Debate shows Republican candidates still live in fear of Trump

Former Republicans waiting for the party to return to its roots apparently will have to wait longer, judging by presidential debate performances

This is the first primary season since I left the Republican Party, so I tuned in to the first Republican presidential debate Wednesday night to see if the party to which I belonged most of my voting life had corrected any of the problems that led me to the exit.

I went in with low expectations: I wanted to see if any of the candidates were consistently honest. The results were mostly discouraging.

First, the issues where there were glimpses of honesty:

Abortion

Nikki Haley went out of her way, likely a premeditated calculation, to stake out a moderate (at least by Republican standards) position on abortion: Leave abortion laws to the states. When pressured she waffled a little, indicating the reason for that position was because there was no chance a national ban could get through the Senate. The waffling reflects Haley’s biggest weakness. Even when her instincts lead her to do or say the right thing she’s reluctant to defend herself against criticism, presumably because of feared backlash from the Republican base.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, the prototypical longshot candidate who can say what he actually believes because he doesn’t have any support to lose, also said abortion should be left to the states. Other candidates either dodged the question or advocated some form of national ban.

Ukraine

Foreign policy has long been an issue where there’s disagreement among Republican factions, even before the current party split between populists and traditional free-market Republicans.

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who instigated some of the liveliest exchanges during the debate, started the jousting with his declaration that he would end support for Ukraine. The two candidates with the most foreign policy experience, former Vice President Mike Pence and former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, sharply and effectively countered Ramaswamy’s position. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who consistently treated Ramaswamy as a surrogate for Trump, also defended U.S. investment in Ukraine, though with more emotion than facts.

The Trump Factor

The one other issue where there was a noticeable difference in the candidates was in regard to Trump himself. However, there was little indication of honesty or backbone – with the possible exception of the two biggest longshots, Burgum and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson. Christie attacked Trump the hardest, but his protestations lack authenticity both because of the contrast of this version of Christie to past versions of Christie and because if it weren’t for Trump Christie would be the biggest bully in the field – the type of politician who creates traffic jams to punish people who crossed him.

Pence focused on his choice to support the Constitution over Trump on Jan. 6. While that, obviously, was the right choice, it highlights Pence’s core problem as a candidate: Trump loyalists will never forgive him for defying the president on Jan. 6. Most of the rest of the nation will never forgive him for being Trump’s vice president.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, Ramaswamy was a Trump cheerleader throughout. And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had to be pushed hard by Pence and moderators before he would say that Pence did the right thing by refusing to invalidate election results as Trump desired.

Most of the rest of the debate consisted of the candidates delivering talking points in response to softball questions from the Fox News moderators. So, where does that leave me? Pretty much where I was before the debate.

Neither party matches my policy preferences. The No Labels platform, admittedly incomplete at this point, comes closer. That leaves me looking mostly for honesty and responsibility. The Democratic Party is far from perfect in those regards, but it remains ahead of the Republicans. Few participants in the Republican debate convinced me that they are willing to be consistently honest if the consequence is angering the Trump-led Republican base. And the ones who appeared most honest (Burgum, Hutchinson) have no chance to win the nomination.

Mark Hester is a retired journalist who worked 20 years at The Oregonian in positions including business editor, sports editor and editorial writer.