MILWAUKEE — Former President Donald Trump won Wednesday night’s debate without even showing up.
At least, that’s what his supporters in the spin room told the press after proceedings ended.
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With Sean Hannity interviewing Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) in the background, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) predicted it’s all over but the shouting.
“This race is functionally over,” Gaetz said. “I mean, there has not been a Republican leading by this much in Iowa since George W. Bush in 2000. And beyond Iowa, the numbers only get better for the Trump campaign.”
Trump took up a surprisingly small amount of debate time, going largely unmentioned until the moderators asked about him directly in the second hour. When Trump did come up, candidate reactions were mixed between praise from people such as Vivek Ramaswamy and condemnation from the likes of Chris Christie and Mike Pence.
There were no mixed messages from Gaetz, however.
“Was it just me, or did Mike Pence sort of seem like a 1980s avatar of a Republican who, you know, took to the stage a time or two?” Gaetz said.
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Gaetz predicted Ramaswamy would surge past DeSantis into second place following the debate but that it will end there.
“I don’t think you’re going to see a major shake-up at the top of the race,” he said. “I think you will see some shuffling in the middle. My expectation is that Ramaswamy will assume second place in just about every major poll after this debate because he was something different. DeSantis didn’t do what was necessary to break through at all.”
