It will only be for one night

Agree. He was far and away the "Trumpiest" candidate of the eight. If Trump was 40 years younger, 100 lbs lighter and of Indian descent he would be Vivek Ramaswamy. Ramaswamy is even using a version of one of Trump's catch phrases from the 2016 campaign i.e. he's a businessman not a politician.

 

Wouldn’t it be something, and probably unthinkable 50 years ago, if both the UK and the USA were being led by people of East Indian descent?

 

Vivek has some good moments but I disagree with him on foreign policy. He said he’d pull back resources for Ukraine and use them to bolster Mexican border.
No thanks.

 

Even more notable to me is that they're both Hindu and not Christian. I would have thought that would be a bigger issue for Ramaswamy, but I haven't even heard any other candidate mention it.

 

I thought it was entertaining at times. No one made a fool of themselves. Some held her own better than expected.

Ramaswamy — extremely articulate; had a couple wackadoodle ideas

Haley — held her own nicely

Christie — only one who unequivocally praised Pence for certifying the election; made his theme Constitution above politics; liked his answer about pardoning Trump, that someone has to be convicted first.

Pence – passionate in his lackluster way; unashamed of his moral foundation.

DeSantis — articulate and forceful in someways, but often strayed from the question.

Scott — very articulate; likable; at one point I thought he was going to start preaching.

Hutchison and Burgum — seem like decent people, but way too soft-spoken.

 

Oh it will be if Vivek progresses. Romney was a strong candidate but ultimately couldn’t win due to the Latter Day Saints problem.

 

I really liked Haley, Christie and Scott.
Please republicans get your head out of your ass and let’s vote better.
Trump is a very bad joke.

 

He’s not an actual “candidate.” He’s a stalking horse that’s in the race solely to attack folks who are a threat to Trump and soak up votes from people who want someone Trump-like but not Trump, and try to keep anyone else from being able to mount a viable challenge.

And a couple of his answers last night make that clear. Ask yourself this: If you truly think Trump is one of the greatest American presidents, as Vivek claimed last night, why would you be (at least nominally) running against him for president?

In that regard, his debate performance was a bit of a miss. He started the biggest fights with people who don’t pose any viable threat to ever compete for the nomination (Christie and to a lesser extent Haley).

 

I think Haley, Hutchinson, Christie, Burgum, and Pence would never lower themselves to his standards.
The others were busy trying to be trump lite all night.
Desantis = a disaster. Fully maga dumbass rhetoric is all he has. Inspires no confidence.
Ramaswamy= slick, in the car salesman kinda way. He seems like a younger, more deluded trump imo.
Scott= completely over his head all night. Stale, unauthentic, and offered absolutely zero real substance. It’s like he & ronnie d. we’re competing for the “Least Inspiring” candidate award.
Christie = able to be an effective, competent leader imo. Not sure he’s realistically electable for the gop, though.
Hutchison= well spoken, solid pub values, experience. Nothing exciting about him, but, able to be a competent leader imo.
Burgum = I found him similar to Hutchison, except maybe inspired a bit more confidence as a leader.
Pence = able to be a competent leader imo. Definitely held his own. I wish he was more reasonable on abortion rights.
Haley = clearly the big winner last night imo. No one came close to projecting as much substance and leadership as she did. Everyone else was trying hard to appear “Presidential”. Nikki Haley seemed like it was all second nature. Had real substance. Has real principles. Real presence. Would offer competent, effective leadership imo. She had the biggest balls on stage last night. I really wasn’t expecting so much from her.

 

Ramaswamy isn't the only candidate of Indian descent running for the Republican nomination. Nikki Haley (birth name Nimarata Nikki Randhawa) is also of Indian descent although she's a Sikh rather a Hindu and there is actually much more of a possibility that she could be elected than Ramaswamy.

 

Generally and historically speaking, pubs like the Christian candidates.
I would vote Haley in a heart beat. I wish more pubs agreed.

 

Haley has said she converted to Christianity years ago. Despite her conversion, her faith has been a topic of discussion for a long time. Also, while the polls might not mean much right now, Ramaswamy has three times as much support as she does in the primary at least. She might be more electable in a general theoretically, but I think her path to getting there is probably less than his.

 

I guess that plays out thru the primaries....that fine line between burning bridges by attacking each other making it possibly necessary to find a running mate outside the current contenders

 

Interesting take on Vivek.
Curious, are you leaning towards wanting to vote for Trump, or are you more open to taking your vote elsewhere?

 

Thanks for sharing Nikki’s background. I did not know she was Christian.
Another note on her from the debate. She wasn’t afraid to call out both parties for big spending.
I like her a lot.

 

I thought Haley did the best. I thought Bootsie was the Rubio with his canned ans. & lack of engagement with other candidates. At least 1/2 those candidates would destroy sleepy Joe.

 

I actually admired Christie being brave enough to say some things that are unpopular, we need more of that. He's probably not electable, but perhaps he can alter the conversation somewhat. IMO Haley was the best combo of electable and reasonable. Scott slings a lot of false or misleading stuff up against the wall

 

Although I still expect Trump to be the nominee I expect her numbers in the polls to increase significantly post-debate, possibly to second behind Trump and very likely to a strong third behind Trump and Meatball Ron. Not sure that it really matters, her wedding was a combined Christian-Sikh ceremony. Not sure that religion really matters (unless a candidate is a Muslim and none are) I would agree that Haley identifies as Christian.

 

Ukraine is a money laundering scheme. The American taxpayer should not be funding their government... ever. It's the most corrupt country in the world. Meanwhile we are spending no money on our border and millions from every country around the world are pouring in. These millions are getting paid by the American taxpayer. It's all a gross waste of money and adding to a debt that is bankrupting our country.

 

Nah.
Oversimplification. The border needs attention as well but you gotta beat the Russians.