MILWAUKEE (AFP) – Eight Republican presidential candidates sparred on Wednesday over immigration, the economy and abortion in the first debate of the 2024 United States (US) election cycle – but the spotlight was still stolen by Donald Trump even as he boycotted the showdown.
Trump’s snubbing of the two-hour Milwaukee event deprived a chasing pack of rivals, whom he leads by massive margins in polls, of the opportunity to direct shots at him live on stage.
Instead he gave a recorded interview with former Fox News star Tucker Carlson that was posted online minutes before the debate got underway.
But Trump loomed over the debate, with his multiple prosecutions the subject of questions from the Fox News hosts moderating the event.
Candidates were asked to signal if they would support Trump as the party’s nominee even if he is convicted in one of the criminal cases he is facing.
Every candidate raised their hand except Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who waved his finger.
“Here’s the bottom line. Someone’s got to stop normalising this conduct, okay?” Christie said, drawing loud boos from the audience.
“Whether or not you believe that the criminal charges are right or wrong, the conduct is beneath the office of President of the US,” he added.
Hutchinson earned more jeers when he said: “Obviously, I’m not going to support somebody who’s been convicted of a serious felony.”
Trump will surrender to authorities in Atlanta over his fourth indictment of the year, for an alleged criminal conspiracy to steal the 2020 election that he lost to Joe Biden.
Trump said during his Carlson interview that it did not make sense for him to take part in the debate as he was so far ahead in the polls – more than 40 points in the RealCLearPolitics average.
He called Biden the “worst president in the history of our country” and suggested that the 80-year-old president may not be the Democratic candidate come election day in November 2024.
Trump also dismissed his four criminal indictments calling them “trivia, nonsense”.
The debate moderators opened with a question on hit song Rich Men North of Richmond, about working class alienation, prompting Trump’s closest rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to warn that the country is “in decline”.
“This decline is not inevitable. It’s a choice,” said DeSantis, who has faded in polls after previously being touted as a serious rival to Trump.
South Carolina Senator Tim Scott suggested falsely that Biden had wrecked an economy that was in record shape before the last election, when in fact it was on its knees during the COVID-19 pandemic.
DeSantis also talked about his record on keeping Florida open during the health crisis, earning a cheer when he discussed how he would have fired government scientist Anthony Fauci.
With a seismic shift needed to dethrone Trump, the debate offered a showcase for candidates angling to be Trump’s running mate.
