There is, unfortunately, forever a trace of vinegar in Ron DeSantis’ voice. It’s not necessarily his fault, but it’s something that will forever hurt him aesthetically.
It was lost as cross talk but Tim Scott tried to contradict DeSantis and said, “The country is not in decline, under Joe Biden it is in retreat.”
I still think the Republican base is far more likely to agree with DeSantis that the country is in decline. They haven’t fundamentally moved on from Trump saying “I will gladly accept the mantle of anger.”
Vivek would be a good Senate candidate
Man, I still don’t believe anything he says, but Vivek Ramaswamy is bending over backwards to emphasize how much he likes everyone else on stage tonight. Guess he concluded the combative stance of last time didn’t work.
DeSantis approach in the debate so far has been the same as the last—this is a forum for him, not to mix it up, but to use the platform simply to deliver his message
Notable also the applause for hits on Trump for not being there. But maybe says something about a Reagan Library audience.
No one has gotten much of a reaction yet, maybe Nikki Haley the biggest on “no pay, no budget”
On Twitter, conservative comms guru Ellen Carmichael writes: “I’m a Nikki Haley fan, but she looks like she’s directing air traffic at that podium.”
Haley throws a bone to the budget-process reform nerds.
Or border security doesn’t divide anyone (taking Ramesh’s point)