RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: There's no show without Trump

RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: After that American presidential food fight… There’s no show without Trump

There’s no show without Punch. But on Wednesday night in Milwaukee, the show had to go on without him. Donald J. Trump, that is, America’s modern day Mr Punch.

The former President decided to sit out the first Republican primary debate, boasting he had a ’50 or 60′ point lead in the polls and wasn’t prepared to be ‘harassed by people who shouldn’t even be running for President’.

Who did he have in mind: obscure flyover-country governors Doug Burgum and Asa Hutchinson, and South Carolina senator Tim Scott, all currently bumping along under four per cent?

Did he mean his former supporters, Vice President Mike Pence, ex-New Jersey governor Chris Christie and his own United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, ex-governor of South Carolina?

Maybe he meant wet-behind-the-ears millennial businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, who possesses intergalactic levels of chutzpah but zero political experience.

Trump (pictured) decided to sit out the first Republican primary debate, boasting he had a ’50 or 60′ point lead in the polls and wasn’t prepared to be ‘harassed by people who shouldn’t even be running for President’

On Wednesday night in Milwaukee, the show had to go on without Trump. Pictured: Former US Vice President Mike Pence (L) and entrepreneur and author Vivek Ramaswamy (second from right) gesture toward each other, flanked by former Governor from South Carolina and UN ambassador Nikki Haley (R) and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, during the first Republican Presidential primary debate

Trump reserves most of his venom for Florida governor Ron DeSantis, whom he considers his one-time protege and now accuses of disloyalty. A few months ago, after DeSantis had won a stunning re-election victory in his home state, the two men were neck-and-neck in the race for the Republican nomination.

Today, Trump has a commanding lead, both nationally and in Iowa, where the first primary caucus will take place in January. It’s not ’50 or 60′ points, but Trump leads DeSantis 42 to 19. The Florida governor’s presidential campaign got off to a stuttering start and has stalled badly recently.

DeSantis has been caught in a pincer movement between a partisan Democrat mainstream media and Trump’s ruthless determination to take back the White House, from which he had to be dragged screaming and kicking in 2021.

He’s been accused of lacking charisma, and admittedly he’s no Ronald Reagan on the stump. But his record in office — from his refusal to lock down during Covid to generating explosive economic growth — is undeniably impressive. That’s why he won Florida by a landslide last year, capturing even traditional Democratic strongholds.

Both Trump and the Biden camp fear him, which is why he’s been on the receiving end of their concerted campaigns to discredit him. In Milwaukee, it was expected that the other candidates would target DeSantis. But he emerged unscathed and concentrated on attacking Biden, while trying not to alienate Trump’s MAGA (Make America Great Again) fan base.

Supporters of former President Donald Trump gather outside of the Fulton County Jail ahead of Trump’s surrender on August 24

Others branded Trump a ‘traitor’ and called for him to be convicted. With no Trump, the other candidates were left to slug it out among themselves

He certainly did enough to steady the Buffs and with months still to go before primary voting gets underway in earnest in January has plenty of opportunity to make up ground. DeSantis earned his biggest cheer of the night promising to send the military to seal the southern border and tackle the cartels smuggling people and drugs into the U.S.

Here in Britain we are alarmed that the number of migrants crossing the Channel illegally has topped 100,000. Under Biden, more than six million migrants have entered America illegally.

With no Trump, the other candidates were left to slug it out among themselves. This was the first time many of the 23 million voters watching on TV had a chance to run the rule over 38-year-old newcomer Vivek Ramaswamy, the son of Indian immigrants.

He’s been gaining traction in recent weeks, posting videos of himself playing tennis topless and performing burpee jumps in the gym — both designed to emphasise his youthful energy.

He is estimated to be worth a billion dollars, has built a successful biotech empire, and has been raising his profile as a go-to talking head on cable television.

On Wednesday night, he was centre stage next to DeSantis and displayed a self-confidence bordering on arrogance. His tactic appears to be out-Trumping Trump on domestic matters while keeping America out of wars overseas.

