DeSantis and Ramaswamy got their base, others didn’t.
Understanding the Will of Republican Voters
Following the first 2024 GOP presidential primary debate on Wednesday, it’s apparent only two of the candidates on stage seemed to understand the will of Republican voters: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
Whether it was on domestic or foreign issues, both candidates used Wednesday’s debate to articulate positions on significant topics that concern millions of everyday conservatives. Regarding U.S. foreign policy toward the Russia-Ukraine war, for example, DeSantis and Ramaswamy were the only two on stage who raised their hands when the Fox News moderators asked which candidates would not support continuous U.S. funding to Ukraine, aligning them with a majority of Americans.
Both candidates also emphasized the importance of prioritizing America’s borders over other countries’, with DeSantis saying he’d utilize military assets against the cartels that operate across the U.S.-Mexico border.
Meanwhile, the six other candidates on stage seemingly thought they were in a GOP primary debate from 2008 or 2012. While former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley preached about the importance of Americans’ tax dollars going toward Ukraine — the second-most corrupt country in Europe — former Vice President Mike Pence couldn’t help but brag about the 2017 “Trump-Pence tax cuts” when asked if he thought the Covid lockdowns under the Trump administration contributed to rising crime in American cities.
There were other candidates at the debate (some guy named Doug Burgum?) who said some things, but nothing of relative significance.
Aside from DeSantis and Ramaswamy, the other six talking heads apparently don’t know what time it is or care. Right now, we have a Department of Justice weaponizing America’s law enforcement apparatus in an attempt to imprison a former president and the 2024 GOP presidential front-runner ahead of a major election. We have leftists attempting to chemically castrate and indoctrinate our children. We have a wide-open southern border allowing millions of illegal aliens to pour into our country unchecked.
We have a tyrannical health bureaucracy attempting to bring Covid authoritarianism back into style. We have abortion-obsessed Democrats trying to legalize baby-killing up until the moment of birth. We have leftist nonprofits interfering in our elections to benefit Democrats, plus many other pressing challenges.
But sure, let’s continue to talk about tax cuts and defending the borders of countries that aren’t our own while the left ransacks every institution in the country. I’m sure our children will be grateful when all that’s left of their country is a broken shell of what the great American experiment used to be.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
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