Have you ever been to the circus? Because that is what I witnessed on Aug. 23 when I watched the Republican primary debate. Eight different candidates participated, even though nine candidates had qualified for the debate. The eight candidates that participated were Governor Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, former Governor Nikki Haley, Senator Tim Scott, former Governor Chris Christie, former Governor Asa Hutchinson, and Governor Doug Burgum. Now let’s talk about the person who decided not to show up, former President Donald Trump. I think not being at the debate was genuis, first off he wasn’t there to say anything stupid and hurt himself. Second of all, by him not showing up, he made his biggest competitor, Governor DeSantis, seem small,–because DeSantis was just one of eight people onstage; it put him on the same level as the governor of North Dakota. 

One of the biggest losers in the debate was Governor DeSantis.He did not really stick out that much; he did not look like he was in second place to Trump; he just looked like another ordinary candidate who tried his very best not to answer any of the questions. When asked what he would do with the issue of climate change to increase voter support, DeSantis shot the question down, saying climate change wasn’t real–the most memorable thing he did all night. Other candidates followed suit, which is not very smart, given that it is the issue our generation is most concerned about and that our generation is voting overwhelmingly democrat. So if Republicans want to start trying to get our generation to vote for them, then they need to start doing more on climate change. The other people who I think did poorly in the debate were Hutchinson; I can barely remember what he did other than being one of only two people saying he would not support Trump if he is in prison. Doug Burgum basically said he wanted to turn America into a small town, and he also had a copy of the constitution in his pocket. Chris Christie attacked Donald Trump, Hunter Biden, and called Vivek the ChatGTP candidate. Tim Scott was very disappointed; he did not stick out to me whatsoever. There were three candidates that I feel did a good job in the debate. First off, Mike Pence: he was one of the few candidates that acted like a president on that stage. He just seemed presidential, he seemed to have a commanding presence and like he knew what he was talking about. He defended what he did on Jan 6. He laid out his pro-life position quite well; I do not agree with it, but he did a good job talking about it. He really did well when he was attacking. He did really well when he was attacking Ramaswamy’s position to pull out of Ukraine. The next candidate was Ramaswamy, I personally hated him, he just seemed like he did not know what he was doing, but at the same time he was trying to act like he had all of the answers. He got a lot of time talking and took on just about everyone at some point. Lastly, the person who I think seemed the most presidential in that debate and did the best is Nikki Haley. She layed out a very good middle of the road abortion response, saying she is pro-life but does not think that women should be arrested for having abortions. She ripped Ramaswamy to shreds on foreign policy, and she seemed the most independent out of everyone on that stage. In closing I feel like it was just a lot of people on stage shouting at one another without the front runner there. After watching the debate there is only one candidate that I would even consider voting for and that is Haley.