At the second Republican primary debate, seven US presidential hopefuls clashed over issues like immigration, China, and the economy. However, they didn’t hold back when it came to criticising frontrunner Donald Trump, who chose not to take part in the showdown.
Faced with multiple legal challenges, the former president made the call to avoid the debates and, instead, engage with auto industry workers in the pivotal battleground state of Michigan.
Trump’s decision to skip the event triggered former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a prominent rival of the ex-president among the candidates, to assert that the 77-year-old magnate is hiding behind the walls of his golf courses.
‘You’re ducking these things, and let me tell you what’s going to happen. You keep doing that, no one up here is gonna call you Donald Trump anymore. We’re gonna call you a Donald Duck,’ he said, earning boos for the zinger.
Read also: Mixed Feelings As Donald Trump Finally Surrenders in Georgia
Facing Trump’s primary rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Christie also competed with political newcomer Vivek Ramaswamy, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, and Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence.
South Carolina Senator Tim Scott and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum were the final additions to the participants in the event hosted at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute in Simi Valley, California. Fox Business and Univision moderated the event.
Trump, who was more than 2,000 miles (3,000 kilometres) away in Michigan, was making efforts to beef up his blue-collar credentials while critiquing President Joe Biden’s reputation as a pro-worker leader. President Biden had paid a visit to striking union members in the state the previous day.
‘Joe Biden claims to be the most pro-union president in history. Nonsense. Think of it. His entire career has been an act of economic treason and union destruction,’ Trump said in a speech at a non-union factory.
Accentuating the essence of union workers as a voting bloc, the first question of the debate was centred around containing the strike by the United Auto Workers against General Motors, Ford and Stellantis, which is currently in the second week.
Ramaswamy expressed understanding for the workers, but Scott was adamant that immigration was his foremost concern, overshadowing the labour dispute.
‘Joe Biden should not be on the picket line. He should be on the southern border, working to close our southern border, because it is unsafe, wide open and insecure,’ Scott said.