{"id":21124,"date":"2023-12-07T03:55:59","date_gmt":"2023-12-07T09:55:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=21124"},"modified":"2023-12-07T03:56:04","modified_gmt":"2023-12-07T09:56:04","slug":"fourth-gop-debate-marked-by-spirited-attacks-but-still-no-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=21124","title":{"rendered":"Fourth GOP Debate Marked By Spirited Attacks But Still No Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The contentious discussion saw shouting, interruptions, and one conspicuous moment of drama provoked by Vivek Ramaswamy.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Candidates for the Republican Party\u2019s 2024 presidential nomination aggressively sparred on issues ranging from inflation to foreign policy Wednesday evening at the fourth debate of the primary season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The selection of candidates narrowed to four after Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) announced his withdrawal from the race last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donald Trump was conspicuously absent from the debate stage after once again declining to appear, but the controversial former US president was the subject of much discussion over the course of the evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Appearing before the audience in the Deep South city of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, were Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis<\/strong>, tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy<\/strong>, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley<\/strong>, and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bathroom Bills<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Transgender rights, a frequent preoccupation of the Republican Party\u2019s socially conservative base, emerged as a point of contention early in the evening when Gov. DeSantis attacked former Ambassador Haley on the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DeSantis and Haley, who polls show are competing for second place with former President Trump, attempted to differentiate themselves from one another throughout the debate, with DeSantis alleging Haley\u2019s indifference to procedures he equated with \u201cchild abuse\u201d and \u201cmutilation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Haley rejected the accusation and claimed legislation relating to transgender people represents \u201cthe women\u2019s issue of our time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramaswamy offered perhaps the most incendiary statement on the issue, declaring \u201ctransgenderism is a mental health disorder.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris Christie, often considered the most politically moderate Republican candidate in the race, was the lone voice of disagreement on the highly controversial culture war issue. \u201cRepublicans believe in less government, not more\u201d said Christie, casting the debate as an issue of \u201cparental rights.\u201d The stance was met with a lukewarm response from the conservative audience, with Ramaswamy claiming Christie\u2019s position on the issue is \u201cdisqualifying.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly after, Ramaswamy generated perhaps the most memorable moment of the evening, attacking Haley\u2019s alleged inconsistency on various issues and accusing her of utilizing \u201cidentity politics.\u201d Ramaswamy held up a notepad with \u201cNikki=Corrupt\u201d written in large letters, a gambit which mostly generated boos from the audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked for a response, Haley said \u201cit\u2019s not worth my time\u201d to answer to the low polling candidate\u2019s attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foreign Policy<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As in the previous GOP debate held just weeks after Hamas\u2019 surprise attack, Israel dominated much of the foreign policy discussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DeSantis again broached the subject early in the evening by casting opposition to Israel as inherently antisemitic, a claim which has sparked intense political debate within the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey would wipe every single Jew off the map,\u201d said DeSantis of Hamas, repeating the claim that October 7 represented the greatest violence against Jewish people since the Holocaust (Hamas\u2019 most recent charter, in fact, accepts<\/u><\/a> the Israeli state and proposes a Palestinian state within borders internationally agreed upon in 1967).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DeSantis quickly tied the issue to Iran, which has long been a major concern of foreign policy hawks within the Republican Party. \u201cBiden is doing nothing to bring Iran to account,\u201d said DeSantis, saying the country foments \u201cjihad throughout the Middle East.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Haley meanwhile brought Russia into the discussion, painting the country as part of an axis with China and Iran that \u201cwants to destroy the West.\u201d She also evoked the Ku Klux Klan, a racist terror group in the United States which she compared to pro-Palestine activists on college campuses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to get foreign money out of our universities,\u201d Haley declared, arguing that funding from China and other countries influences politics on US campuses. The neoconservative candidate also claimed viewing videos on TikTok makes people more antisemitic, insisting \u201cwe really do need to ban TikTok once and for all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramaswamy distinguished himself by claiming he was the first among the candidates to advocate a peace deal amidst the growing unpopularity of US military support for Ukraine in their proxy conflict against Russia. Ramaswamy called his opponents \u201ctoxic neocons\u201d and alleged Haley couldn\u2019t \u201ceven state\u2026 three provinces in Eastern Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A fierce debate erupted between Ramaswamy and Christie, with Christie labeling the tech entrepreneur and political newcomer \u201cthe most obnoxious blowhard in America.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Border Politics<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Immigration emerged as another significant issue, with Republican Party politicians often alleging a \u201ccrisis\u201d at the US\u2019 southern border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gov. DeSantis claimed he would finish the border wall long promised by former President Donald Trump, saying he would institute fees on remittance payments from outside the country to fund the construction. \u201cThere\u2019s going to be a new sheriff in town,\u201d proclaimed the Florida governor, a line he repeated once more later on in the debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nikki Haley rejected former President Trump\u2019s proposed \u201cMuslim ban,\u201d claiming she would not bar people from entering the United States on the basis of their Islamic faith. She said she would instead zero in on countries that are the most politically opposed to the US before insisting \u201cthe biggest threat we have right now is Communist China.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gov. DeSantis echoed the rhetoric of many anti-immigrant politicians throughout Europe, claiming Germany \u201cimported mass numbers of people who reject their culture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not taking anyone from Gaza because of the antisemitism and because of their rejection of American culture,\u201d the candidate promised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still No Trump<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Amidst an unorthodox campaign season, former President Trump\u2019s absence from the stage once again created a novel dynamic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris Christie continued to represent the primary opposition towards the former president within the GOP primary, calling Trump \u201can angry bitter man.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe [Trump] wants to exact retribution on anyone who has disagreed with him,\u201d Christie warned. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t care for the American people \u2013 it\u2019s Donald Trump first.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DeSantis continued to suggest<\/u><\/a> the former president may be too old to hold office again, a line of attack the governor\u2019s campaign has previewed on social media in recent weeks. \u201cFather Time is undefeated,\u201d said the governor, claiming \u201cI think we need somebody younger.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sputnikglobe<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The contentious discussion saw shouting, interruptions, and one conspicuous moment of drama provoked by Vivek Ramaswamy. Candidates for the Republican Party\u2019s 2024 presidential nomination aggressively sparred on issues ranging from inflation to foreign policy Wednesday evening at the fourth debate of the primary season. The selection of candidates narrowed to four after Sen. Tim Scott […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":21125,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[8013,1226,1918,5061,24834,21064,1230],"class_list":["post-21124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-and","tag-attack","tag-debate","tag-fourth","tag-not-elected","tag-republican","tag-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21124"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21126,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21124\/revisions\/21126"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}