Republicans, minus Trump, trade blows in debate in Simi Valley

At Wednesday night’s Republican debate in Simi Valley, the candidates all took shots at President Joe Biden, but only a couple took direct aim at their own party’s front-runner, former President Donald Trump.

Every leading Republican candidate for president participated in the debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, except Trump, who holds a commanding lead in the polls over the other Republicans. The former president also skipped the first primary debate, held last month in Milwaukee.

The seven candidates in Wednesday’s debate spent a good deal of time talking over each other and arguing with the moderators. In between the cross-talk, two candidates directly addressed Trump’s absence: former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

“Where’s Joe Biden? He’s completely missing in action from leadership,” DeSantis said. “You know who else is missing in action? Donald Trump is missing in action. He should be on this stage tonight.”

Later in the debate, Christie went a step further, looking into the camera and directly accusing Trump of ducking the debates.

“You’re not here tonight because of the polls or your indictments,” Christie said. “You’re not here because you’re afraid of being on this stage and defending your record. … You keep doing that, and no one up here is going to call you Donald Trump anymore. We're going to call you Donald Duck.”

Trump enters the debate

The only time the moderators asked about Trump was at the very end, when Fox News host Dana Perino asked which of the other candidates each of them would “vote off the island,” knowing that if the field stays crowded, Trump will likely win.

Recent national polls have put Trump at over 50% among likely Republican primary voters, with his closest competitor, DeSantis, at around 15%.

The candidates all refused to single each other out, with DeSantis saying the question was “disrespectful.” Christie continued to take the strongest anti-Trump stance, saying the former president was his choice for an early exit.

“Every person on this stage has shown the respect for Republican voters to come here and express their views honestly and candidly and take your questions,” Christie said. “This guy has not only divided our party, he has divided families all over this country, he’s divided friends all over this country.”

The debate was messy from the start, with multiple candidates often talking at once and ignoring pleas from the moderators to stop interrupting one another, including the last person to make the debate stage North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.

Things got especially testy between Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy, a venture capitalist and entrepreneur. After Ramaswamy said that no one under 16 should be using “addictive social media,” Haley pointed out that Ramaswamy recently joined TikTok, which is owned by a Chinese company, and has had other business ties to Chinese firms.

Ramaswamy responded that his TikTok presence is an effort to “reach the next generation of Americans where they are.”

Haley responded, “Honestly, every time I hear you, I feel a little bit dumber for what you say.”

For his sake, Ramaswamy allied himself with Trump more than any other candidate.

“I think Trump was an excellent president, but the ‘America First’ agenda does not belong to one man,” Ramaswamy said. “It doesn’t belong to Donald Trump and it doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to you, the people of this country.”

Taxes, spending and border issues

On most policy questions, there was more agreement than disagreement among the candidates. All of them said the federal government should limit spending to bring down inflation and cut taxes to boost the economy. All of them argued for more domestic energy production and more militarization of the border with Mexico.

One area of disagreement was the war in Ukraine. Four candidates said the American support for Ukraine in its war with Russia has been worth the investment and is in our national interest: Christie; former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley; former Vice President Mike Pence; and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.

“Our national, vital interest is in degrading the Russian military,” Scott said. “By degrading the Russian military, we keep our homeland safer and we keep our troops at home.”

Pence said support for Ukraine is in keeping with Reagan’s policy of “peace through strength.”

“If we abandon Ukraine, that’s a green light for China to take Taiwan,” Pence said.

DeSantis and Ramaswamy said ending the war should be a higher priority than helping Ukraine defeat the Russian invasion.

“It is in our interest to end this war, and that’s what I’ll do as president,” DeSantis said. “We will not have a blank check, and we will not have U.S. troops. … We have got to defend the American people before we worry about these other things.”

Tony Biasotti is an investigative and watchdog reporter for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at tbiasotti@vcstar.com. This story was made possible by a grant from the Ventura County Community Foundation's Fund to Support Local Journalism.