Republican Candidates Exchange Insults in Fiery Second Debate

Seven Republican presidential candidates bulldozed their way through a debate on the Fox Business Network on Wednesday night, shouting at each other at times. “Gentlemen, you’ll have your turn.” But in the end, they probably left unscathed the one person who was not on that stage, Donald Trump, the front-runner. “Thank you very much.” He was in Michigan giving a speech to workers. The candidates did raise issues from Ukraine to education, but whatever differences they had on the issues were more about style than substance. Nikki Haley really rose to the occasion. She was everywhere, attacking multiple candidates. “Honestly, every time I hear you, I feel a little bit dumber for what you say.” She went after Vivek Ramaswamy. She went after Ron DeSantis. At one point, she went after her fellow South Carolinian, Tim Scott. “Do your homework, Tim. You are scrapping.” Vivek Ramaswamy, who was really the star of the first debate in Milwaukee, couldn’t come up for air. “Excuse me. Thank you for speaking while I’m interrupting – interrupting while I’m speaking.” He was attacked incessantly. “We can’t trust you.” In one of the more memorable moments, Tim Scott took on Ron DeSantis for a curriculum in Florida on slavery. “Florida’s new Black history curriculum says, quote: Slaves develop skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.” “That’s a hoax that was perpetrated by Kamala Harris. We are not going to be doing that. Second of all, that was written by descendants of slaves.” “There is not a redeeming quality in slavery.” In general, Scott was much more present on Wednesday night than he was last month. “My wife…” Mike Pence tried to be a little more personable — “I’ve been sleeping with a teacher for 38 years” — talking at one point about sleeping with his wife and trying to land dad jokes that often were more awkward than funny. “Donald, I know you’re watching.” Chris Christie tried to tarnish the front-runner, Trump. He even at one point called him Donald Duck for missing the first two debates. “You keep doing that. No one up here is going to call you Donald Trump anymore. We’re going to call you Donald Duck.” And he got a little help from Ron DeSantis. “Donald Trump is missing in action. He should be on this stage tonight.” In the end. the seven candidates who entered the night far behind Donald Trump probably ended the night still far behind Donald Trump.