Perhaps the real breakthrough in the News Nation GOP presidential candidates’ debate in Tuscaloosa Wednesday night was that former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie got a smattering of applause and not boos when “telling the truth” about Donald J. Trump. It might have helped that much of the crowd consisted of University of Alabama students.
“There is no mystery to what he wants to do,” Christie said. … “Do I think he was kidding when he said he was a dictator? … He will only do his own retribution. He does not care for the American people.” (This last sentence got some booing on top of applause.)
“The problem with the three candidates,” Christie said of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, “they’re afraid to offend” Trump.
Indeed Ramaswamy went so far as to repeat various MAGAesque conspiracy theories, including that “Deep State” operatives sparked the January 6th Capitol insurrection.
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Call Them Deacon Blues
Wednesday there will be four GOP presidential candidates taking the stage at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa’s Moody Music Hall: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, the AP reports. Former President Trump will again sit this one out.
To qualify, the candidates were required to have at least 6% of the vote in two national polls, or 6% in one poll plus two polls from early voting states Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada or South Carolina. The polls must be approved by the Republican National Committee.
Earlier Monday, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum suspended his GOP presidential campaign, NPR reports. Burgum was a successful businessman and investor before he was elected governor who spent millions of dollars on his Quixotic campaign.
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