The second GOP presidential debate was dominated by candidates and moderators bickering and talking over one another, while viewers criticized the hosts for asking “offensively stupid” questions rather than focusing on substance that Republicans care about.
The debate, hosted by Fox Business and Univision, an American Spanish-language network, and located at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California, featured seven of the GOP Presidential candidates. Early in the evening, candidates attacked rising star Vivek Ramaswamy, emphasized the border crisis and called out former President Donald Trump for skipping yet another debate while working to manage questions from moderators that some called “idiotic” and “disrespectful.”
But one theme that persisted was dissatisfaction with the moderators, whose questions ranged from pressing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis about allegedly racist slavery curriculum to asking former Vice President Mike Pence about hate crimes against gay people.
It was a terrible idea for the RNC and Fox to team up with Univision for this debate.
For non-Spanish speakers: Univision’s national network is basically MSNBC en español. #GOPDebate
— Giancarlo Sopo (@GiancarloSopo) September 28, 2023
The debate was moderated by Fox Business host Stuart Varney and Fox News Channel host Dana Perino, as well as Univision anchor Ilia Calderón, who each tried unsuccessfully to enforce time limits and keep the candidates from cutting each other off.
After Republican North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum tried to ask the moderators to return to a question about artificial intelligence, Perino threatened to cut the candidate’s mic if he kept the debate from moving forward.
“I am the only person on the stage that has a career in technology,” Burgum interjected.
“Sir, we’ll have to cut your mic, and I don’t want to do that. I don’t,” Perino responded.
The debate often focused around one leading candidate not on the stage, former President Donald Trump. The frontrunner opted to head to Detroit, Michigan, to address striking members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) a day after President Joe Biden visited the picket line to show his solidarity with workers who are demanding around a 40% raise and a shorter work week.
As of Wednesday, Trump led all GOP presidential candidates at 54% with DeSantis the next closest at nearly 14%, according to FiveThirtyEight.
“He should be on this stage tonight,” DeSantis said, taking his first of several explicit hits at Trump throughout the night. “He owes it to you to defend his record where they added $7.8 trillion to the debt. That set the stage for the inflation we have now.”
When asked about how he would win over pro-choice voters, DeSantis took a shot at Trump, who recently came under fire after he called Florida’s six-week abortion ban a “terrible mistake” in an NBC News interview.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie did not hesitate to call out Trump for skipping the second debate, using a question posed by Fox News Dana Perino about who should be “voted” out of the race to suggest that the former president no longer deserves to run. The question was called “disrespectful” by DeSantis before Christie began his response.
This Univision moderator is wasting all of our time. These questions are offensively stupid. #GOPdebate
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) September 28, 2023
Throughout the debate, GOP Presidential candidates continued to turn unrelated questions back to the immigration crisis in an effort to highlight how they would secure the border.
Former South Carolina Governor and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley called for the U.S. to abandon practices of “catch and release” instead of encouraging the country to “catch and deport” migrants coming through the southern border.
“Only when we fix the immigration system, only when we get the borders secure should we ever put any more money into this,” Haley said, referencing the potential government shutdown on Saturday.
Touting his priority to secure the border, DeSantis gave an anecdote about his time in California ahead of the debate, recalling how he and his wife had met and chatted with residents of the state who had been mugged as crime continues to rise in sanctuary cities.
Ramaswamy, who surged into the spotlight during the first presidential debate, was attacked throughout the night by his competitors. Most notably, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and Pence poked fun at the young businessman’s connection to China.
“I’m glad Vivek pulled out of his business deal in 2018 in China,” Pence said. “That must have been about the time he decided to start voting in presidential elections.”
Scott also took aim at Haley, criticizing her for increasing the gas tax while governor and for purchasing $50,000 dollars worth of curtains as ambassador. (RELATED: ‘I Feel A Little Bit Dumber’: Sparks Fly As Nikki Haley And Vivek Ramaswamy Feud Over National Security)
But above all, the moderators’ testy questions took the center stage during the second debate. Viewers from across Republican politics accused the moderators of focusing on identity politics and liberal issues, rather than those that matter to GOP primary voters.
Cannot say this enough. I hope the candidates ignore her idiotic questions and speak to actual policy. #GOPdebate https://t.co/IXVDXX0Xya
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) September 28, 2023
“Florida’s new black history curriculum says ‘slaves develop skills which in some instances could be applied for their personal benefit,” Calderón began to ask. “You have said slaves develop skills in spite of slavery, not because of it. But many are still hurt. For descendants of slaves, this is personal. What is your message to them?”
“Ron DeSantis calls out the Univision moderator for spreading misinformation about Florida’s education on black history,” Mollie Hemingway, Fox News contributor and Editor-in-Chief of the Federalist, tweeted after DeSantis was asked about the controversy around Florida’s African American history curriculum.
Pence, known for emphasizing his Christian faith, was asked what he would protect the LGBTQ community from violent attacks and discrimination.
An hour into the event, prominent conservative commentator Megyn Kelly summed it up with one question: “Is this an MSNBC debate?”