Not all of Trump's allies are panning DeSantis
Sure, Trump's campaign wants everyone to think DeSantis is having a terrible night, but not all his allies agree.
At least one ally offered a positive review of DeSantis: “Good lines. Hasn’t been attacked hard. Sticking to experience and policy.”
Trump camp keeps focused on DeSantis
Kneecapping DeSantis has been job one of the Trump campaign, and the campaign and their allies have been almost singularly focused on attacking DeSantis throughout this debate.
The Trump war room and Donald Trump Jr. have led the way on X, formerly Twitter, and Trump aides have been passing along praise for Ramaswamy and regular attacks on DeSantis all night long.
“Ron DeSanctimonious’ campaign died tonight as he was leapfrogged by Vivek Ramaswamy,” Trump senior adviser Jason Miller texted. “He needed a break-out performance and he failed.”
DeSantis skips 'woke' talking points
A notable omission for DeSantis so far tonight: the word “woke.”
He touched on some of his biggest culture war issues in his answer about education — banning critical race theory, prohibiting instruction on “gender ideology” and promoting “education, not indoctrination” — but no mention of one of his signature catch phrases.
Haley gets the first mention in her answer on education.
Candidates have avoided at least one major GOP talking point ...
If you had “woke” on your debate bingo board tonight, you still have an empty space.
Three big debate takeaways so far
1) DeSantis is relatively unscathed.
2) Ramaswamy is the story so far, but it’s already clear, anecdotally, that his performance is polarizing.
3) Fox seems to care more about desperately respecting the Trump base than asking the most relevant questions for the campaign.
Chart: Who's made the most attacks at the 90-minute mark
Ramaswamy and Haley have lodged the most attacks in the debate so far, DeSantis and Scott the least. Follow along with the debate attack tracker.
DeSantis shows some emotion
DeSantis showed a rare moment of emotion when he shared an anecdote about a mom who lost her child to fentanyl. He has shared this story previously on the campaign trail. Tonight, though, he seemed to get choked up when he spoke about this “angel mom.”
It’s notable especially because his team has struggled to push him to show more emotion and vulnerability in public appearances.
Haley missed China discussion
Surprisingly, Haley didn’t jump in on the China conversation. China is her biggest campaign talking point on the trail.
Ramaswamy winks at Obama's viral 2012 Russia swipe at Romney
Telling Pence, “I have a newsflash: the USSR does not exist anymore,” Ramaswamy cued up another nod at Obama, whose insurgent candidacy he mimicked earlier in the debate with a reference to “skinny kid with a funny name.”
In a viral moment during a 2012 presidential debate, Obama mocked GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney for calling Russia America’s biggest geopolitical foe, telling him, “The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back.”
Trump isn't posting through this
An hour and a half into the debate, Trump remains silent on Truth Social by not adding any real-time commentary as the candidates talk about him onstage. His Tucker Carlson interview is long over.