2023-08-24 00:15:00
Left to right: Republican candidates Asa Hutchinson, Chris Christie, Mike Pence, Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott and Doug Burgum in Milwaukee, USA, August 23, 2023 ( AFP / KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI )
Inflation, insecurity, abortion … but above all Trump: the Republican candidates for the American presidential election of 2024 fought over many questions on Wednesday during the first debate of the campaign, without the former president, surrounded by surveys and well decided to play spoilsport.
The four indictments of the stormy billionaire, which are the subject of dizzying media attention, have given rise to the most acrimonious exchanges.
But also to a sequence of the strangest: on the question of whether Donald Trump should be entrusted with the keys of the White House, even if he were criminally convicted in court, all the candidates – except two – raised their hands, rather hesitantly.
Including Ron DeSantis, the former president’s main rival, but whose status as a rising star on the hard-right has been heavily questioned in recent weeks.
“It’s high time to stop normalizing his behavior,” said Chris Christie, one of Donald Trump’s most critical candidates, but who was strongly booed by the public.
– “Witch hunt” –
Donald Trump, Pennsylvania, May 20, 2019 (AFP/Brendan Smialowski)
The main interested party, Donald Trump, had chosen to snub this meeting, organized in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, because according to him of his very large lead in the Republican opinion polls.
This is the whole paradox: criminally charged four times in less than six months, the ex-leader crushes for the moment all the competition in the race for the Republican nomination.
Each twist in his long legal saga brings him millions of dollars in donations, paid by Trumpists convinced that the septuagenarian is the victim of a “witch hunt”.
(lr) Montage photos from August 22, 2023 of Republican candidates: Chris Christie, Vivek Ramaswamy, Mike Pence, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Asa Hutchinson, Doug Burgum and Tim Scott (AFP/Joseph Prezioso)
For the rivals of the ex-real estate magnate, who struggle to exist in a political and media universe completely centered around the legal setbacks of the former president, this evening was the chance to distinguish themselves not to be missed.
Some of the sharpest stings were fired when the issue of abortion came up — a politically mined topic for Republicans, who have recently had a string of setbacks on the issue at the ballot box.
Especially between Nikki Haley, the only woman to claim the Republican nomination, and former Vice President Mike Pence, who “dedicated his life to Jesus Christ”.
Faithful among the faithful of Donald Trump, this sixty-year-old changed his tone following the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 – another subject hotly commented on in Milwaukee on Wednesday.
Other candidates relatively unknown to the general public and possible contenders for a vice-presidential position have sought to have their moment of glory. “Let me answer the question everyone is asking at home tonight: who is this skinny guy with a funny last name?”, launched Vivek Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur who made his fortune in biotechnology, causing laughter in the assembly.
But the equation was all the more perilous since Donald Trump himself had decided to provide counter-programming.
Main legal cases facing Donald Trump, former President of the United States, as of August 4, 2023 (AFP / Olivia BUGAULT)
The former president, willingly provocative, gave an interview to Tucker Carlson, former star host of Fox News, broadcast on X (ex-Twitter) voluntarily at the same time as the debate.
During an exchange of about 45 minutes, Donald Trump covered a wide variety of and sometimes unexpected subjects, such as the death in prison of fallen financier Jeffrey Epstein, or his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
The Republican assured that his priority, if he returned to the White House, would be to “close the border” with Mexico to reduce immigration. He also multiplied the attacks against Joe Biden, called “the worst president in the history of our country”.
– Trump in Georgia on Thursday –
Illustration of the funny campaign in which the former reality TV star is launched, Donald Trump will go to Atlanta this Thursday to present himself to the authorities of the American state of Georgia, where he is accused of having tried to reverse the result of the 2020 presidential election.
In practice, Mr. Trump will be formally placed under arrest. The authorities of this state in the south-east of the country should then take his forensic photo, the famous “mugshot”, with a potentially infamous effect for the Republican candidate.
He will then come out free, having paid a bail of 200,000 dollars.
Joe Biden in California on August 23, 2023 (AFP/Mandel NGAN)
Among the viewers of the Fox News debate was to include Joe Biden, who will face, unless there is a big surprise, the winner of these Republican primaries on November 5, 2024.
He himself accelerated the tempo of his campaign, with a commercial broadcast just before the Fox News broadcast, yet the favorite channel of the conservatives.
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