On Wednesday, September 27, Republican presidential hopefuls battled it out at the Reagan Library in their second primary debate, attempting to usurp the parties’ presidential nomination from the favorite, Donald Trump.
Former president Trump is polling at 59% in the Republican primary, cementing his status as front runner despite his ongoing legal woes. Trump opted to give a speech to supporters rather than participate in the debate, as he also did during the first installment.
This would be criticized by a couple other candidates. The debate mostly focused on immigration, crime, education, the economy and Joe Biden.
Following is an analysis of some comments and policies from each candidate, along with some brief background on them as a person.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is second in the Republican primary with 14% support. DeSantis went to Yale and Harvard before enlisting in the military, during which he reportedly observed force-feedings of Guantanamo Bay prisoners. Following his military career, DeSantis served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2013-2018, and as Florida’s governor from 2018 to present.
DeSantis wants to use the military to fight Mexican cartels, describing them as foreign terrorist organizations. DeSantis wasn’t alone in his belief on the debate floor. This foreign policy goal is often expressed as happening with or without Mexican consent, violating the national sovereignty of our neighbor and top trade partner.
“When I had two progressive prosecutors that weren’t following the law in Florida, I removed them from their post,” said DeSantis. “As President I will use the Justice Department to bring civil rights cases against all of those left wing Soros funded prosecutors.”
Desantis suspended two elected Florida attorneys, Andrew Warren for pledging not to prosecute violators of a 15-week abortion ban, and Monique Worrell for avoiding mandatory minimum sentences and giving juvenile offenders the benefit of the doubt. These suspensions are questionable at best, and show anti-democracy, authoritarian tendencies. DeSantis previously bragged about the suspensions, calling the democrat prosecutors “Soros-funded,” as he did again in the debate, an antisemitic dog whistle.
DeSantis said that universities and colleges would have to “make a decision, do we expand the Gender Studies department… no…they’re gonna make different choices, they’re gonna graduate people in 4 years.” This came after being asked how he would address the cost of college. After that, in response to the same question, DeSantis moved on to how he was at the 9/11 memorial, joined the military because of 9/11 at the time, and would be the first President since 1988 who’s served overseas.
Obviously more needs to be done than his proposed solution. It is an answer designed to further propaganda that says the education system is pushing an agenda, and is anti minority. The shift to 9/11 and his military history is designed to fire up voters with a series of buzzwords that evoke patriotism, without saying anything meaningful.
Lastly, DeSantis said that Democrats are supporting abortion until birth. This is a mischaracterization of H.R. 8296, which grants abortion until fetal viability, which is 24 weeks, and only after if the mother’s health is at risk.
Nikki Haley is in third place, with support around 9%. Haley served in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 2004-2010, the Governor of South Carolina from 2011-2017, and as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations from 2017-2018.
“We have to secure the border, the way we do that is, first of all, defund sanctuary cities.” Haley said. This, according to Haley, would make America safer and increase safety domestically. Sadly, this is not true, and sanctuary cities have been proven across multiple studies to have less crime, higher household income, lower poverty rates and lower unemployment.
In order to improve the school system, Haley believes in the disinclusion of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs, DEI, and Critical Race Theory, CRT, content along with school choice incentives.
DEI initiatives mostly occur in higher education and the workplace, they are focused on fostering success among disabled, veteran, minority and immigrant individuals. CRT is an over 40-year-old academic concept developed at Harvard Law School that teaches race as a social construct, and that racism is not just individual bias, it is systemic. CRT is not taught in K-12 schools.
School choice is a reinvigorated movement encouraging private and charter schools, as well as homeschooling, through the use of state funds. In Florida alone there are 1,447 religious private schools educating 300,000 students in 2023. Private schools do not have to follow state curriculums, and can have low quality education in some subjects, like mathematics. Private and charter schools can give parents looking to insulate their children from the outside world an educational option that reinforces biblical, traditional and conservative views.
The inclusion of CRT and DEI, with reasoning for school choice, indicates that the Republican push for vouchers and choice initiatives and that it is more about controlling what children are taught on a political, racial and religious level rather than bettering educational outcomes.
Former Governor Haley, among others, also targeted fellow presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy, saying “Every time I hear you, I feel a little bit dumber for what you say.” This was in response to Ramaswamy justifying his use of tik tok to reach young Americans, despite demonizing social media.
Lastly, in order to reduce the cost of healthcare, Haley believes in increasing competition between insurance companies and providers. Given that the debate took place at the Reagan library, this is a call back to the healthcare deregulation of the 80’s, the same deregulation that increased costs. Healthcare does not benefit from commodification, giving businesses within the industry more freedom simply offers them the opportunity to extract more profits at everyone’s expense.
