A veteran Republican strategist emphasizes the 2024 GOP debates ‘did not change the fact that former President Trump will likely be the nominee.’
The four Republican presidential primary debates of 2023 have concluded, leaving uncertainty about the possibility of another debate before the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses.
The notable winner from these four prime-time clashes is the candidate who opted out of all four debates and emerged largely unharmed.
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This candidate is former President Donald Trump in his third consecutive White House run. Trump is the dominant frontrunner in the GOP nomination race, especially with the Iowa caucuses marking the beginning of the 2024 GOP presidential nominating calendar and the New Hampshire primary swiftly approaching.
“They have not altered the reality that former President Trump is poised to become the nominee and is expected to secure significant victories in Iowa and New Hampshire,” remarked Jimmy Centers, a seasoned Republican strategist and communicator based in Iowa, who has served on multiple presidential campaigns.
Dave Kochel, another veteran of numerous GOP presidential campaigns with decades of experience in Iowa, underscored that the debates have served as “the semifinals.”
He noted that Trump essentially had “a bye week” and is already “heading into the finals.”
Earlier this year, Trump achieved historical significance as the first former or current president to face indictment for a crime. However, his four indictments, including those in federal court in Washington, D.C., and in Fulton County Court in Georgia on charges of attempting to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss, have paradoxically strengthened his support among Republican voters.
There were significant and intense exchanges in Wednesday’s debate, which featured only four candidates on stage, making it the smallest to date. Despite its size, the discussion at the University of Alabama produced some of the most noteworthy confrontations.
A substantial portion of the verbal sparring during the showdown was aimed at Nikki Haley, the former ambassador to the United Nations and former governor of South Carolina, who has experienced considerable momentum this autumn.
Despite the persistent efforts of former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who repeatedly rebuked his fellow candidates for failing to openly challenge Trump, the former president emerged with relatively few verbal attacks.
“Seventeen minutes into this debate… We’ve had these three acting as if the race is between the four of us,” remarked Christie as he gestured to Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
Christie expressed his frustration that his debate counterparts avoided discussing Trump, deeming it “ridiculous.”
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“I’m in this race because the truth needs to be spoken,” asserted Christie. “He is unfit to be president.”
Christie’s criticisms of Trump were met with boos a couple of times during the debate, including in his closing remarks when he predicted that Trump would be convicted and unable to vote for himself.
“If we deny reality as a party, we’re gonna have four more years of Joe Biden,” Christie warned.
However, Christie’s admonishments of his rivals essentially went unheeded. They mostly avoided direct criticism of Trump, even when the moderators posed questions regarding the former president.
“None of them on that stage tonight talked about his conduct. They acted as if this trial that’s coming up in March isn’t even going to happen. That’s why I said tonight, ‘Can we stop pretending that four of us are the only people in this race?'” Christie told reporters in the spin room after the debate.
During the debate, Christie and DeSantis engaged in a heated exchange, with Christie pressing DeSantis to state whether he believed the 77-year-old former president was fit for office.
While DeSantis reiterated that “we should not nominate someone who is almost 80 years old,” he stopped short of further criticism. This interaction was a recent example of the major candidates, aside from Christie, showing reluctance to openly criticize Trump as they vie to succeed the former president.
When asked about the confrontation with the former New Jersey governor, DeSantis commented on “Fox and Friends” on Thursday that Christie “was trying to go in a much different direction” regarding taking on Trump.
Karoline Leavitt, a former Trump White House press official and GOP congressional candidate, currently serving as a top spokesperson for the Trump-aligned MAGA Inc. super PAC, has described the debates as “pointless” and “the biggest waste of time and money and energy that we’ve ever seen.”
Leavitt expressed to Fox News Digital, “Our message consistently — and it continues to get more worthy every day — is that it’s so beyond time for them to do what’s best, realize that they don’t have a practical pathway to the nomination … and they should be unifying around the president.
That’s been our message for a long time, and it’s become more and more apparent with every single one of these debates.
Despite the debates not significantly altering the top of the race dynamics, they have left an impact.
Haley has recently experienced a surge in the polls, partly due to well-received performances in the initial three debates. She has surpassed DeSantis to claim the second spot in New Hampshire and her home state, which hosts the first southern contest. Additionally, she is actively competing in Iowa, where recent polls show her neck-and-neck with DeSantis.
Her elevated standing became apparent on Wednesday night as she faced repeated harsh attacks from DeSantis and Ramaswamy.
Even Christie, who defended Haley against Ramaswamy’s derogatory remarks, underscored his policy differences with his fellow former Republican governor.
Centers, a former top communicator for current Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and former Gov. Terry Branstad, remarked that the debates “have changed things in the sense that here in Iowa and New Hampshire, Nikki Haley has positioned herself to come in second place and become the clear alternative to former President Trump.
“Absent these debates, we would not be having the conversation we’re having today about Nikki Haley. We’d be talking about Gov. DeSantis still being the alternative to former President Trump.”
Looking ahead, the immediate question is whether the Republican National Committee (RNC) will continue to host nominating debates, with the following two expected to be held next month in Iowa and New Hampshire ahead of the caucuses and primary. The RNC could decide to step back and allow state parties to collaborate with media organizations for future debates.
Sources knowledgeable about the national party committee’s deliberations informed US Newzs that the RNC was not anticipated to decide on upcoming debates until after Wednesday’s showdown.