Republican Presidential Nominees Debate: Abortion, Education, Crime, Borders, and the Israel Question

2023-08-24 11:38:00

In the United States of America on Wednesday (local time) Republican candidates for the presidential nomination discussed abortion, education, crime, the country’s borders and the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. The ultra-conservative Fox News channel was also regarding the only applicant who was not present: Donald Trump, who has since been accused four times.

A rather heated exchange between the former governor of South Carolina, Nikki Haley, and her 38-year-old competitor Vivek Ramaswamy, who, like her, comes from a family of Indian immigrants, was revealing. The stumbling block was his statement on the subject of Israel.

Atypical position Last week, Ramaswamy said the US must reduce aid to Israel. This is an atypical position for conservative Republican politicians, for which he was verbally attacked by Nikki Haley: “You have no foreign policy experience – and it shows.”

Then she launched into a sweeping rhetoric that included other foreign policy issues: “He wants to hand Ukraine over to Russia, he wants to let China eat Taiwan, he wants to stop funding Israel.” Nikki Haley added, “You do don’t look at your friends, you stand behind them instead.«

Ramaswamy then went into damage control mode. He seemed aware that his Israel course was not well received. “Our relationship with Israel would never be stronger than it was at the end of my first term,” said the young politician, originally from Ohio. “But this isn’t a customer relationship, it’s a friendship. Do you know what friends do? Friends help each other to stand on their own two feet.«

Iranian nuclear weapons He then announced that he would relaunch the Abraham Accords, under which Israel and several Muslim states had agreed to normalize their relations. He also wants to ensure that Iran can never arm itself with nuclear weapons.

“You know what I love regarding Israelis? I love their border policies, I love their tough crime policies, I love that they have a national identity and the Iron Dome system to protect their homeland. This is what I want to learn from our friends,” said the suitor Ramaswamy in his defence.

These statements did not convince Nikki Haley, the former UN ambassador under President Trump. “No, you want to stop helping. I’ll tell you this: It’s not like Israel needs America. Rather, America needs Israel.” Haley has always been a strong advocate of pro-Israel politics. At the United Nations, she condemned and opposed anti-Israel tendencies.

Republican veterans Aside from Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy were former Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, his North Dakota counterpart Doug Burgum, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Sen. Tom Scott of South Carolina and the Republican stalwart Asa Hutchinson.

At the same time, Donald Trump was answering interview questions from far-right online moderator and conspiracy theorist Tucker Carlson, who was fired from Fox News a few months ago.

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