Nine Republican presidential candidates have qualified for the first GOP primary debate on Wednesday evening in Milwaukee. However, with former President Donald Trump distracted by four criminal indictments and boycotting the Fox News-hosted debate, only eight candidates are expected to take the stage at the Fiserv Forum: Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Mike Pence, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Chris Christie, Asa Hutchinson and Doug Burgum.
There will be few curveballs or tough challenges from either Rupert Murdoch’s employees or the bunch of right-wing kids.
Fox anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum will be asking the questions, aided by pre-taped questions from the conservative group Young America’s Foundation.
It’s safe to assume there will be few curveballs or tough challenges from either Rupert Murdoch’s employees or the bunch of right-wing kids.
So here are my questions for all eight candidates, my questions for all of them except Pence; and then an individual question for each one.
For all of the GOP candidates:
All of you had to sign a pledge saying you’ll back the GOP nominee in order to participate in this debate tonight. If Donald Trump is convicted and sentenced to prison ahead of November 2024, but is still the official GOP nominee, will you still support him? Even if he runs from a prison cell?
For all of the GOP candidates except Mike Pence:
If you had been the vice president on Jan. 6, 2021, would you have done what Mike Pence did or what Donald Trump wanted Mike Pence to do?
For Ron DeSantis:
Donald Trump has repeatedly mocked you as “DeSanctimonious;” done an impression of you crying and groveling to him; said you need a “personality transplant” and even suggested you may have “groomed” young girls. And, yet, according to debate notes that were leaked to The New York Times, you were advised by your super PAC to come here tonight to quote “defend Donald Trump.” Why is that, and how, then, do you expect to actually beat him?
For Vivek Ramaswamy:
In June, you posted a video in which you celebrated Juneteenth and ended it saying: “Happy Juneteenth, everybody.” But then, earlier this month, you went to Iowa and called Juneteenth a quote “useless” and “made-up” holiday, and said it should be canceled. How do you explain that flip-flop? Are you just someone who tells different audiences whatever they want to hear?
For Mike Pence:
You have been defending your actions on Jan. 6, 2021, saying you "chose the Constitution" over Donald Trump and “always will,” and saying no idea is “more un-American” than a single person picking the president. If what Donald Trump asked you to do was so clearly unconstitutional and un-American, why did you have to call former Vice President Dan Quayle for advice and why did he have to repeatedly tell you to "forget it, put it away"?
For Nikki Haley:
On the one hand, you have written about how, as a young child, you were blocked from entering a beauty pageant because of your skin color and you have spoken about how your father, a turbaned Sikh was racially profiled by the police; and on the other hand, you have declared “America is not a racist country” and denied the existence of systemic racism. How do you reconcile those two positions?
For Tim Scott:
Kevin McCarthy, Mitch McConnell, the Jan. 6 committee, a federal prosecutor, a state prosecutor and a majority of the American public, according to multiple polls, have all said Donald Trump is to blame for what happened on Jan. 6. And yet you have said: “The one person I don’t blame is President Trump.” Why do you think you’re right and everyone else is wrong?
For Chris Christie:
You were the first major presidential candidate in 2016 to pull out from the race and endorse Donald Trump. You helped Trump prepare for the presidential debates during the 2020 race. And you even gave his presidency an "A" grade, less than four months after Jan. 6. Now, suddenly, you’re slamming Trump as unfit for office. Why should anyone take seriously anything you have to say on this subject?
For Asa Hutchinson:
You suggest that Donald Trump could be disqualified from seeking the presidency under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, because of his role in inciting an insurrection, but in order to appear at this debate tonight, you had to sign a pledge to back the GOP presidential candidate, whoever it is. So, to be clear, would you support a man running for president next year who you also believe to be constitutionally disqualified from being president?
For Doug Burgum:
Who are you and what are you doing here?
