Republican presidential candidates clashed again in a televised debate in the United States. Candidates for the seat in the White House often linked in the discussion to the biggest favorite for the victory of Donald Trump. However, he did not participate in the debate, in which foul words were also used.
Republican presidential candidates took advantage of the fact that Trump did not even participate in the third joint debate and criticized his past term. They also recalled his criminal prosecution. “Trump was a good president then, but I don’t think he would be a good president today,” said presidential candidate Nikki Haley.
“He should explain why he didn’t make Mexico pay for the wall or why he put us in so much debt,” candidate Ron DeSantis said.
“I’ll say one thing about Trump. A man who spends the next year and a half trying to avoid prison should not be leading our party or the country,” said candidate Chris Christie.
However, the individual candidates had sharp exchanges of views with each other as well. The bone of contention was a different view of the war in Ukraine, support for Taiwan or the banning of the TikTok application.
According to experts, Trump’s original challenger Ron DeSantis is practically written off, and former governor Nikki Haley is slowly making her way to the number two position in the Republican Party. “It’s interesting that by appearing in that debate, Nikky Haley proved to be quite an acceptable candidate for a number of Republican voters,” said Americanist Kryštof Kozák.
“If in the first states that will vote for the Republican candidate, there are headlines in the newspapers like ‘Donald Trump has won, but by a much smaller margin than expected,’ the Republican voters may be blown away, and if that trend continues, then can trigger an avalanche,” added Americanist Jakub Lepš.
Nevertheless, Donald Trump still leads the other candidates in the polls with more than 60 percent of the vote. His preferences are rising despite several prosecutions and also his regular absence from pre-election debates. From his home in Florida, the former president told Republicans that they should stop wasting time on unwatchable debates.
jal, TN.cz
