Brash Ramaswamy overshadows DeSantis and Trump in Republican debate

When Donald Trump – the Republican presidential candidate frontrunner – chose to skip Wednesday night's first debate in Milwaukee, it was thought that Ron DeSantis, polling in the second spot, would be the prime target by the other candidates.

Instead, it was 38-year-old biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy who was attacked, perhaps an indication that his rising poll numbers and momentum are beginning to be seen as a serious threat by some of the other candidates. And it may also be telling that DeSantis was mostly left alone.

Here are three key takeaways from the evening:

The 'piñata' of the night

The debate was an opportunity for Ramaswamy, a political novice, to introduce himself to his widest audience yet. And he did so by cheekily noting that he would "address a question that is on everybody's mind at home tonight: "Who the heck is this skinny guy with a funny last name and what the heck is he doing in the middle of this debate stage?"

But it wasn't long before Ramaswamy had irritated some of the other candidates, who shot back by zeroing in on his lack of political experience.

"Vivek was definitely the piñata of this debate. I mean he was taking incoming from every direction," said Alan Schroeder, professor emeritus at Northeastern University's school of journalism, and an expert on presidential debates.

"He was almost like a foil for the other candidates."

Some of the heat he received was in response to his own digs at the other candidates. At one point, he referred to himself as the "only candidate on this stage who isn't bought and paid for."

That prompted former New Jersey governor Chris Christie to reply: "I have had enough already tonight of a guy who sounds like ChatGPT."

Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley said Ramaswamy has "no foreign policy experience and it shows" after he said he would cut off funding to Ukraine.

But it was former vice president Mike Pence who repeatedly attacked Ramaswamy, citing his lack of political experience. 

"Now is not the time for on-the-job training," Pence said. "We don't need to bring in a rookie."

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Still, Ramaswamy stood his ground, refusing to be cowed, which may win over some voters, Schroeder said.

"That brashness and that self-confidence and that sort of youthful cockiness, I think that might work for a certain segment of the population," Schroeder said.

"I think he'll get a lot of buzz out of this. I think people will take it for better or for worse. I think people will talk about him."

Ed Lee III, senior director of the Alben W. Barkley Forum for Debate, Deliberation and Dialogue at Emory University, said by making Ramaswamy the focal point of attacks, the other candidates "legitimized his presence."

"I don't know if long-term people are going to decide they want to vote for this person to be the nominee of the Republican Party.

"I am pretty sure that people are going to say, I want to see more of him."

Was this the boost DeSantis needed?

The Florida governor came into the debate hoping to bolster his flailing campaign. Early on, he seemed to take charge.

When moderators asked candidates to raise their hands if they don't believe climate change is caused by humans, DeSantis refused.

"We're not schoolchildren," he said.

But he seemed to fade into the background as the night progressed, refusing to join in the fray of attacking Ramaswamy, even when he accused DeSantis of being "a super PAC puppet," a dig at the deep-pocketed political action committee supporting his bid.

"I didn't see him as a star in that group," Schroeder said. "And he kind of needed to be." 

Schroeder said DeSantis wasn't on the receiving end of the other candidates' criticism, yet by ignoring him, they rendered him "a little bit" irrelevant.

Lee said he didn't think DeSantis was bad or made any major mistakes.

"I think he was just utterly forgettable."

Trump, the elephant not in the room

Although it was expected that Trump's presence would loom large over the evening, the former president was barely mentioned until about 50 minutes into the debate. That's when Fox anchor and debate moderator Bret Baier addressed the "elephant not in the room."

Trump had decided to skip the debate, instead having pre-recorded an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson that rolled out on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, at the same time.

Baier asked the candidates if they would support Trump as the presidential nominee if he was convicted on one of the more than 90 criminal counts he faces in separate cases across four states.  All but Christie and former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson said they would. But after about 10 minutes on the subject of Trump, they moved on.

"I was really struck by what a minor character Trump was," Schroeder said. "It almost felt like that debate was taking place in a parallel universe in which Trump doesn't loom over the rest of them in poll standings and the likelihood of becoming the nominee.

"I felt like that elephant in the room was just given a very glancing nod."