Republicans Accused Trump of ‘Missing in Action’

Seven Republican presidential candidates met at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. Donald Trump’s rivals did not miss the fact that the leader of the race neglected the second debate. They accused the ex-president of being “missing in action.” Let’s figure out what happened on September 27 between the Republicans.

The second Republican presidential debate on Sept. 27 featured personal and political clashes between the candidates, plenty of rebukes aimed at “Bidenomics” and ridicule of former President Donald Trump.

Former Trump administration Treasury Department spokeswoman Monica Crowley told The New York Times that Trump’s “absence” from the debate worked in his favor: “Neither of them created anything of their own. Without an individual breakthrough, the dynamics of this race remain the same, with Trump at the top.”

This is the second time the 45th President of the United States has not participated in the debate. This time he decided to speak at the Rustbelt auto workers strike in Michigan, reports the Financial Times. Trump needs this step to secure the support of one of the decisive states in the vote.

Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump are the two best US presidents of the last 40 years, according to Republicans recently polled by the Pew Research Center. Despite Trump facing 91 charges across four criminal cases, an NBC News poll found the former president supported by 59% of likely Republican primary voters, giving the former president a 43-point lead over DeSantis.

Ron Desantis

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis seemed most comfortable at the debate, discussing his economic record in Florida and mocking Trump.

But he’s still losing “style points,” with former Fox News host Megyn Kelly telling the candidate that “you don’t have to smile at every debate.”

The candidate spoke tensely for 12 minutes, his speech sounding sharp attacks on Trump: “Missing – he should be on this stage. He must defend his record of adding $7.8 trillion to the national debt under his administration.”

DeSantis stood center stage this time, a place that is uncomfortable for many reasons. Despite rules that required candidates to answer questions from a moderator, the Florida governor “slipped” from comment during a commercial break when he was blamed for the jury’s decision to give a life sentence rather than the death penalty to the Parkland high school mass shooter.

In the final question of the evening, debate moderators asked Fox News host Dana Perino, “How does he try to defeat President Trump, who has a decisive and sustained lead in this race?”

DeSantis responded: “Polls don’t choose presidents. Voters choose presidents. “

Chris Christie

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie suggested Trump was skipping the debate out of fear of facing voters. Addressing Trump directly to the camera, Christie said: “You shy away from these things… you keep doing it, no one here is going to keep calling you Donald Trump, we’re going to call you Donald Duck.”

It’s worth noting that Christie built his campaign around criticizing Trump. At the debate, he said the former president is “hiding behind walls of his golf clubs and won’t show up here to answer questions like the rest of us are here to answer.”

It was also not lost on the governor that former President Donald Trump “said he was going to build a wall across the entire border with Mexico” but in fact “built 52 miles of wall.”

Many Western media outlets have checked the facts, and it turns out there is a need to understand the context: Christie did not explain that he was only talking about the “primary” wall, which was built in parts of the border where no barriers previously existed. If you count all the walls built on the southern border under Trump, the total is much higher—more than 450 miles.

Nikki Haley

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley once again criticized entrepreneur Ramaswamy for joining TikTok: “Honestly, every time I hear you, I feel a little stupider for what you say.”

Donald Trump also did not go unnoticed. Haley was a UN ambassador and so made foreign policy experience part of her campaign and criticized the former president for being “wrong” on China: “He focused on trade with China, he didn’t focus on them buying up our farmland, he didn’t focus on the fact that they were stealing $600 billion in intellectual property.”

Former South Carolina governor worries that the only federal aid that should be spent on dealing with the migrant crisis is “border security”: “Let’s go back to the ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy.” Instead of catch and release, let’s catch and deport.”

Asa Hutchinson

Other than Trump, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson was not present at the debate. He did not attend because he could not meet the requirements set by the Republican National Committee, but he insisted that he would continue to fight for his candidacy. Hutchinson said he would continue events planned in states with early voting even after he failed to qualify for the debate. He motivates his participation by the fact that “it is critical for the Republican Party to confront Donald Trump and call on him to disabuse his supporters and the American people.”