Ramaswamy certainly had the soundbites, which led to Christie accusing him of spouting ChatGPT gibberish. He was straight out of the blocks, with: ‘First let me address the question that is on everybody’s mind at home tonight. Who is the skinny guy with the funny last name and what the heck is he doing in the middle of the debate stage?’

This was the first time many of the 23 million voters watching on TV had a chance to run the rule over 38-year-old newcomer Vivek Ramaswamy (R)

Christie eventually tired of this juvenile showboating and reminded everyone that the last skinny guy with an odd last name on a debate stage was Barack Obama. ‘And I’m afraid we’re dealing with the same kind of amateur standing on the stage tonight.’

Christie, a tough son of New Jersey, always looks as if he’d be at home propping up the bar at Tony Soprano’s Bada Bing lap dancing club. On Wednesday night, he looked as if he’d be equally happy dismembering Ramaswamy with a bone saw in the back of Satriale’s pork store. Having fallen out spectacularly with Trump — like just about everyone else who comes into Trump’s orbit — he wasted no time in going for the jugular, describing his attempts to overturn the result of the 2020 election as a disgrace to the presidency.

Tell us what you really think, Chris. Ramaswamy couldn’t wait to announce he’d pardon Trump if and when he became President.

Nikki Haley, the only female on stage, had a good night, quoting Margaret Thatcher: ‘If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman.’

Haley also tore lumps out of Ramaswamy over foreign policy, accusing him of naivety and throwing America’s allies to the wolves. She said he wanted to defund Israel, hand Ukraine over to Putin and let China swallow Taiwan.

Mike Pence cut a dignified figure, and has redeemed his reputation after four years as Trump’s V.P. by upholding the Constitution and resisting the former President’s pressure to refuse to certify the election result. But his time may have passed. So what can we take from the debate? Burgum, Hutchinson and Scott should cut their losses and fold their tents now. Christie isn’t going to win, but he should stick around, if only for entertainment value and as a thorn in Trump’s Rizla-thin hide.

DeSantis got stronger as the night went on and isn’t out of the hunt yet. It’s likely Haley and Ramaswamy were both pitching to join a possible Trump ticket as his running mate.

Ramaswamy may be a fresh face, a new media darling, but from where I was sitting he came across as a neophyte B.S. merchant.

The dailymail.com instant poll made him the night’s winner, a point ahead of DeSantis, with Pence a distant third.

Any reputable Republican candidate would almost certainly beat Biden next time.

DeSantis got stronger as the night went on and isn’t out of the hunt yet. It’s likely Haley and Ramaswamy were both pitching to join a possible Trump ticket as his running mate

The President gets more ga-ga by the day, recently sitting out the terrible Hawaii wildfires in a deckchair on the beach.

When he did make it to Maui, he appeared to fall asleep at a meeting with those affected and belittled the tragedy by comparing it to a minor kitchen fire at his own home in Delaware, which nearly cost him ‘his wife, his dog and his classic Corvette’. Except, it didn’t.

My hunch is that the Democrats will dump Biden before the election — unless, that is, Trump does become the candidate despite his legal travails.

In that event, America faces the depressing prospect of having to pick as President either an 81-year-old basket case or a 78-year-old sociopath, who by then could be behind bars.

The debate may well have been academic. Every time Trump is arrested by Biden’s weaponised Department of Justice, his popularity ratings soar.

By the time you read this, Trump will have surrendered to the district attorney in Atlanta to answer highly contentious charges of racketeering — laws more commonly used to bring down mob bosses.

The headlines will be dominated by these latest charges and a mug shot taken by the Georgia correction authorities. The photo will be everywhere from TV screens to T-shirts. Donald Trump, Live At Fulton Prison.

On Wednesday, Trump released a rambling 45-minute interview with host Tucker Carlson on the internet. It got 130 million hits — five times the TV debate audience.

What’s Made Milwaukee Famous may have made a loser out of Jerry Lee Lewis. But by tonight, Milwaukee may have made losers out of everyone on that debate stage. There was a Trump-shaped elephant in the room all along.

Mr Punch is back in town. And there’s no show without Trump.

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