Seven Republican candidates took the stage once again for the second GOP debate that was held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.

Notably missing from the stage was former president Donald Trump, who once again stated he did not feel the need to attend the debate, which caught him in a bind as nearly all debaters called him out for his absence out of fear. Also missing was former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, though his participation in the first debate was fairly lackluster. 

The dynamic between the candidates shifted drastically compared to the last debate, with the most notable element being Vivek Ramaswamey’s presentation. In the last debate, the young businessman who vocally supported Donald Trump throughout his presidency was hurling personal insults during the entirety of the first debate. This earned him a great deal of his own reputation being attacked throughout both the first and second debates.

It became more and more apparent Ramaswamey was the most disliked candidate among the seven, receiving attacks left and right, most notably from former South Carolina Governor and ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, who said that every time Vivek Ramaswamey says anything she “feels a little bit dumber,” a comment that earned applause and laughter from the audience. 

On the same note, Nikki Haley had a very large presence at this debate, often finding herself having to yell over the other candidates in order to be heard.

Haley called out Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida for doubling back on his platform surrounding fracking in his home state, as he was vocally and legislatively against it, despite his claims at the debate that he is all for it and that we need to bring the oil industry back home. Haley clarified that, despite attacks from her fellow debaters, she did in fact fight the gas tax in South Carolina during her time as governor. She said while this gas tax was put into place, it was only because of the deal that she made that would lower income tax in the state, a policy that is very attractive to Republican voters. 

Chris Christie was by far the most moderate candidate on stage, calling out Donald Trump, or as he said, “Donald Duck,” multiple times for his lack of attendance at debates, however, still stood strong with his conservative ideals.

Christie boasted his repeated vetoing of Planned Parenthood in the state of New Jersey, however he appears to not support a national abortion ban, stating his belief in states’ rights. As a pro-life candidate, Christie said that one “must be pro-life for the entire life” and laid out his platform of treatment for those facing substance abuse issues, which was a surprising and incredibly admirable stance. 

Christie was not a one-hit-wonder with claims that found me agreeing with him. He went after Congress, which has yet to pass a budget for the fiscal year, with a 45-day plan signed by President Biden now in place in order to avert a government shutdown, which among other things, would cease pay for any government employee until a budget is passed. Christie reassured Americans everyone in Congress is to blame for the lack of a budget, not just one party – as many of his fellow candidates may believe. 

Ramaswamy once again was taking heat from all sides of the stage throughout the debate.

The attack from Governor Haley was by far the most notable of the night, however, Vivek was able to get some of his viewpoints out, many of which were incredibly jarring, such as his viewpoint on transgender rights in the United States. Ramaswamy made it abundantly clear he believes transgenderism is a mental disorder that must be treated – not with modern medicine or surgical treatments that will make the individual feel more comfortable in their skin – but with faith-based mental health care.

This is an incredibly frightening viewpoint for the Republican Party to be broadcasting, and this treatment, or lack thereof, has proven to be dangerous for the wellbeing of young transgender people.

Ramaswamy went on to agree with many of his fellow candidates, especially the former vice president in saying that he believes in a parent’s right to know that a child is experiencing body dysphoria and wants to pursue gender reassignment surgery. This, once again, is incredibly dangerous for young transgender people in the United States, as facing this incredibly agonizing feeling of not belonging in their own body is already bad enough to deal with at such a young age but to then have parents who refuse to help their child feel better and to be themselves causes a drastic increase in the suicide rate of this group of people.

This goes back to Chris Christie’s point: You cannot claim to be pro-life if you are not pro-life for the entire duration of life. You cannot stop caring about the life once the child is born. 

As stated before, Mike Pence was very vocal about his support for parents’ rights when it comes to transgender children in the United States and whether or not schools or doctors should be required to notify parents of these types of cases. He went on to make the claim he wants a federal ban on gender-affirming care for minors under any circumstances.

Despite this, it seemed like Pence was running for president on the platform of the Republican Party from 10 years ago.

He once again claimed he would repeal Obamacare, something the Trump-Pence administration ran on but never did. This was a very important talking point for former President Trump when he was running in 2016, however, this never happened as Obamacare is still the law of the land. Many times, this policy is misconstrued into a socialized single-payer healthcare system, such as the system in place in Canada which simply is not true. The words of these candidates twist this perception of Obamacare in order to put voters under the impression that the Democratic party is a party of socialism, which is evidently false.

Pence also made it very clear he is in favor of an expedited death penalty for anyone who perpetrates a mass shooting in the United States, which is an incredibly touchy subject and one that is not always debated on. The death penalty and whether or not it should be allowed is a subject that has been whispered about, but it never really brought up at many debates in recent elections and is one that should be talked about much more, considering the uptick of mass shootings we are unfortunately experiencing in the United States.

On that note, I would have liked to hear more about the gun policies of each candidate since their only talking points regarding this issue is that the Democrats want to repeal the Second Amendment and take your guns, which is once again, evidently false.  

This election cycle is turning out to be one of the messiest already, and we are more than a year away from Election Day.

I can simply describe this debate as a train wreck.

The candidates handled it immaturely, yelling over each other and making personal attacks that were irrelevant to the issues at hand, which made for a waste of the voter’s time as very little actual policy was discussed. 

This makes me even more fearful for the future of our country and our democracy. However, I am eager to see how the election continues to play out over the next year.

Jackson Small is an opinion writer. Contact him at [email protected].