Republican debate: NewsNation anchors asked the candidates more specific questions – update

TO UPDATE: The debate ends with each candidate making a closing statement revealing which former president inspired them.

Chris Christie replied that he thinks Ronald Reagan will be the subject of his next book, due out in 2024.

Nikki Haley said it was George Washington.

Ron DeSantis said it was Calvin Coolidge and Abraham Lincoln.

Vivek Ramaswamy said it was Thomas Jefferson who invented the swivel chair while writing the Declaration of Independence.

As for NewsNation, the network’s anchors sometimes lost control of the candidates, such as a moment when Christie and DeSantis talked over each other. But this basically also applied to the last three debates. NewsNation’s anchors wisely asked each candidate more specific questions, especially at the beginning, which helped focus the candidates and made it all the more obvious when they didn’t answer the questions.

In addition, the moderators asked further questions about the person who was not in the room: Donald Trump. Strangely, Trump faded into the background on all issues except the first debate, when the candidates were asked whether they would support him even if convicted. In contrast, NewsNation’s questions included one about Trump’s comment that he would not be a dictator during his second term except on the first day.

Immediately following the debate, Sean Spicer, formerly of Newsmax, and Geraldo Rivera, formerly of Fox News, were joined by Mick Mulvaney, formerly of CBS News, and Chris Cuomo, formerly of CNN, for a recap. “The big winner: NewsNation,” Spicer said.

EARLIER: Chris Christie criticized his opponents for not taking on Donald Trump, who said earlier this week that he would not act like a dictator in his second term, except on the first day of his presidency.

“It’s no secret what he wants to do. He started his campaign by saying, ‘I am your retribution,'” Christie said.

The former New Jersey governor then chided his opponents for raising their hands in an earlier debate when asked if they would still support Trump even if convicted.

“Do I think he was joking when he said he was a dictator? All you have to do is look at the story and therefore it empowers him not to speak out against him, not to make excuses for him and act like he is somehow a victim not. Want to know why his poll numbers are the way they are? Because people like these three guys on this stage give the impression that his behavior is acceptable.

Ron DeSantis was asked during the campaign about his own attacks on Trump for appearing confused and whether the Florida governor believed Trump was “mentally fit” to be president.

“It shows that Father Time is undefeated,” DeSantis said. “The idea that we can put someone who is almost 80 there and there will be no consequences, as we all know, is not true.”

Christie and DeSantis then had a long conversation in which they talked about each other.

“Is he fit or not?” Christie told DeSantis, asking the Florida governor to answer the question.

After DeSantis protested, saying he wanted to express the need to transition to a younger generation, Christie said, “He’s afraid to answer.”

Megyn Kelly intervened to stop the argument between the two.

Ramaswamy, meanwhile, didn’t try to criticize Trump, instead appearing to seek approval from Tucker Carlson. “Why am I at least the only one on stage who can say that January 6 now looks like an inside job?” said Ramaswamy. The idea that January 6 was a false flag operation has long been debunked.

EARLIER: Vivek Ramaswamy continued to annoy his opponents, with Chris Christie saying it was the fourth debate in which he had been called “the most annoying outburst in America” ​​in the first 20 minutes.

“So hold still for a moment,” Christie said.

Christie actually defended Nikki Haley, who was the target of the other candidates’ initial attacks, when she was leading the polls as the main alternative to Donald Trump.

“It is a wise decision. “A talented woman and you need to stop insulting her,” Christie said.

Earlier in the debate, Ramaswamy called Haley “corrupt” and even held up a sign saying so. “This is a woman who sends her children to die so she can buy a bigger house,” he said.

EARLIER: The fourth Republican debate began Wednesday as opponents set their sights on Nikki Haley, who has emerged as a leading alternative to front-runner Donald Trump, who was again absent.

At the event hosted by NewsNation, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy sought to portray Haley as a creature of the business elite and criticized her comments last month in which she said, “Every person on social media must be from him or her. verified.” Name. . It is a threat to national security.” She later softened her stance and instead focused on the need for platforms to limit bots to defend against foreign influence.

“She said, ‘I want your name,'” DeSantis said, noting that the Federalist Papers were written by anonymous authors.

Ramaswamy, who hoped to be as bold as possible during debates as part of his candidacy, said requiring verification would risk users being “screwed” by using a government-issued ID linked to what they see online. Say.

However, Haley said her proposal is aimed at making social media platforms take more responsibility for rooting out bots and providing more transparency about their algorithms. “I never said the government should step in and demand it,” she said.

She also defended her endorsement of donations from figures such as Reid Hoffman, a Democratic donor who recently gave $250,000 to a Haley-backed SuperPAC, and Americans for Prosperity, the Charles Koch-backed group. “You’re just jealous. They just wish they would support her,” Haley said.

The remaining candidate on stage, Chris Christie, criticized the candidates for ignoring Trump and compared the situation to Voldemort from the Harry Potter series or “He Who Shall Not Be Named”.

Trump, Christie said, “is a dictator, a tyrant who shot everybody.” He suggested that the other candidates would not attack him because “they may have ambitions for the future”.

“I’m running in this race because the truth needs to be told,” Christie said.

The debate in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, was also a big moment for host network NewsNation, Nexstar’s startup news network. Although the channel has only a fraction of the cable news audience, it has been able to attract a number of personalities who have spent much of their careers at major cable and broadcast networks. Elizabeth Vargas, formerly of ABC News, served as co-host. Although not a NewsNation contributor, Megyn Kelly, formerly of Fox News and NBC News, also served as a co-anchor with Eliana Johnson, editor-in-chief of the Free Beacon of Washington.

Chris Cuomo told viewers in the debate pre-show that the debate will focus on issues that are important to voters in their lives, as well as family matters. However, Kelly opened the debate by asking each candidate about their own commitments and Trump’s large lead in the polls, which quickly led to heated arguments between the candidates.

The debate had a much smaller field than the first: Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), who participated in the debate last month, has since withdrawn from the race, leaving just four candidates on the stage.