His whole point is to dilute the vote for the others and to attack the one who currently has the most traction. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he was getting coached by Trump’s team.
Nikki Haley’s strength is just a sign of how weak a candidate DeSantis is. But Haley is not white enough to actually win in the Republican Party (in the event Trump is out of it for some reason). I suppose that if Trump is out of it for some reason the Republicans are stuck with DeSantis, the most uninspired candidate since Jeb Bush. Can’t imagine they’d actually settle for Christie.
You got to give CC credit for at least pushing back on the MAGA nonsense
Chris Christie is the only one positioning to be the "I told you so" candidate.
The rest are vying to be the top "damn, I can't believe they convicted Trump -- I was a huuuuuuge fan of Trump, so you should vote for me since he'll be in prison" candidate.
Ramaswamy was half right when he said the opioid epidemic is caused by a mental health problem. A problem created and exacerbated by the policies he and everyone else endorses.
True that. The mental health problem is basically a whole lot of people who are left behind as we transition to a knowledge economy, they either can't or won't participate and drown in hopelessness.
The opioid epidemic comes mostly from over-prescription -- so says the conviction and lawsuits against Purdue -- which leads to addiction, which leads eventually to overdose and death.
Ramaswamyaladingdong is a low-knowledge candidate. Every time he gets into a tiff with Christie, he shows just how little he knows.