Haley might be the most GW Bush-like option among the candidates. Former Southern governor, "decent enough" as a person, nice moderating face in light of a party backing progressively "meaner policies" Which is to say, she'd be the folksy face while her cabinet would be stocked with stiffs running the damn thing.
I think all but two of the candidates on the stage indicated they would pardon trump and would support trump even if convicted. Both showing that they are party-first, American second, that they don't respect our Constitution or democratic processes. Making such claims without having the trial(s) speaks volumes about how far these republican candidates have fallen.
I don't think that is a bad thing. Just have to hire the right cabinet. Honestly, I'd consider voting for Haley over Biden. She certainly would my top pick of the GOP possibilities (By possibilities I mean if something happened to Trump causing him not to be the candidate).
Hayley certainly seemed more presidential than either Ron or Vivek and I think she’d be a lot like W domestically. Pence would be HW. Christie would be Clinton.
Guess that she likes pardoning white collar criminals and associates just like the Orange Man does. The party of forgiveness, when it's one of their own. The party of persecuting anyone else.
I just saw Christie's statement: "This is what is great about this country that booing is allowed but booing doesn't change what happened." That was good and to make his point the crowd booed.
Haley made a great point that I wish more Republicans including those on stage would make. "3/4 of Americans don't want to see a Trump Biden rematch". It seems like Republicans could make the argument that whatever you think of Trump he's not a winner anymore and most of the country doesn't want to see him run. That seems like a reasonable course that could avoid going directly after Trump but giving a solid reason to not support him. That most of the GOP can't even bring themselves to that far shows how cultish they are.
She does have a record to examine as governor. It would be interesting to see if she ran the state in a more moderate fashion, if she balanced the sate's budget, and if her positions moved to the right to campaign in this election...
I don't know Haley's record that well but I'm sure she did balance the state's budget as SC can't have an unbalanced budget.
The GOP debate was a circus of Trump support and voter alienation https://thehill.com/opinion/campaig...circus-of-trump-support-and-voter-alienation/
While that's true, I would be willing to bet a lot of those people want one of them to run and not the other. It's like Congress always polling in the teens as a body, but incumbents nearly always winning. Everyone supports their guy, even when they see the whole thing overall as a disaster.
Some folks folks not understand electoral politics in America. It's why I knew DeSantis was toast from last November. The overwhelming majority of GOP voters think trump won the election. Nothing else matters and people are trying way to hard to play chess when the gop base is dumb as ****
And you might be right and I will certainly stand by my bet that I will acknowledge at the moment looks like I'll lose. Last night though was the first debate and I'll emphasize again not a single vote has yet been cast in the Republican primaries.
Your bet is toast and so is @JuanValdez . I can't believe people bought into Ron DeSantis. Everything I said about him turned out to be so right. I had so many people in Indiana who were braindead anti woke DeSantis fan boys like @AroundTheWorld and everyone thought he was the next big thing. I'm clearing over 50k in DeSantis bets from ppls who actually thought he was going win. I said he wouldn't even make to past super Tuesday and even I was being too optimistic. Easy $$ . People should gamble more
The bet was never about DeSantis for me, but all the many obstacles in Trump's way. And we still aren't even close to the first primary state. So I'm not close to conceding yet. Biden looked like a chump until his surprise showing in South Carolina, so we've seen how rapidly conditions can change. Maybe you and Trump will still win out in the end, but let's wait and see.
And again my bet with you isn't that DeSantis is the GOP nominee but that Trump isn't. The bet you took with me is Trump versus the field. At the moment it looks like Trump will beat the field but it would be foolish to concede the bet when not a single official vote has been cast.