Seven GOP candidates gathered at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library for the second Republican presidential primary debate Wednesday night as thousands of voters tuned in to watch the presidential hopefuls — and post about it.
Present were North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott. They discussed a variety of topics, from immigration to the economy to the deadly fentanyl epidemic throughout the night.
Missing from the debate was former President Donald Trump, although it was clear that nobody forgot about him, albeit with differing reactions.
Trump is not at debate. Trump assumes he’s the Republican candidate. Arrogance. People notice.
— A (@aeb3059) September 28, 2023
President Donald Trump won the debate by not debating in that circus.
— 🍊Patriot Ellie🩸ULTRAMAGA2024🇺🇸 (@lenlaly1) September 28, 2023
Already viral, the most notable criticism of Trump’s absence came from the debate stage when Christie coined the nickname “Donald Duck” for the former president, referring to his ducking out of the debate.
“You’re not here tonight because you’re afraid to defend your record. You’re ducking…We’re going to call you Donald Duck.” #GOPDebate #GOPDebate pic.twitter.com/yed9vozOwU
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) September 28, 2023
This sent the phrase “Donald Duck” into the trending section on social media site X and garnered hundreds of reactions.
Donald Duck? I guess the writers’ strike is impacting the debate.
— Nicholas Shepack (@ShepackNicholas) September 28, 2023
You know he was drawing me in and then, Donald…DUCK??? <<record scratch>> https://t.co/K70uDw6UuZ
— Evan Parker (@EvanParkerPhD) September 28, 2023
“Donald Duck.” Best line of the night!#GOPDebate
— kathy hurley (@hurlgirl) September 28, 2023
Almost immediately, criticism of the moderators — Fox News’ Stuart Varney and Dana Perino, as well as Univision’s Ilia Calderón — began to fill up the trending #GOPDebate topic space on X.
The @FoxNews debate is a disaster. These self-absorbed “moderators” seem to believe that the debate is about them.#GOPDebate
— El Hombre MAGA (@magahombre) September 28, 2023
So far, the questions asked in the Fox Republican Debate this evening are asinine!
Your thoughts?
— Daniel F. Baranowski (@DFBHarvard) September 28, 2023
Interesting to see so many of these debate Qs framed in a relatively confrontational way – “choose a side,” “if you couldn’t do that, how will you do this.” An advantage to the candidates, most likely – lets them get more aggressive and they can’t stick so closely to stumps.
— Galen Bacharier (@galenbacharier) September 28, 2023
A theme throughout the evening, viewers had plenty to say about the unruly, often disruptive, behavior of the presidential hopefuls.
#FoxNews Okay! Please get a hold of this debate. I want to hear answers to the issues. Tell these guys to stop talking over each other. I don’t want to hear about Biden. I want to hear solutions. Pivoting on questions, is not providing a solution.
— Meister (@fxmreal) September 28, 2023
The candidates on stage need to stop shouting and arguing with each other. The candidates don’t realize that by doing this, Trump is bigger. The candidates looked smaller. Go high, don’t go low. #GOPDebate
— Sarah Gabriel Johnson (@SarahJohnson_16) September 28, 2023
The first GOP presidential primary debate yielded plenty of complaints about candidates dodging questions, a phenomenon that repeated itself this round, according to social media users.
None of the Republican candidates proposed any ideas on solutions for immigration, inflation, crime or anything really. #GOPDebate
— Brad Bo 🇺🇸 (@BradBeauregardJ) September 28, 2023
12 minutes into the debate and no one has answered a simple question.
— august west (@morethanmywine) September 28, 2023
What’s one thing you won’t find at a GOP debate? A solution #GOPDebate
— supa fly (@12eazy) September 28, 2023
After two hours, the debate concluded — but not without a final viral moment Perino asked which candidate on stage should be “voted off the island.”
DeSantis refused to give an answer, while Christie said Trump.
Why are the republican candidates playing Survivor during this debate?
— jragon (@Bojangles720) September 28, 2023
Thank you @GovRonDeSantis for shutting down that ridiculous game show vote 🤮 #GOPDebate
— Britt (@FreeNLoved) September 28, 2023