Seven Republican presidential hopefuls gathered at the Reagan Library in California on Wednesday for the second of the party鈥檚 primary debates. The contest's dominant front-runner 鈥 former President Donald Trump 鈥 skipped the event again.
With less than four months until the Iowa caucuses officially jumpstart the GOP nomination process, the pressure is building on Trump's rivals to show they can emerge as a genuine alternative.
Here are some takeaways from the debate:
DeSantis hits Trump
Florida Gov. had an aggressive start, using his first answer to criticize Trump for skipping the debate and for adding to the national debt while serving as president.
鈥淒onald Trump is missing in action," DeSantis said. 鈥淗e should be here on this stage tonight. He owes it to you to defend his record.鈥
The Florida governor has been slow to attack Trump for most of the campaign. But as he鈥檚 struggled to make inroads against the former president, he鈥檚 started slowly sharpening his critiques of the man whose endorsement he once embraced.
With his position in the race at risk of stalling, DeSantis faced pressure to have a standout and aggressive performance Wednesday.
DeSantis seemed eager to jump in on a question after Trump was criticized by former New Jersey Gov. , who has made hammering Trump a focus of his campaign. DeSantis began speaking at the same time as another candidate and when finally given the floor, he used his answer to hit President and Trump in the same swipe, accusing them of lacking leadership.
DeSantis found an opportunity later in the debate to hit Trump on abortion, an area where he鈥檚 recently stepped up his attacks from the right.
DeSantis said Trump was wrong to blame the Republican Party鈥檚 lackluster performance in the 2022 midterm elections on the overturning of national abortion rights.
鈥淗e should be here explaining his comments,鈥 DeSantis said. 鈥淚 want him to look into the eyes and tell people who鈥檝e been fighting this fight for a long time.鈥
Instead of facing his rivals on the debate stage, Trump was in Michigan working to win over blue-collar voters in the midst of an autoworkers鈥 strike.
GOP's shift from Reagan
The debate at the highlighted the way the GOP has drifted from some of the former president鈥檚 core values. One of them was highlighted right away 鈥 immigration.
A clip of the 40th president calling for 鈥渁mnesty鈥 for people in the country illegally preceded a question about immigration policy. , who once represented a Democratic state and backed a similar proposal a decade ago, distanced himself from that, saying it was effectively ancient history.
鈥淲e鈥檙e no longer in a position to do that anymore,鈥 Christie said, calling for 鈥渆nforcing the law.鈥
, the daughter of Indian immigrants and a former South Carolina governor, went a step further, calling for an end to foreign aid to Latin America until the border is secured.
鈥淥nly when we fix the immigration system, only when we make the border secure should we ever put more money into this,鈥 the former United Nations representative said.
The rightward shift on migration was percolating even before Trump鈥檚 presidential run began in 2015, but his victory the following year accelerated it. Even entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, also the son of Indian immigrants, jumped in to highlight his proposal to revoke U.S. citizenship for children born in the country to parents who are here illegally.
That鈥檇 require a constitutional amendment and has also been embraced by Trump, but it shows how far the modern GOP has drifted from Reagan.
A new tone from Ramaswamy?
Ramaswamy seemed to take pride in antagonizing his rivals during the first debate, declaring that 鈥渆veryone on this stage is corrupt鈥 except him because he was a political outsider, a biotech entrepreneur who wrote a book entitled 鈥淲oke, Inc.鈥 and decided to run for president.
It got him attention, but also seemed to have gotten under the skins of not only his rivals, but GOP primary voters. Ramaswamy tried a kinder, gentler approach this time.
鈥淭hese are good people on this stage,鈥 he declared at the start of the debate. Later Ramaswamy repeatedly cited Reagan鈥檚 so-called 鈥11th commandment鈥 to never criticize another Republican.
He even tried a little humble pie. 鈥淚鈥檓 the new guy here so I know I have to earn your trust,鈥 he told the crowd, saying he may seem 鈥渁 bit of a know-it-all鈥 but he鈥檇 be eager to listen to more experienced hands in the Oval Office.
He certainly didn鈥檛 defuse the tension onstage 鈥 Ramaswamy ended up at the bottom of a political dogpile again as candidates lined up to criticize him.
A more assertive Scott
After delivering a somewhat underwhelming performance during the first debate, South Carolina Sen. sought to more forcefully assert himself on Wednesday.
The only Black person on stage, Scott jumped on a question to DeSantis about revisions to Florida's school curriculum that required teachers to instruct middle-school students that enslaved people 鈥渄eveloped skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit."
After DeSantis defended the standards, Scott responded that "there is not a redeeming quality in slavery.鈥
The senator then tried to criticize both DeSantis and Vice President Kamala Harris, who is Black and of South Asian descent. Scott then gave a long answer defending America鈥檚 evolution and raised his voice in a crescendo, declaring, 鈥淎merica is not a racist country,鈥 which drew applause.
Running to win?
The seven candidates onstage kept talking about what they would do when they become president. But there was little evidence any of them was trying to win that office.
The participants spent the two hours largely agreeing with each other on substance, but bickering over baroque bits of policy or history. Unless prompted, they didn鈥檛 bring up the man who is absolutely dominating the field, Trump.
The only exception was Christie, whose entire campaign is predicated on slamming the man whose two prior candidacies he supported. But even most of Christie鈥檚 barbs were about Trump鈥檚 debate dodging rather than trying to persuade Republican voters to end their love affair with the ex-president.
Still, he went further than just about anyone else in arguing against Trump, closing the debate by saying, 鈥淭his man has not only divided our party, he鈥檚 divided families all over this country.鈥
That was just about the only thing that made any single candidate stand out. Otherwise they all sounded similar on most issues without staking out any distinct ground. It wasn鈥檛 until the end that DeSantis touted his Florida record of a conservative renaissance. Unlike in the initial debate, Haley didn鈥檛 highlight her background as an accountant, mom, governor and diplomat into one package. She instead got into sniping fests with Scott, a fellow South Carolinian.
Her most memorable line of the night was aimed at Ramaswamy, who is among a pack of candidates trailing Trump and generally falling behind DeSantis in national polls.
鈥淓very time I hear you, I feel a little bit dumber for what you say,鈥 Haley told the 38-year-old political novice.
It was probably the sharpest line of the night, and it was aimed down.
The cringe debate
There were some awkward and downright cringeworthy moments during the debate, from lines that were heavily rehearsed to some clunky retorts.
Christie, in an early broadside against Trump, looked directly into the camera and declared that if he keeps skipping debates, he would deserve a new nickname: 鈥淒onald Duck.鈥
Scattered laughter was slow to follow.
Christie made another uncomfortable barb later at someone no one expected to be mentioned Wednesday: first lady . The New Jersey governor, while trying to suggest that teachers unions have a strong influence in Biden鈥檚 White House, declared the president is 鈥渟leeping with a member of the teachers union.鈥 The first lady is a community college teacher and member of the 好色tv Education Association.
Rather than staying away from the uncomfortable subject of private marital relations, former Vice President ran toward the subject when he got his first opportunity after several other candidates gave other answers around education. He referred to his own wife's work as a teacher.
鈥淚 gotta admit, I鈥檝e been sleeping with a teacher for 38 years,鈥 Pence said.
He didn鈥檛 need to.
