“The reason university politics are so vicious is because stakes are so small,” was how recently deceased American statesman Henry Kissinger formulated “Sayre’s Law.” Kissinger was wise enough to leave academia for better things and stay out when his time in government came to a close. In another arena of vituperative politics, the stakes could not have been smaller in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on Wednesday evening, when four of the five Republican candidates who still qualify to participate in party-sponsored debates gathered for a fourth round of pointless bickering. The honor of broadcasting this tempest in an ever-shrinking teapot fell to something called NewsNation, an obscure cable television network that only attracts about 65,000 viewers in regular primetime hours. Yet again, the shadow of the one Republican candidate who was not there, former president and runaway GOP frontrunner Donald J. Trump, loomed over the dismal proceedings.
Just as he has in the last three debates, Trump won this one too. His intraparty opponents are now notoriously inept, but even they might have realized that his stock with the Republican rank-and-file rose effortlessly after each of the three previous debates, in which he also did not participate, and that there was utterly no reason to assume that anything would be different this time. In virtually all polls taken since November 15, Trump has led the Republican field by about 50 points over his nearest rival nationally, while handily defeating each of his remaining opponents in both early primary states and, notably, in all of their home states.
Important Republican donors who had remained aloof or leaned toward Florida governor Ron DeSantis have come back into the Trump fold or signaled that they would support him over incumbent Democratic President Joe Biden. Biden polls as tied with or slightly behind Trump in a hypothetical one-on-one rematch, disfavored against Trump when third-party candidates are included, and routed in the decisive electoral college vote. Even the bitterest Never-Trumpers have for the most part conceded that he will be the Republican nominee. Last weekend, prominent neoconservative Robert Kagan penned a depressing 7,500-word essay in the Washington Post reconciling himself to a Trumpian future and speculating that it may well mean the end of democracy as we know it.™
What was left for DeSantis and his three rivals to fight about? Earlier in the debate season, several of the stronger candidates seemed more interested in auditioning for the vice-presidential slot on the Republican ticket or for cabinet posts in a second Trump administration. It is hard to imagine that now of anyone, save entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy who has tried to savage his three rivals on stage while heaping praise on the former president. In the fourth debate, he continued to mimic Trump’s distinctive sartorial style, sporting a blue suit, white shirt, and red tie. Trump has signaled that he would select a woman, however, so Ramaswamy may have to content himself with something farther down the totem pole or, if his numbers fall to insignificance, to the lucrative speaking, writing, business, and advisory circuits that await failed presidential candidates.
When pressed on Trump, DeSantis rather gently pointed out the age gap between himself, 45, and the former president, who is 77, but offered little substantive criticism. Former South Carolina governor and Trump’s sometime ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley also stayed aloof, possibly remembering that a failed Democratic candidate of South Asian ancestry lost her race for her party’s nomination in 2020 and ended up vice president due to opportunistic circumstances. Only former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who polls by far the lowest of the four, kept his anti-Trump irons in the fire, criticizing not only the former president but also his three opponents for not sufficiently attacking him. Christie may have a second act down the road as a left-wing television analyst and will probably score one of those book deals offered by unwise publishers that pay likeminded politicians huge advances in exchange for embarrassingly low sales.
Christie by now sounds like a broken record, and the sparse Republican opposition to Trump that remains has been urging Christie to drop out and throw his support behind Haley, who took attacks on her in stride, telling the three men opposing her “I love all the attention, fellas.” Their attention did, however, expose some of her weaknesses. Ramaswamy, who opposes further aid to Ukraine and supports a negotiated settlement to the war in that unfortunate country, chided Haley for not knowing the names of the disputed provinces in eastern Ukraine and—falsely—claimed that she nevertheless wants to send U.S. troops to those obscure places. Christie, who shares a broadly neoconservative foreign policy outlook and pledged to go to war with China to protect Taiwan, came to her defense, calling Ramaswamy an “obnoxious blowhard.” Ramaswamy hit back at Christie, telling him to drop out of the race and “enjoy a nice meal,” a swing at the former governor’s portly carriage. For all these theatrics, Haley still came for criticism from DeSantis for having been too soft on China, and on ‘red meat’ conservative topics like gender ideology. Ramaswamy agreed with the Florida governor, at one point penning a notepad slur that said “Nikki = Corrupt” in case those at home had trouble following the cacophony of personal attacks.
There are still Republicans who are strong for Haley, who has cultivated an aura of competence and precision, though her record does not really bear out their confidence. She is despised in her home state, where she is regarded as a RINO (i.e. ‘Republican in Name Only’), and in some national circles, where her tenure at the United Nations was considered lightweight and inconsequential. Trump, her calls her “birdbrain” now, has plenty of other women in his orbit who could serve as vice president, including several from swing states that could make a much bigger difference in the 2024 election than Haley’s South Carolina, which Trump will carry regardless of his vice-presidential choice. Despite the residual enthusiasm, however, the plain fact is that the numbers do not add up for her now and will not add up for her, barring an exceptionally catastrophic event.
Incredibly, there is still a possibility of yet more Republican debates—or similar sideshows such as Fox News’s ‘governor’s debate’ between DeSantis and Governor Gavin Newsom of California. But for Republicans who care about winning—and not all Republicans do—there is only one man of the moment.
The Drab Four: Donald Trump Wins Yet Another Republican Debate
(From L) Former Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie, former Governor from South Carolina and UN ambassador Nikki Haley, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy participate in the fourth Republican presidential primary debate on December 6, 2023.
Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP
“The reason university politics are so vicious is because stakes are so small,” was how recently deceased American statesman Henry Kissinger formulated “Sayre’s Law.” Kissinger was wise enough to leave academia for better things and stay out when his time in government came to a close. In another arena of vituperative politics, the stakes could not have been smaller in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on Wednesday evening, when four of the five Republican candidates who still qualify to participate in party-sponsored debates gathered for a fourth round of pointless bickering. The honor of broadcasting this tempest in an ever-shrinking teapot fell to something called NewsNation, an obscure cable television network that only attracts about 65,000 viewers in regular primetime hours. Yet again, the shadow of the one Republican candidate who was not there, former president and runaway GOP frontrunner Donald J. Trump, loomed over the dismal proceedings.
Just as he has in the last three debates, Trump won this one too. His intraparty opponents are now notoriously inept, but even they might have realized that his stock with the Republican rank-and-file rose effortlessly after each of the three previous debates, in which he also did not participate, and that there was utterly no reason to assume that anything would be different this time. In virtually all polls taken since November 15, Trump has led the Republican field by about 50 points over his nearest rival nationally, while handily defeating each of his remaining opponents in both early primary states and, notably, in all of their home states.
Important Republican donors who had remained aloof or leaned toward Florida governor Ron DeSantis have come back into the Trump fold or signaled that they would support him over incumbent Democratic President Joe Biden. Biden polls as tied with or slightly behind Trump in a hypothetical one-on-one rematch, disfavored against Trump when third-party candidates are included, and routed in the decisive electoral college vote. Even the bitterest Never-Trumpers have for the most part conceded that he will be the Republican nominee. Last weekend, prominent neoconservative Robert Kagan penned a depressing 7,500-word essay in the Washington Post reconciling himself to a Trumpian future and speculating that it may well mean the end of democracy as we know it.™
What was left for DeSantis and his three rivals to fight about? Earlier in the debate season, several of the stronger candidates seemed more interested in auditioning for the vice-presidential slot on the Republican ticket or for cabinet posts in a second Trump administration. It is hard to imagine that now of anyone, save entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy who has tried to savage his three rivals on stage while heaping praise on the former president. In the fourth debate, he continued to mimic Trump’s distinctive sartorial style, sporting a blue suit, white shirt, and red tie. Trump has signaled that he would select a woman, however, so Ramaswamy may have to content himself with something farther down the totem pole or, if his numbers fall to insignificance, to the lucrative speaking, writing, business, and advisory circuits that await failed presidential candidates.
When pressed on Trump, DeSantis rather gently pointed out the age gap between himself, 45, and the former president, who is 77, but offered little substantive criticism. Former South Carolina governor and Trump’s sometime ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley also stayed aloof, possibly remembering that a failed Democratic candidate of South Asian ancestry lost her race for her party’s nomination in 2020 and ended up vice president due to opportunistic circumstances. Only former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who polls by far the lowest of the four, kept his anti-Trump irons in the fire, criticizing not only the former president but also his three opponents for not sufficiently attacking him. Christie may have a second act down the road as a left-wing television analyst and will probably score one of those book deals offered by unwise publishers that pay likeminded politicians huge advances in exchange for embarrassingly low sales.
Christie by now sounds like a broken record, and the sparse Republican opposition to Trump that remains has been urging Christie to drop out and throw his support behind Haley, who took attacks on her in stride, telling the three men opposing her “I love all the attention, fellas.” Their attention did, however, expose some of her weaknesses. Ramaswamy, who opposes further aid to Ukraine and supports a negotiated settlement to the war in that unfortunate country, chided Haley for not knowing the names of the disputed provinces in eastern Ukraine and—falsely—claimed that she nevertheless wants to send U.S. troops to those obscure places. Christie, who shares a broadly neoconservative foreign policy outlook and pledged to go to war with China to protect Taiwan, came to her defense, calling Ramaswamy an “obnoxious blowhard.” Ramaswamy hit back at Christie, telling him to drop out of the race and “enjoy a nice meal,” a swing at the former governor’s portly carriage. For all these theatrics, Haley still came for criticism from DeSantis for having been too soft on China, and on ‘red meat’ conservative topics like gender ideology. Ramaswamy agreed with the Florida governor, at one point penning a notepad slur that said “Nikki = Corrupt” in case those at home had trouble following the cacophony of personal attacks.
There are still Republicans who are strong for Haley, who has cultivated an aura of competence and precision, though her record does not really bear out their confidence. She is despised in her home state, where she is regarded as a RINO (i.e. ‘Republican in Name Only’), and in some national circles, where her tenure at the United Nations was considered lightweight and inconsequential. Trump, her calls her “birdbrain” now, has plenty of other women in his orbit who could serve as vice president, including several from swing states that could make a much bigger difference in the 2024 election than Haley’s South Carolina, which Trump will carry regardless of his vice-presidential choice. Despite the residual enthusiasm, however, the plain fact is that the numbers do not add up for her now and will not add up for her, barring an exceptionally catastrophic event.
Incredibly, there is still a possibility of yet more Republican debates—or similar sideshows such as Fox News’s ‘governor’s debate’ between DeSantis and Governor Gavin Newsom of California. But for Republicans who care about winning—and not all Republicans do—there is only one man of the moment.
READ NEXT
Trump’s Triumph—a Turning Point for Europe?
Pan-Conservativi: A New Global Conservative Reality
Islamo-Nazis: I’m Applying for a Foreign Passport