The Second Republican 2024 Presidential Debate ….Early Report

They actually went after Donald Trump tonite……

With Christie and DeSantis in the lead…..

Donald Trump was NOT present…..

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Gov. Chris Christie took aim Wednesday at former President Trump for missing the second GOP primary debate.

Driving the news: Christie accused Trump of being “afraid of being on stage and defending your record. You’re ducking these things. … If you keep doing that … they’ll call you Donald Duck.”

• “[Trump] hides behind the walls of his golf clubs and won’t show up here to answer questions like all the rest of us are up here to answer,” Christie said.

Zoom in: DeSantis has been ramping up his attacks against the former president — and the Florida governor’s sharp criticism during his opening remarks underscores his shifting strategy.

• “Donald Trump is missing in action. He should be on the stage tonight,” DeSantis said.
• “He owes it to you to defend his record where they added $7.8 trillion to the debt. That set the stage for the inflation that we have,” he said.

The big picture: Trump, the frontrunner in the Republican primary, has said that he will not participate in the Republican primary debates.

• He skipped the second debate in Simi Valley, California, and instead delivered a primetime speech to former and current union members in Detroit.

Editor’s note: This is a developing story. Please check back for updates…..

Axios…..

Note…

image….(Left to right) Republican presidential candidates Doug Burgum, Chris Christie, Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Tim Scott and Mike Pence before the start of a Republican presidential primary debate. | Philip Cheung for POLITICO

NY Times debate after action report….

But for all the fireworks, the debate likely did nothing to dent Mr. Trump’s commanding lead in the polls, with just three and a half months left before the Iowa caucuses. Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, made an effort, tarring Mr. Trump as “Donald Duck” for his failure to show up to a debate for the second time in as many months.

“He needs to be voted off the island and he needs to be taken out of this process,” Mr. Christie said.

But the other candidates trained their fire on each other. Here were some of the key clashes:

• Mr. Scott took Mr. DeSantis to task for a Florida school curriculum that would teach that slavery taught the enslaved useful skills. Mr. DeSantis did try to challenge Mr. Trump for adding $7.8 trillion to the national debt during his time as president.

• It was Mr. Ramaswamy who took the most fire after his star turn in the first debate in August. At one point, Mr. Scott, Mr. DeSantis, and former Vice President Mike Pence ganged up on the 38-year-old political newcomer for his business ties to China and a foreign policy that would cede Eastern Ukraine to Russia and possibly Taiwan to China. “I’m glad Vivek pulled out of his business deal in China,” Mr. Pence said. “That must have been about the same time you decided to start voting in presidential elections.”

• In the end, Ms. Haley was the dominant figure, skewering one candidate after another. She tarred Mr. Ramaswamy as naïve and foolish on foreign policy, then seamlessly turned on Mr. DeSantis for opposing fracking and offshore oil drilling in a state where beaches have always taken precedence over energy exploration, then pivoted to Mr. Scott to blast his record on government spending……

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