Usa 2024: Trump wins again, giving a lump sum again. The second debate among some aspirants to Republican nomination, on the Italian night between Wednesday and Thursday, from the Reagan Library in Simi Valley in California, does not undermine the advantage of the ex-president tycoon over his rivals. Trump snubs them and, while they confront each other and attack him – mildly -, he goes to speak to automobile workers in strike in Michigan.
Compared to the first debate, last month, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the second is less lively, a little soporific, at least for an hour. The number of participants was reduced by one, from eight to seven, because the former governor of Arkansas Asa Hutchinson it no longer meets the popularity and funding requirements.
There are, therefore, the governor of Florida Ron DeSantisthe former governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley – the only woman -, the senator from South Carolina Tim Scott – the only black -, the entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, of Indian origins – like Haley -, Trump’s former deputy Mike Pence, the former governor of New Jersey Chris Christie and the governor of South Dakota Doug Burgum.
The debate against Trump and against Biden
DeSantis, Haley, Pence and Christie, the most experienced, are the most active in attacking the former president, who – says DeSantis – “should be here with us, but instead he is ‘missing in action’”. And, while the Union is on the verge of one shutdown due to lack of funds, the governor of Florida recalls that Trump increased the debt by 7.8 trillion and created the conditions for current inflation (an assist immediately exploited by President Joe Biden’s campaign). And Christie unleashes the nickname ‘Donald Duck’, i.e. Donald Duck, for the tycoon, who never gets it right.
The metalworkers’ strike suggests a Pence an anti-Biden broadside: “Instead of demonstrating with the workers, he should be among the ranks of the unemployed. Bidenomics is a failure,” he says. Republican aspirants all agree on the failure of the Democratic president’s economic policy.
Instead, they are not aligned on how to address problems or even on conflict in Ukraine. “It is in our interest to end this war… No more blank checks to Kyiv,” insists DeSantis. For Haley and Pence, a Russian victory in Ukraine would be a Chinese victory. None of the others deny support for Kyiv.
The former governor of South Carolina initially remains in the shadows, then attacks species DeSantis e Ramaswamy. “Every time I listen to you I feel a little more stupid,” he says to the entrepreneur, a ‘revelation’ of the first debate, but this time less effective. And to DeSantis: “Energy security is national security. You are against fracking.” The governor of Florida laughs, dismisses the accusation as false and assures us that his energy policy will bring down the price of petrol.
Fox moderators push candidates on economic and social issues, from education to healthcare, but don’t push them on judicial troubles of the ex-president tycoon, which also emerges substantially unscathed from the second catwalk of its rivals. His staff calls the debate “a joke.”
The Biden – Trump remote duel in front of the workers of Michigan
Leader in the nomination race, Trump dodges the event and goes to a rally for striking auto workers in Michigan, where President Joe Biden had just been. “I’m here to defend the working class,” he tells the workers: Biden’s policy for electric cars “will do nothing but favor China, killing thousands of jobs.” The tycoon talks for an hour, completely ignoring his rivals.
“Every time they indict me I go up in the polls because people know me,” says Trump, expected in the polls processi a New York e a Washington, Georgia and Florida and emerged badly from a civil fraud lawsuit in New York. He makes no mention of it: he accuses Biden of having “incriminated a political rival” and relaunches hisAmerica First‘ as opposed to what defines Biden’s ‘America last’.
La frode della Trump organization
The magnate’s opponents do not take advantage of the opportunity to slow down his run, just over a hundred days before the start of the primaries with the caucuses in Iowa. Yet, earlier this week, a judge in New York ruled that Trump and his eldest children are responsible for fraud: They provided false financial information for a decade and inflated the value of their assets by up to $3.6 billion. Their holding company, the Trump Organization, will not be able to do business for five years. The Trumps allegedly built their empire by defrauding banks and insurance companies. The New York Prosecutor’s Office is asking for $250 million in damages and Trump’s ban from public financial positions. The start date of the trial is not known.
The former president also lost another round in his effort to postpone the trials that threaten him. The federal district judge in Washington, Chutkan askedrejected the request to recuse himself in the trial in which he is accused of attempting to overturn the outcome of the 2020 elections. The tycoon’s lawyers accused her of bias.
Cover photo EPA/SHAWN THEW