Vivek Ramaswamy possesses 5% support in the Republican primary. Ramaswamy has no political experience and built around a billion dollar fortune through hedge funds, asset management and investing in the abandoned drug ideas of pharmaceutical companies. After amassing his wealth, Ramaswamy dropped out of business and entered into politics, publishing his book “Woke, Inc.”
In one of his opening comments, Ramaswamy mentioned unleashing American exceptionalism. American exceptionalism is the idea that there is something inherently superior, morally and socially, about America when compared to the rest of the world. It usually includes some manifestation of a need to teach other countries, and has roots in white supremacy.
“I do have a lot of sympathy for the workers…I’ve been through hardship growing up,” Ramaswamy said, “My father stared down layoffs at… the G.E. plant in Evendale, Ohio. My mom had to work overtime in nursing homes.”
This is a lie to appeal to working class Americans. His father did work with GE, as an engineer in the 1970’s and later as a patent attorney by 2000. His mom did work in nursing homes, as a psychiatrist and medical director of a private practice. Both of his parents came from higher castes in India with graduate degrees, and put him through a $16,000 a year private high school. All while building him a stock portfolio that paid him thousands in dividends, Ramaswamy was already a millionaire by the time he attended law school.
Ramaswamy, an immigrant himself, believes in ending birthright citizenship. Granted through the fourteenth amendment, birthright citizenship is the idea that children born on American soil are American citizens. While the amendment was created in response to racism, post Civil War and Dred Scott, the Supreme Court ruled it also applies to the children of legal or illegal immigrants in 1898.
According to Ramaswamy, we need faith-based mental health institutions and bans on social media apps to improve mental health and fix the “demand-side” aspect of the fentanyl crisis. Religious indoctrination is not a logical solution to drug addiction or mental health. He could have a case for age restricted access to social media if Ramaswamy wasn’t using it to reach young Americans himself.
Ramaswamy also declared that cartels are building tunnels under the Southern border that you can drive a semi-truck through. There are some tunnels built under the border, but they are not big enough to drive semi-trucks through, that’s an exaggeration. An exaggeration meant to stoke xenophobic flames. Tunnels have been built under the border since the 1990’s, some can have small rail systems for mining carts, but they are filled on the U.S. end with cement upon discovery.
Mike Pence had 4% support at the time of the second debate, but has since dropped out. Pence was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 2001-2013, governor of Indiana from 2013-2017 and the vice president of the United States from 2017-2021.
In reference to Biden’s electric vehicle legislation, Pence stated it is “Good for Beijing, bad for Detroit.” Pence claimed this is because Biden is forcing companies into the EV business through mandates and subsidies, and China owns many of the supply chain links to manufacture these cars. Drawing the conclusion we would be boosting their business and losing gas-powered automobile manufacturing jobs domestically.
Biden set a limit on emissions low enough that manufacturers would have to begin making more EVs, he did not outlaw gas powered vehicles. The subsidies provided for manufacturers are only able to be used domestically, vehicles have to be made in the United States to get the extra funding.
This is designed to lessen the difference in production costs between American made and foreign made EVs, as overseas factories can pay lower wages, it increases the profit margins of American companies. Repealing Biden’s subsidies would do what Pence said, though, as it would take away incentives to produce the vehicles in the states. The EV industry has announced the creation of more than 179,000 new jobs in the last eight years.
When asked about his broken 2016 campaign promise to repeal Obamacare, he dodged the question by talking about mass shootings. During this dodge he announced that his strategy for dealing with mass shootings is expediting the death penalty. The death penalty is a debunked deterrent, and has no effect on murder rates. If it does not prevent single murderers how would it prevent multiple murderers, especially when over half of those who commit mass shootings die on the scene.
When asked again if he would repeal Obamacare, he responded with a tirade against government agencies, insisted on disbanding the Department of Education, and said that we would send the money used by these agencies and Obamacare to the states. Effectively dodging the question again by mentioning current Republican talking points about the administrative state and government bureaucracy as a smoke screen.
Pence also claimed the U.S. is not energy independent anymore, as it was during his vice presidency. This is an outright lie. As of 2022, the U.S. is producing 2 quadrillion more British thermal units than we use, and we export 6 quadrillion more than we import. The U.S. under Trump did achieve energy independence, but the margins were smaller than those of the Biden administration and didn’t occur until the end of his term. These upward trends in production and exports started during the Obama presidency, as well.
Chris Christie experiences 2.5% support currently. Christie served as the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey from 2002-2008, then as governor of New Jersey from 2010-2018. Christie was a close ally of Trump until the events surrounding the 2020 presidential election.
In response to his first question, Christie claimed that government spending is fueling America’s current inflation. The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis found in 2016 that spending has a negligible impact on inflation, and may even decrease inflation. Current inflation is caused by a variety of factors, including supply chain disruptions, energy shortages from the Russia-Ukraine war, supply-demand discrepancies caused by stimulus checks and corporate greed.
