DeSantis opens the first Republican debate attacking Biden and not mentioning Trump

the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantiswas the first to intervene this Wednesday in the first debate of the republican candidates for the presidency, with a direct attack on Joe Biden and without mentioning the great absentee of the night, the former president donald trumpwho refused to participate in the appointment.

“The decline of the country is not inevitable, it is a choice. We need to send Joe Biden back to his basement and reverse America’s decline.”said DeSantis, the second favorite according to the polls to be chosen as the Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential election.

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There were no references to Trump in the first few minutes, despite the fact that the former president and the four criminal charges against him are expected to sneak into the debate.

Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, former US Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, businessman and author Vivek Ramaswamy, former South Carolina Governor and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley , South Carolina United States Senator Tim Scott and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum arrive to participate in the first Republican presidential primary debate at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on August 23, 2023. (Photo by Pedro Ugarte / AFP) (PEDRO UGARTE /)

After several weeks hinting at it, Trump (2017-2021) confirmed last weekend that he will not participate in the debates of the candidates who seek to be the Republican candidate for the presidency in the 2024 elections.

According to a poll published Wednesday by FiveThirtyEight, Ipsos and the Washington Post about the favorites to win the debate, Republican voters have relatively high expectations for the businessman and billionaire. Vivek Ramaswamy and for the governor of Florida Ron DeSantissecond in the race by voting intention.

Behind them are the senator from South Carolina Tim ScottFormer Governor of South Carolina nikki haley and the former vice president Mike Pence.

And in the queue are the former governor of New Jersey chris christiestaunch critic of Donald Trump, followed by the former governor of Arkansas Asa Hutchinson and the Governor of North Dakota Doug Burgumvery little known by the public, who will take advantage of the debate to make themselves known.

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Burgum, 67, appeared on crutches and a leg splint after tearing his Achilles tendon while playing basketball with his campaign team yesterday.

All participating candidates passed the screening stipulated by the Republican National Committee to have at least 40,000 unique donors, to have garnered the support of at least 1% of voters in three national polls, and to have pledged their support to the eventual nominee.

The debate is expected to last two hours and follow a traditional format, where the candidates answer questions from the moderators, journalists Bret Baier and Martha McCallum.

Candidates will have one minute to answer each question and 30 seconds for follow-up questions. There have been no opening speeches, but they will have 45 minutes of closing.

Just at the same time that the cameras have been turned on in the Fiserv Forumhome of the Milwauke Bucks of the NBA, has begun to broadcast on the social network X (formerly Twitter) an interview between donald trump and the journalist Tucker Carlsonwho was fired a year ago from the Fox News network.

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A counterprogramming that seeks to take center stage from the first official date of the presidential race that Trump continues to lead.

According to the average number of surveys carried out by the Real Clear Politics website, the former president has 55.4% support, followed at a distance by DeSantis (14.3%), businessman Vivek Ramaswamy (7.2%) and former vice president from USA Mike Pence (4%).

Source: Elcomercio