Here & Now

Impressions of the First 2024 Republican Presidential Debate

Frederica Freyberg:

The heat was on in Milwaukee this week with eight candidates appearing for their first debate Wednesday night. As Steven Potter reports, voters got a look at the Republican slate of presidential hopefuls for the upcoming 2024 election.

Man:

As a voter, I didn’t walk away completely sold or completely put off by anyone, really.

Steven Potter:

That’s despite the eight candidates trying to make their mark.

Mike Pence:

That’s the difference between you and me.

Vivek Ramaswamy:

I’m not an actual politician, that’s the difference.

Timothy Sirois:

It was comical at a point. I’ve seen aspects of some of the competitors that I hadn’t heard before.

Steven Potter:

Political scientist Mordecai Lee says Republicans have an impressively deep bench.

Mordecai Lee:

With Wisconsin being 49.9% Democratic and 49.9% Republicans, I think for the Democrats who were watching, the moral of the story is be afraid. Be very afraid.

Steven Potter:

While former president Donald Trump wasn’t there, his presence was felt.

Group:

Trump! Trump! Trump!

Jesse Ehrenfeld:

Well, he was in the room even though he wasn’t in the room, and certainly a little disappointed that he didn’t show up, although I think we need a different president.

Jan Conwell:

I am leaning towards Trump, but without him here, I thought it would be a good time to hear loudly from the other candidates.

Steven Potter:

One of the most disagreeable topics of the night was abortion.

Ron DeSantis:

I will support the cause of life as governor and as president.

Nikki Haley:

Let’s treat this like a respectful issue that it is and humanize the situation and stop demonizing the situation.

Mike Pence:

Consensus is the opposite of leadership. When the Supreme Court returned this question to the American people, they didn’t just send it to the states only. It’s not a states-only issue. It’s a moral issue.

Steven Potter:

Another hot button issue, climate change.

Vivek Ramaswamy:

The climate change agenda is a hoax.

Nikki Haley:

First of all, yes, is climate change real, yes, it is, but if you want to go and really change the environment, then we need to start telling China and India that they have to lower their emissions.

Steven Potter:

The candidates were also asked if they would still support Republican frontrunner Donald Trump despite the felony charges stacking up against him.

Chris Christie:

Someone’s got to stop normalizing this conduct. Okay? And now, whether or not — whether or not you believe that the criminal charges are right or wrong, the conduct is beneath the office of president of the United States.

Vivek Ramaswamy:

President Trump, I believe, was the best president of 21st century.

Steven Potter:

Not surprisingly, Democrats weren’t impressed.

Ben Wikler:

A group of people that really didn’t seem to recognize why Republicans lost in 2020, in 2022, and especially this spring in Wisconsin in the Supreme Court election. The public doesn’t like this kind of extremism.

Steven Potter:

For his part, Mordecai Lee says debates like this give voters the chance to choose their top tier candidates.

Mordecai Lee:

If you’ve got three that you like in a certain priority, there’s a decent chance that at least one of them will be standing and still in the race by the time April comes around.

Steven Potter:

Reporting from Milwaukee for “Here & Now,” I’m Steven Potter.