Seven US presidential hopefuls tussled over immigration, China and the economy on Wednesday at the second Republican primary debate — but saved some of their most strident remarks to slam frontrunner Donald Trump for spurning the showdown.
The former president, who is battling multiple criminal cases, has decided to skip the debates and instead met auto industry workers in the battleground state of Michigan.
Trump’s no-show prompted former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie — the ex-president’s biggest antagonist among the candidates — to accuse the 77-year-old tycoon of hiding “behind the walls of his golf clubs.”
“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.
Christie was facing off against Trump’s chief rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, as well as political newcomer Vivek Ramaswamy, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley and Trump’s vice president Mike Pence.
Blue-collar credentials
South Carolina Senator Tim Scott and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum rounded out the field for the clash at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute in Simi Valley, California, moderated by Fox Business and Univision.
More than 2,000 miles (3,000 kilometers) away in Michigan, Trump was attempting to boost his blue-collar credentials and attack the pro-worker reputation cultivated by President Joe Biden, who visited striking union members in the state on Tuesday.
“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.
Underscoring the importance of union workers as a voting bloc, the first question of the debate was about handling the strike by the United Auto Workers against General Motors, Ford and Stellantis, now in its second week.
While Ramaswamy voiced sympathy with the workers, Scott made clear his priority was immigration rather than the labor 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.
Missing in action
Trump’s legal troubles have done little to dent his lead, with 59 percent of Republican primary voters in a new NBC News poll making him their top choice, with DeSantis a distant runner-up at 16 percent.