Republican debate: Only Pence, Haley, and Scott understand 2024 is about the economy, stupid
Tiana Lowe Doescher
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Of the eight Republican presidential candidates who dared who participate in the first primary debate, only three seemed to understand that the dominant issue of the 2024 election is the cataclysmic state of the economy.
While a wooden Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) whined about Hunter Biden and an abstract “decline,” the usually quieter candidates of Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, and former Vice President Mike Pence rose to the occasion and then some, blasting the 16% increase in prices since President Joe Biden took office and explosion of government spending forcing the Federal Reserve to jack up mortgage rates to north of 7%.
UP FOR DEBATE: WHERE TRUMP, DESANTIS, AND REST OF REPUBLICAN 2024 FIELD STAND ON KEY ISSUES
Blasting the octogenarian in the Oval Office by name, Scott noted that Bidenomics “led to the loss of tens of thousands of dollars of spending power for the average family,” with food prices increasing by 20%. The South Carolina senator’s solution? “Turn the spigot off in Washington.”
Haley aimed friendly fire at the absent front-runner of the race.
“Donald Trump added $8 trillion to the debt, and our kids are never going to forgive us for that,” she said, promising to gut entitlements and abolish the earmark spending that Republicans resurrected. “I think we need an accountant in the White House.”
Pence blasted his competitors both in and out of Milwaukee.
“We’ve got people on this stage that won’t even talk about Social Security or Medicare,” said the former vice president, who has proudly backed raising the program’s retirement age to 70.
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Unlike in 2020 or even 2008, average voters currently understand that they can draw a straight line between the federal government printing 40% of all dollars in existence in the past three years and the double-digit devaluation in their paychecks. There’s a reason why poll after poll has warned the party that for Republicans, this election, more than any other since the Volcker era, is about the economy, stupid.
And yet, DeSantis, the supposedly preeminent challenger to Trump, could not call out Biden, let alone Trump, by name, figure, or fact of law. Alas, the rest of the stage’s dereliction of duty came at the gain of Scott, Pence, and Haley.