With Trump absent, Republican rivals trade attacks at first 2024 debate
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Transcript
00:00 -If former President Trump is convicted in a court of law,
00:03 would you still support him as your party's choice?
00:07 Please raise your hand if you would.
00:11 -He may not have been on stage,
00:13 but Donald Trump was still in the spotlight in Wisconsin,
00:16 as eight Republican candidates held the party's first debate,
00:19 vying to become the leading alternative.
00:22 While attacks were expected to focus on Florida Governor
00:25 Ron DeSantis, currently scoring a distant second,
00:28 it was 38-year-old tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy
00:31 who took much of the heat after his recent rise in the polls.
00:35 -Let us be honest as Republicans.
00:37 I'm the only person on the stage who isn't bought and paid for,
00:40 so I can say this --
00:41 the climate change agenda is a hoax.
00:43 -We don't need to bring in a rookie.
00:45 We don't need to bring in people without experience.
00:48 -Ramaswamy was the only one on stage
00:50 to say he'd oppose ongoing funding for Ukraine,
00:53 one of the topics that divided candidates,
00:55 along with when and how to restrict abortion.
00:58 -You want to give -- -Okay, let me address that.
01:00 I'm glad you brought that up.
01:01 -You want to go and give you pretty much --
01:02 -I'm gonna address each of those right now.
01:03 This is the false lies of a professional politician.
01:08 There you have it. -Under your watch,
01:09 you make America less safe.
01:10 You have no foreign policy experience, and it shows.
01:14 -One topic they all agreed on --
01:15 criticizing the economic policies
01:17 of Democratic President Joe Biden.
01:20 -The elephant not in the room.
01:21 -And all but two said they'd support Donald Trump,
01:24 regardless of criminal conviction.
01:26 -The conduct is beneath the office
01:30 of President of the United States.
01:34 -Meanwhile, the former US president
01:36 was racking up millions of views for an interview
01:38 recorded with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson,
01:41 broadcast on social media platform X
01:44 just five minutes before the debate began.
01:47 Donald Trump is expected to snub every Republican debate,
01:50 the next of which is scheduled for the end of September.