Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley speak during a Republican presidential primary debate hosted by FOX News Channel Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

At the first Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee Wednesday evening, eight candidates exchanged blows on issues ranging from “Bidenomics” and abortion, to the latest opinions about the absent former President Donald Trump.

The 38-year-old Vivek Ramaswamy arguably had the most inflammatory ideas of the night such as climate change being a total hoax, pardoning Trump on day one if he gets elected and unleashing American energy through fracking and coal mining. Ramaswamy was clearly trying to get on Trump’s good side in this debate, with analysis wondering if he was trying to audition as Trump’s running mate in the general election.

“President Trump, I believe, was the best president of the 21st century,” Ramaswamy said. “We’re skating on thin ice, and we cannot set a precedent where the party in power uses police force to indict its political opponents. It is wrong.”

His remarks garnered heat from almost everyone else on stage. The most notable attack came from former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who said that Ramaswamy sounds like ChatGPT.

Arguably Christie’s big moment came when Fox News moderators Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier asked questions regarding Trump’s four indictments. He referred to Trump’s behavior as unbecoming and beneath the position of president of the United States, which was met with a massive wave of boos from the mostly pro-Trump crowd. He also slammed Trump for disrespecting the Constitution and pledged to never put himself above the law. Christie and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson were the only candidates who said they would not support Trump as the Republican nominee if he were convicted of any one of his 91 criminal charges.

One of the most surprising performances came from former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who took Ramaswamy to task after he was the only candidate to indicate his unwillingness to send more support to Ukraine in the future. Ramaswamy also defended the actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump’s support of the tyrant.

After every other candidate pointed at President Joe Biden for big spending and inflation, Haley slammed Trump and other Republicans for also spending billions in the last decade. Haley also had a surprisingly moderate stance on abortion and called for finding consensus on the issue (Haley signed a 19-week abortion ban into South Carolina law as governor.) Even though every election held on reproductive rights has not gone in Republican favor, several of the candidates took firm stances on banning the procedure.

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott proclaimed, “If God made you a man, you play sports against men.” Scott’s other main contribution to the debate was a misleading comment about abortion access in Illinois, New York and California. The senator alleged that Democrats are advocating for abortions up until the day of birth. However, research from the CDC says that the vast majority (99%) of abortions happen before 21 weeks of gestation. Procedures that occur after that period are likely due to life-threatening conditions for the mother or other extreme circumstances.

When asked about abortion in the debate, Florida Gov. DeSantis told a bizarre story about someone named Penny who was “aborted multiple times” and “found in a pan.” When asked whether former Vice President Mike Pence made the right decision on Jan. 6, DeSantis completely avoided the question and spun the topic into the weaponization of the Department of Justice.

Pence leaned on his experience in the White House and his refusal to overturn the 2020 election. Although he brought up irrelevant Bible verses on more than one occasion and stared longingly into the camera a couple times, Pence avoided any major blunders on the stage despite speaking the most of anyone on-stage.

Other than boasting about his record as governor of Arkansas, Hutchinson’s answers were relatively tame. Meanwhile, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum focused on energy and anti-China rhetoric but also denounced a federal abortion ban despite signing one of the harshest anti-abortion bans in the country earlier this year. Burgum participated in the debate despite suffering a torn ACL during a pick-up game of basketball with his staff on Tuesday.

With a large lead in the polls, Trump skipped the debate and opted to do an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, which was streamed on X (formerly Twitter) at the same time as the debate. As of Thursday morning, the stream had 200 million page views (actual video views are hidden on X.)