Spending,like the stimulus checks, spiked inflation because it gave households more money to spend on goods that were in short supply. Businesses increase prices when demand eclipses supply. Spending in other areas, like infrastructure, does not increase inflation. Saying that spending in general causes inflation is not a correct answer, but it is a simple answer that disinvolves corporate greed, which accounted for 60% of the inflation in 2021.
Christie claimed teacher’s unions are running the education system, and there’s “no chance that you can take the stranglehold of teacher’s unions away” because President Biden sleeps with a member of the teachers union.
Republicans are anti-union in general and teaching is one of the more unionized careers. The idea that unions make it harder to fire ineffective teachers is a false interpretation of the role of unions, and normally accompanies anti teacher’s union rhetoric. This is one part of the larger Republican agenda targeting public schools and higher education as a response to perceived anti-whiteness and realist interpretations of America’s past.
Christie did not shy away from attacking Trump, saying “you’re not here tonight because you’re afraid of being on this stage and defending your record, you’re ducking these things”. He even went so far as to say Donald Trump should be renamed Donald Duck for his repeated absences.
Tim Scott had 2% of the primary vote after the second debate, but dropped out after the third. Scott was a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from 2009-2011, the U.S. House of Representatives from 2011-2013 and has been a U.S. Senator since 2013.
“Every county in America is now a border county because fentanyl has devastated Americans in every single state.” Scott said. Scott added to this saying that the U.S.-Mexico border has caused 70k fentanyl deaths. While it is true that fentanyl is a crisis that has impacted every state, adding in the idea that every county is now a border county because of this is nothing but xenophobia.
Adding in the talking point regarding deaths, he is creating a false equivalency between fentanyl overdoses and immigrants, using immigration as a means to fear monger Republicans. The reality is that most of the fentanyl brought over the border with Mexico is done by American citizens.
Scott made perhaps the most controversial claim of the event, saying that it was harder for black Americans to survive Great Society policies than slavery. This is a statement designed to discredit social programs, and minimize the historical struggles of black Americans.
Trying to push the narrative that education funding, disease prevention, medicare, urban renewal and civil rights advancement was somehow more dangerous than chattel slavery is an unjustifiable argument. As Scott is polling so low, this is likely an attempt to fire up Republicans, or attract new voters by validating anti-welfare, racist sentiments.
Scott had a heated exchange with Haley over curtain prices in an attempt to make her seem fiscally irresponsible. The two South Carolinians have known each other for a while, with Haley initially appointing him to the U.S. Senate during her time as the state’s governor.
Doug Bergum has the least support out of the participants, less than 1%. A billionaire, Bergum has served as the governor of North Dakota from 2016 to the present. Bergum amassed his wealth through software, Microsoft and investment firms.
In reference to the ongoing United Auto Workers strike, “They’re striking because you need ⅔ less workers to build an electric car.” Bergum said. This is false, it is true that electric cars require less labor to make, but the reason for the strike is unfair wages, changes in the work week and desires for increased unionization.
They are demanding that the jobs they receive in new EV factories be comparable to wages they receive now, but Ford and other manufacturers are claiming that paying the workers more decreases profitability. This supposed decrease in profitability is despite subsidies for EV manufacturing, and on the heels record profits in recent years for Ford, General Motors and Stellantis.
When asked about stopping mass shootings and gun violence, Bergum said that the family is an underlying cause, and claimed police departments are being defunded. In recent times, referencing the family by conservatives has increasingly been a dog whistle for homophobic and white supremacist views centered on the idea we are decaying as a society due to marriage equality and declining white birth rates.
The claim about defunding is a lie, of the 25 biggest cities, 20 saw increases in their police budgets from 2019-2022, 21 of these cities are Democrat run. The 25 largest Democrat run cities spend 38% more on policing per capita than their Republican run counterparts, and employ 75% more officers per capita.
Overall, the second debate devolved into shouting matches and disrespect for the moderators at many points. The candidates present did their best to dodge questions and shift the conversation to more polarizing topics. The chaos benefits Trump, who was able to avoid the mud-slinging through absence while the other candidates made fools of themselves.
The nomination is clearly Trump’s to lose. Candidates who still refuse to attack him are likely posturing for cabinet and leadership positions should he win, or attempting not to fall into bad graces with the large base Trump has built within the party.
Trump’s prominence within the party is becoming increasingly hypocritical, evident throughout the second debate is the importance of law and order, and respect for law enforcement among Republicans. Alongside this importance, a man that openly disregards both of these ideals has gained fanatical support, while those who cry wolf about misrepresented crime from minority’s show unwillingness to comment.
