GOP Debate 2.0 Post Mortem

The second installment of GOP presidential primary debates in this cycle had all the flavors of a typical Republican party debate. It was rowdy, incoherent, heavy on simple ideas and solutions for every problem, no matter how unrealistic they sound. 

It had every element of the Grand Old party we have all become accustomed with post 2010, except Trump. The front runner once again, decided to skip the debates, citing His high poll numbers and instead decided to give a speech in Michigan as His rivals debated in California.

What were the candidates like? Let's dive into it.

VIVEK RAMASWAMY's campaign, according to Fox News, didn't see all the attacks from the first debate coming. How could they? Their candidate was only polling 2nd/3rd nationally and positioning himself as a Donald Trump wannabe. That level of naivety is another painful reminder of the businessman's rookie strategy and if it wasn't obvious before, it should be crystal clear now, Vivek Ramaswamy is no Barack Obama and he will not be president come January, 2025.

If Mr. Ramaswamy had any plans to wade off the attacks for the second debate, it didn't show very well as more candidates came for him this time with more pointed attacks. One I didn't have on my Bingo card was Tim Scott. The senator from South Carolina has been positioning himself as the positive, upbeat, forward thinking, faith based candidate but he put all that to the side for two hours and let loose with the attacks and worse, when it was time for a Ramaswamy response, Tim Scott talked over him so much, it was hard for the audience to make sense of any comeback Mr. Ramaswamy had.

Vivek Ramaswamy hasn't wrapped himself in glory, in my opinion, the Trump lane he's on is already filled and I don't think there's anyway an Indian American is going to take away GOP votes from Trump. Secondly, His policy proposals are hollow, at best. His plans to effectively sack 75% of the federal workforce and close government agencies without any input from Congress is never going to see the light of day. I miss the days when Republicans hated or pretended to hate presidential executive orders. Ramaswamy's foreign policy proposals are laughable too. He wants America to pretend to have Taiwan's back till they no longer have to rely on the Taiwanese for chips and semiconductors, and he has similar plans for Russia. "Let's just pretend to like them till we no longer need them and we can kick them to the curb" is so ridiculous, only today's GOP can accommodate that level of absurdity. He also wants to ban Tiktok and raise the voting age from 18 to 25 but He's currently on Tiktok, courting teenage votes. Again, pretend to like them till you can dispose them. Vivek Ramaswamy must have a lot of good friends.

RON DeSANTIS had an OK outing last time but OK for the Florida governor is a bad night. The governor's polling has been sagging so bad, it feels like a rapper from the early 2000s. His main issue, some voters say, is His personality which never seem friendly or relatable and His campaign has been working on different strategies to make him more "likeable", has that worked? Time will tell. Seeing videos of his make up session during commercial break is not helping though, can't hate drag queens and use more make up than them.

Whatever Governor DeSantis had planned for the night had to be better than what was on display, it was another OK (read: lacklustre) performance. He couldn't get his points across and honestly, as the Iowa caucus night draw closer, I don't think Donald Trump will ever feel any need to attend these debates. Why should he? He's up by at least, 40 percentage points, His closest rival is uninspiring and the next guy is just happy to carry water for him.

Governor Ron DeSantis has a long way to go if he wants to be president, ways that are becoming less clearer as the days go by. Honestly, I think the Florida governor may be the most popular candidate to never win a single delegate. Considering the expectations and the amount of money his campaign and affiliated super PACs have spent, the DeSantis campaign may be the most underwhelming in America's history.

The other candidates did not really stand out and did not do or say anything remarkably memorable besides screaming over each other. Nikki Haley's performance dropped slightly from her outstanding performance from the last time out and her top moments may be when she touched Vivek Ramaswamy's Tiktok hypocrisy and went against Senator Tim Scott over the last administration's debt profile.

Former Vice President Mike Pence did not do himself any favors either when he tried to be funny by claiming he has been sleeping with a teacher over the last 38 years. Making a sex joke about someone VP Pence reportedly call "mother" is not going to land well with a California audience. Maybe save it for the stump in Alabama, sir.

The stand out performer of the night for me, was the man who barely made the podium and the most easily forgettable, governor Doug Burgum of North Dakota. He spoke like an old school conservative, had practical solutions for almost every issue that was raised and, in a pre Donald Trump Republican party, would have won many hearts yesterday but I doubt anyone is seriously considering him at the moment. Sad.

The biggest winner of the night is easily Donald Trump, again, His absence has not produced the backlash many predicted and I will not be surprised if he never attend any debate till the primary season is over. 

Another person who got off easy is incumbent President Joe Biden. With dismal approval ratings and an impeachment inquiry in the house of representatives, one would expect him to catch a lot of flak but this is not a traditional election process by any means.