[ Even without Donald Trump on stage, in the first GOP debate, the
treatment the crowd gave Trump’s critics made it vociferously clear
- this is a MAGA Trump Party.]
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THE GOP DEBATE – TRUMP AND THE MAGA PARTY  
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Harold Meyerson
August 24, 2023
DSA North Star
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_ Even without Donald Trump on stage, in the first GOP debate, the
treatment the crowd gave Trump’s critics made it vociferously clear
- this is a MAGA Trump Party. _

Image - The Economist,

 

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 is editor at large of The American Prospect. His
email is [email protected]]_

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* Donald Trump
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* MAGA
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* Republican Party
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* 2024 Elections
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* Fascism
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* democracy
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* Vivek Ramaswamy
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* Ron DeSantis
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* Chris Christie
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* Nikki Haley
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* Mike Pence
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* Racism
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