The Republican National Committee welcomed eight GOP presidential candidates for the first debate of the election cycle.

On stage were North Dakota Governor Doug Burgam, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former North Carolina Governor and former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, former Vice President Mike Pence, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott. 

Notably, former President Donald Trump did not attend the debate. “The public knows who I am and what a successful presidency I had. I will therefore not be doing the debates,” he wrote on his social media site Truth Social. Trump, facing 91 felony counts, is the first former president of the United States to ever have been indicted on federal charges. 

Starting off the debate, Ron DeSantis went on a predictable tirade about Hunter Biden, inflation and buzz words to rile up conservative voters while making very few notable points to establish a platform.

Throughout the debate, DeSantis continued to spew his regular stream of slogans while dancing around nearly every question he was asked, the most notable of which was the question about whether or not the candidates would support Donald Trump if he were found guilty on the 91 charges he is facing.

Giving very few legitimate and substantial responses, it was evident DeSantis took a severe loss in the debate. 

Perhaps the most anticipated member of the debate was former Vice President Mike Pence who stood firm with his conservative beliefs and made the claim he was the most qualified and most experienced candidate on the stage.

Pence was asked about the events of January 6, in which he revealed that he was personally asked by then President Trump to put the political gain of their administration over the Constitution and refuse to certify Joe Biden’s victory. Nearly every candidate on stage agreed Pence made the right decision in upholding his duty as Vice President by certifying the loss of President Trump.

Throughout the entire debate, Pence personally attacked Vivek Ramaswamy for his lack of experience and for the fact that his only accomplishments have pertained to his entrepreneurial feats and not for the greater good of the people. 

On that note, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy took blow after blow from every corner of the stage with every candidate bashing him for every point he attempted to make. Many of his statements were shocking, but some of the most startling was the fact he believes the increased demand for mental health care constitutes the use of faith-based therapy rather than real medical care.

Not only this, but he also stated that the arrest of Donald Trump was due to the weaponization of the justice system, only for other candidates to agree with this unbelievably false statement. Mr. Ramaswamy simply does not stand a chance. 

Nikki Haley, possibly the most moderate candidate on stage, was the only speaker Wednesday to criticize the Republican Party.

She claimed that it was wrong for the other candidates to blame Democrats for the rapid increase in government spending when Republicans requested $7 billion while Democrats only requested just over $2 billion for spending. She also went on to criticize the “unelected Justices” who make landmark decisions such as the overturning of Roe v. Wade, despite her being “unapologetically pro-life”.

Haley vocalized her support for women and their access to abortion despite her firm pro-life stance, stating she believes that no woman should be jailed for receiving an abortion, which clashes with the viewpoints of many other Republican voices, including but not limited to Ron DeSantis.

Chris Christie, former governor of New Jersey, stood out as one of the strongest voices of the night, staying firm to his beliefs despite many boos from the crowd. Christie, when asked about the debt that existed in New Jersey throughout his time as governor, claimed that it was simply inherited from past Democratic gubernatorial administrations and refused to take any blame for it, claiming that he drastically lowered the unemployment rate in the state among other accomplishments.

He went on to label Vivek Ramaswamy as “the same type of amateur as Obama,” saying that Mr. Ramaswamy does not have the experience necessary for the White House, and that there cannot be any “on the job training.” Among his attacks to Mr. Ramaswamy, Governor Christie went into detail regarding the atrocities taking place in the Russia-Ukraine war, siding with Nikki Haley’s claims of Putin being a murderer. 

Many voices in the debate were lost among the bickering, yelling and sheer immaturity of yesterday’s GOP debate, setting the stage for a routinely messy election cycle.

In the new age of politics that we have seen arise following the Trump administration, debates such as these are no longer meaningful conversations meant to educate the public on each candidates platform, but are now used as publicity in order to smear dirt on opponents.

As we enter unknown territory with a presidential candidate actively facing criminal charges, possibly the most interesting election season in our nation’s history is ahead of us.

Jackson Small is an opinion writer. Contact him at [email protected].