Please see below article received from EPIC Investment Partners this morning, which reports on yesterday’s Republican debate in Milwaukee.
Last night, eight of the nine Republican presidential hopefuls took to the stage in Milwaukee for the first time. There was a sense that it would be a bit of a damp squib without former president Trump. However, that was not the case. There were various attacks on President Biden’s policies and each other whilst they attempted to close the gap on the GOP frontrunner Donald Trump.
The hopefuls also sparred over abortion, leadership experience and climate change.
As the debate progressed, they did diverge on the question of whether they would back Trump as the party’s nominee in the event of his conviction in any of his four legal cases. Six of the eight indicated they would still support him even if he is convicted of a crime.
Trump, who leads the GOP field by double-digit margins, chose not to participate in the debate, effectively treating his potential nomination as a foregone conclusion. Instead, the current frontrunner shared a pre-recorded interview with former Fox host Tucker Carlson, which was broadcast on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. Trump is also not planning to participate in the next debate, due to be held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley on September 27.
Trump, who has spent years claiming that the 2020 election was rigged, is already floating groundless claims that 2024 will be stolen from him too.
He was asked by Carlson, “If you’re saying they stole it from you last time, why wouldn’t they do the same this time?” Trump replied: “Oh, well they’ll try. They’re going to be trying, yeah. And not only me.”
Whilst Trump was not on the stage in Milwaukee, both he and President Biden used the debate to try to raise cash for their respective campaigns. Biden’s fundraising committee ran ads on Facebook during the debate, calling the GOP candidates a “threat to our democracy.”
Trump’s campaign set out his pitch saying that as long as there are still other GOP candidates in the race, the party is wasting resources that could be spent attacking Biden.
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Chloe
24/08/2023