GOP DEBATE TAKEAWAYS
Just weeks ahead of the Iowa caucus, four Republicans who aren’t named “Donald J. Trump” made their final pitch of 2023. Think of the debate (or perhaps the closing statements) as an early Christmas gift.
The spectacle in Tuscaloosa, Alabama was among the more disciplined this cycle—though, as compared with NBC debate that took place early last month in Miami, things seemed a little more raucous. Candidates sometimes talked over each other, and the crowd did not hesitate to applaud, cheer, and jeer.
“Here’s your donor puppet-masters wielding their puppet right up here tonight,” businessman Vivek Ramaswamy said when the audience booed at his accusation that former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley is “using identity politics more effectively than Kamala Harris.” (She has accused him of having “a woman problem.”)
While the sparring between Haley and Ramaswamy wasn’t unexpected, the atmosphere was charged with a little more open hostility to the former South Carolina governor. That makes sense; Haley has risen in the polls and attracted attention from wealthy donors, coming close to displacing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as the leading alternative to President Trump among Republicans.
Haley’s corporate ties were focal point of attack. DeSantis and Ramaswamy piled-on criticisms over her backing by Wall Street heavyweights and stint on the board of Boeing after leaving her role as ambassador to the U.N.DeSantis also criticized her actions in relation to China while governor, citing a 2014 letter to China’s ambassador in which she wrote, “We consider your country a friend and are grateful for your contributions on the economic front.”
The odd man out was former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who directed his anger at the two men on stage while playing the white knight to Ms. Haley. Christie also accused all the candidates on stage as being too “afraid” to offend Trump.
After Ramaswamy suggested that the former U.N. ambassador “doesn’t know the names of the provinces [in eastern Ukraine] where she wants to actually fight,” Christie described the pompadoured Millennial as “the most obnoxious blowhard in America.”
“This is a smart, accomplished woman, and you should stop insulting her,” Christie said.
“Do everybody a favor. Just walk yourself off that stage, enjoy a nice meal, and get the hell out,” Ramaswamy responded.
Unlike Christie, Ramaswamy generally avoided strong criticisms of Trump in favor of topics that, though controversial, could register with at least some conservative and libertarian voters—for example, the Indian-American businessman’s assertion that “the Great Replacement Theory is not some grand, right-wing conspiracy theory, but a basic statement of the Democratic Party’s platform.”
Haley, this time around, was less averse to attacking Trump’s policies. She faulted his approach to China, arguing that he didn’t go far enough and that “he allowed fentanyl to continue to come over.”
Megyn Kelly, now of SiriusXM Radio, set a tough tone at the beginning of the debate, asking pointed questions of all four candidates.
She brought up DeSantis’s failure to “close the deal” as the alternative to Trump, Haley’s massive financial gains after finishing up as U.N. ambassador, Ramaswamy’s polarizing and very personal insults at various debates, and Christie’s distinctly unappealing odor to many Republican voters.
For Republican voters who relish hating their party, the challenging questions may have been satisfying.
But, at the close of the debate, it wasn’t obvious that yet another debate made much of a difference for the top contenders, or much of a dent in Trump’s campaign.
Somewhere in Florida, a former president is still smiling.
—Nathan Worcester
McCARTHY’S DEPARTURE, BIDEN’s FOREIGN AID STALLS, HOUSE REJECTS EV MANDATE
The past few days have been unusually busy in Congress as lawmakers prepare for their Christmas break.
One thing that isn’t on the agenda this year is spending. Due to a two-part stopgap spending bill passed as one of House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) first acts in his new role, lawmakers won’t be spending Christmas in the Capitol trying to keep the government open.
A big piece of news out yesterday: former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) will be leaving Congress in a matter of weeks at the end of this year.
The Republican from Bakersfield, California, made the announcement in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, in which he said he was “leaving the House but not the fight.”
In leaving Congress, McCarthy follows in the footsteps of his Republican predecessors, former House Speakers John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), each of whom left Congress after leaving the top job.
McCarthy’s departure, coming on the heels of embattled Rep. George Santos’s (R-N.Y.) expulsion from the lower chamber, will reduce the Republican majority to 220 seats. Democrats hold 213—meaning, for the time being, Johnson can spare no more than three defections on votes where all Democrats vote the same way.
Bakersfield is a solid Republican seat, and there’s little chance of a Democrat taking the seat. However, until California Gov. Gavin Newsom calls a special election to replace McCarthy, his seat will remain vacant.
Yesterday, the House also passed a bill that would block a controversial Biden Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule mandating widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EVs).
Under the rule, roughly 68 percent of all vehicles manufactured in the United States would need to be fully electric by 2032.
In a party-line 220–197 vote, the House voted to block implementation of the rule, which Republicans blasted as “ridiculous,” and “an existential threat to American families.”
Republican critics also warned that the EPA rule would benefit the Chinese Communist Party, which controls the majority of the rare earth metals needed to manufacture EVs.
Despite its success in the House, the bill is likely dead on arrival in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
President Joe Biden has also applauded the EPA rule and vowed to veto any bill blocking it.
While this bill will fail, blocking this rule could become a cornerstone of negotiations over government funding next year.
