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AUGUST 24, 2023

On the Prospect website

* Luke Goldstein on how Georgia is handpicking non-union construction
firms run by big-time Republican donors
<[link removed]'s Still Trump's Party

In the first GOP debate, the treatment the crowd gave Trump's critics
made that vociferously clear.

Even without Donald Trump anchoring last evening's Republican debate
on Fox News, his spirit fouled the air. The scapegoating, paranoid
theorizing, misstatements of fact, and moral indifference that have been
the hallmarks of Trump's career went on merrily without him. The fear
of offending the Trump cult that is now the Republican base dominated
his rivals' performances. When asked if they'd support him as the
party's nominee even if he's convicted of the crimes for which
he's been indicted, all but former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (who
appears to be running because he has nothing better to do) raised their
hand. Even tough guy Chris Christie raised his, if halfway and
belatedly, only then to explain it away as a gesture to redirect the
conversation.

So went the evening. Candidates who spoke of restoring faith in American
justice, in reaffirming the fundamentals of Christian morality, felt
compelled to give Trump a pass. It was hardly the night's only "Do I
contradict myself? Yes!" moment. Candidates who spoke for bolstering the
nation's police and its intelligence operations against drug cartels
also demanded the dissolution of the FBI. Candidates who extolled both
the rights and wisdom of the 50 states demanded a federal ban on
abortions, lest they continue to happen in California, New York, and
Illinois.

Evasions were even more prominent than contradictions. Asked if they
believed climate change was caused by human conduct, none raised their
hands to signal that they did. Several then went on to blame China and
India's reliance on coal burning for the planet's decay, but
somehow, that didn't mean that human conduct as such was to blame.
(The coal in Asia apparently burns itself.)

The spark plug of the evening was Vivek Ramaswamy, who combined the
epistemic indifference of a shock jock with the patina of a Harvard
education and the verbal speed of an auctioneer. No one treads quite so
closely in Trump's footsteps as Ramaswamy, who, like his mentor,
overstates the MAGA base's rage-filled misapprehensions to drive home
that he's one of them, only more articulate. No one else on the stage
went so far as to call climate change "a hoax" or to dismiss the obvious
moral claims of Ukraine (for which Nikki Haley took him so effectively
to task that even the America Firsters in the room were silenced). If
this had been the pre-Trump Republican Party, Haley would have won not
only the evening but also a clear jump in the polls. But it's not, and
she probably didn't.

Almost every actual candidate (a description that cannot be applied to
Hutchinson or North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum) had a back-and-forth with
Ramaswamy, with the notable exception of the candidate whose prepared
Ramaswamy attacks were actually leaked to the press: Ron DeSantis.
Indeed, DeSantis opted not to mix it up with anyone other than, very
briefly, the Fox moderators. As Haley, Christie, and Mike Pence all blew
their respective gaskets at Ramaswamy's smarminess, DeSantis appeared
oddly detached. He may have been told that since he is universally
viewed as a pit bull in a foul mood, he should eschew indignant
exchanges, or, alternatively, he may simply lack the spontaneity to go
off-script. Seldom have we seen a presidential debate where a
contentious front-runner-well, the barely-hanging-on second-place
leader of this Trumpless pack-receded so completely into the
background.

The evening certainly did DeSantis no favors, but it's hard to see any
of the other candidates surging to the point that they diminish
Trump's overwhelming lead. Until Ramaswamy veered into denials of
reality so blatant that they offended even the MAGAnaut audience, he was
the candidate the audience (and not just the Vivek-section) cheered the
most. In Trump's absence, he came closest to voicing their unmediated
rage. DeSantis may voice their fury at wokeness, whatever that may be,
but Vivek, like Trump, fairly spews it. (After all, he did write a book
called

**Woke, Inc.**) At various points, the crowd unleashed that fury at both
Pence and Christie, so much so that moderator Bret Baier had to turn to
them and ask them to pipe down.

It's the hate artists, the guys who steam with promises of vengeance
on those they loathe, that today's Republicans want to put in power.
They'd have fit in just fine at the Nuremberg rallies.

~ HAROLD MEYERSON

Follow Harold Meyerson on Twitter <[link removed]'s Donors
<[link removed]'s Legacy Depends on Whether He Steps Up on Climate Risk
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