I’m still not sure I’m parsing that bit correctly. Was he trying to say that he’s bravely standing up for Shell and ExxonMobil while the other candidates are in the pocket of Big Wind and Solar?
Watch the first few seconds of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq9AERr0Vvg
As to what he was saying, yeah it makes no sense, none of the anti climate change talking points do.
The oil and gas companies are not exactly on food stamps. ExxonMobil made $60 billion in a year. Profit, not turnover. Some of which makes its way into the pockets of US politicians.
And even countries with no significant green tech development of their own still acknowledge the science.
As I say, Vivek is a lot more extreme than many appreciate. But completely in line with Trump and Tucker Carlson.
That was it. But it kind of fell flat. Because to really zing it would have to be a “you’re no Obama” type strike, and at a Republican debate that is pointless.
De Santis apparently wants us to invade Mexico. 
Seriously, he wants to send American troops in to control the cartels, get rid of drugs, etc. No mention seeming made of asking permission.
What I found creepy is that everyone except Haley was wearing a completely identical outfit. It was like they had a uniform. It made me think of the check-in area for a large airline:
Ramaswamy might as well be saying, “I can help who’s next, how many bags are you checking?”
In general, most “experts” seemed to think that Haleye did the best. Christie did well also.
DeSantis came in for some scathing criticism:
Time and again DeSantis came off as stilted. He consistently chose to ignore the question being asked and pivoted instead to overly rehearsed responses from debate prep that were devoid of passion or compassion and merely meant to check MAGA boxes. By adhering to those well practiced responses, DeSantis demonstrated a lack of political agility, missing opportunities to connect with the audience… Time and again, DeSantis was outshined and overshadowed by politicians on the stage with more charisma and stronger debating skills, several of whom delivered memorable moments, such as former New Jersey Gov. Christie’s “Chat GPT” comment.
In fairness, men have very limited options for business suits. The only thing they can really change is the color of the tie, maybe cufflinks, and “flair” (buttons). Of course, the only reasonable choice for tie color for this one is red. I am not sure what you expected - did you think DeSantis would do the whole Jimmy Buffett Hawaiian shirt thing to get more attention and connect more with average human beings?
The suits were the exact same color though; exact same shade of dark blue/grey or whatever it’s supposed to be. They all had red ties, solid red. (Although Chris Christie kind of wore a pink-ish tie, I guess he had to stand out.)
Here is a picture from the Republican primary debates in 2015:
They weren’t the same at all. Clearly, the options are not limited. There had to have been a deliberate choice to dress them all the same for this one, which just strikes me as extremely bizarre.
I expected them to not clone each other, because they normally don’t do that.
I think they were all just copying the Trump caricature. Dark suit, red tie. “Look, look! I’m the guy best suited to replace Trump! I even have the tie!”
Yeah, that may be possible in this case, since it was on Fox News. Maybe they told each contestant “No blue ties. Not a single blue thread on you! No acknowledgement that the Demoncrat color is valid in any way!”
Holy crap you’re right. Compare the two images. Everyone in this debate might as well be wearing a costume for how Trump dressed in the older debate. (Well, the men at least.)
I’m sure a nice tan suit would have helped someone stand out. I’d certainly have tried to do so; no publicity is bad publicity.
What I find dangerous is the hypocritical lie is that FOX “news” put up the word DEMOCRACY behind these idiot traitors.
Come on guys, you can’t win the nomination unless your tie goes past your belt about six inches. Take your fashion cues from your Dear Leader.
I didn’t watch, from what I read DeSantis was out of touch, Ramaswamy ticked off the most extreme views, Christie was on point, and nobody else made much of an impression at all.
Opportunity. That and we don’t have all that many murderous loonies on the left.
I’m idly curious about who’s the tallest candidate this time around. And from the little I’ve read, Haley said some unpopular things that needed to be said.
In the clips I’ve seen, Haley talked about actual conservative policies. Naturally, traditional pundits think that makes her the winner. They have not yet realized that the debate was a reality TV show, and the winner is the player who gets in the sickest burn.
On the topic of the Trump/Carlson interview, it sounded about as loopy as you’d expect. A debate about who killed Epstein, why they haven’t killed Trump yet, who should own the Panama Canal, and why we can’t just get on already with the next civil war.
According to your cite, Trump says:
But a lot of people think that he was killed. He knew a lot on a lot of people.
Which seems like it would have been a good moment for a journalist to point out that Trump and Epstein are known to have hung out together and to have both had zipper issues.