On the other side of the Capitol complex, Senate Republicans, joined surprisingly by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), voted to block Biden’s $110 billion bill providing supplemental funding for Ukraine, Israel, and the border.
Though most Republicans in the Senate support funding both nations, they were frustrated by the lack of substantive border security measures in the bill.
Previously, Republicans have said that border security would be necessary for any new Ukraine funding, as Republicans and their voters have grown weary of the Eastern European territorial conflict.
Sanders, for his part, opposed the bill due to his opposition to providing Israel with unconditional funding.
The failure of this bill could mean that both U.S. allies will be without assistance until lawmakers return from the Christmas recess.
—Joseph Lord
ATTEMPT TO REMOVE TRUMP FROM BALLOT REACHES COLORADO SUPREME COURT
A lower court ruling in Colorado came under review during oral argument at the state Supreme Court on Wednesday. Judge Sarah B. Wallace of the state’s second judicial district had ruled that while Trump committed an “insurrection,” the 14th Amendment didn’t disqualify him from running.
Justices discussed a wide range of issues surrounding the 14th Amendment, including who Section Three considers an “officer of the United States.”
Plaintiffs across multiple states have argued that the 14th Amendment, intended to prevent insurrectionists from holding office, should bar Trump from ballots because of his activities on Jan. 6, 2021. According to Lawfare’s tracking, at least 34 similar lawsuits have emerged in more than two dozen states. Many have been dismissed or voluntarily withdrawn but some are pending before courts.
A federal judge in Arizona dismissed one of the lawsuits, ruling that plaintiff and longshot GOP presidential candidate John Anthony Castro didn’t have standing. The ruling said Castro failed to convince the court he was “genuinely competing with Trump for votes or contributions, or that he has any chance or intent to prevail in that election.”
Castro filed at least 27 suits with many being dismissed or voluntarily withdrawn. According to Democracy Docket, Mr. Castro was litigating 16 active lawsuits as of Dec. 5. Besides Castro, voters and non-profit organizations have brought similar suits.
Trump’s campaign has derided the cases as “ridiculous.” In a campaign email on Wednesday, Trump said of the Colorado case: “These left-wing radicals failed to beat us in a district court. Now, they’re appealing to a State Supreme Court in which all 7 judges were appointed by Democrats.
“This showdown may very well end up at the United States Supreme Court.”
Legal experts disagree over multiple aspects of the 14th Amendment and how it does or doesn’t apply to Trump. In recent months, a group of law school professors published dueling scholarly papers on the issue.
—Sam DormanWHAT’S HAPPENING
- Trump is expected to attend the New York civil fraud trial as an observer as his defense team continues to mount their case. The former president to due to take the stand next Monday.
- Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with human rights leaders at the State Department before meeting with UK Foreign Minister David Cameron.
- South Carolina’s version of CPAC, the “First in the South Republican Action Conference” kicks off in Myrtle Beach and runs through Dec. 10.
BOOKMARKS
Cities are at the root of civilization. Indeed, the word itself derives from the Latin “civitas,” meaning the people who make up a city or similar political unit.
While U.S. cities could be temples of Western tradition and launchpads for future greatness, the headlines out of urban America aren’t all reassuring.
Not far from Silicon Valley, modern pirates are prowling the San Francisco Bay. The Epoch Times’ Allan Stein tells the grim and fascinating story of how public disorder and lawbreaking have spilled into the area’s waterways.
The Guardian reports that fentanyl has made 2023 the deadliest year on record for overdoses in San Francisco.
A few thousand miles away, in Chicago, a socialist-backed Democratic mayor faces opposition within his own party over his handling of the ongoing migrant crisis.
The Washington Examiner explains that multiple Democratic aldermen and Illinois’s governor, J.B. Pritzker, are upset with Mayor Brandon Johnson over a migrant camp that was slated to be opened on toxic soil in the city’s Brighton Park neighborhood.
Charleston, South Carolina, meanwhile, is deviating from the norm of Democratic leadership in large cities. The Epoch Times’ Joseph Lord details the election of William Cogswell, the city’s first Republican mayor since the Reconstruction period in the 1870s. Local concerns seem to have been more important than more partisan issues.
Newsweek reports that Biden suggested that Trump’s presence in the 2024 race is a big factor in his participation.
“If Trump wasn’t running, I’m not sure I'd be running,” he said in Massachusetts at a campaign fundraiser on Tuesday.
The Epoch Times’ Emel Akan reports on the president’s response to allegations from Congressional Republicans that have set the stage for an impeachment inquiry.
The New York Times delves into one factor influencing both economic growth and the well-being of specific workers—namely, bolder action by many labor unions.
On the other side of the coin, The Epoch Times’ Tom Ozimek reveals that factory orders have fallen more than at any point since April 2020, at the start of the pandemic.
The Epoch Times’ Bin Zhao and Sean Teng draw attention to a pioneering ruling on illegal organ harvesting in Japan. Where did the trafficked organs come from? Mostly China, according to the non-profit leader convicted in the case.
Migrants to the U.S. may also be targeted for illegal organ harvesting, according to new reporting from the Washington Times.
—Nathan Worcester
