The first Republican primary debate of the 2024 election is over. Chris Christie wiggled his fingers. Nikki Haley took Vivek Ramaswamy to the woodshed. Tim Scott was a “nonentity.” And then there was that elephant decidedly not in the room, Donald Trump, who instead spent his evening raving about water pressure to Tucker Carlson.
As the former president is expected to turn himself in at the Fulton County Jail, the Matter of Opinion hosts discuss what we learned from the first G.O.P. debate — and what it means when everyone in the party is still desperate to both be Trump, and be rid of him.
(A full transcript of the episode will be available midday on the Times website.)
South Africa Confronts Israel and Its Own Democracy
“If We Think There’s a Trump Cult Already …”
R.F.K. Jr. and the ‘Coalition of the Distrustful’
Why Do We Hate Kamala Harris? Do We?
Let the Trump Veep Auditions Begin
Untangling the Mess of Campus Protests
How Does Trump’s Violent Rhetoric End?
Thomas Friedman on Iran, Israel and Preventing a ‘Forever War’
Abortion, Trump and Religion in Politics
Are Smartphones Just a Scapegoat for Our Unhappy Children?
Finding the Line Between Celebrity and Politician With Tressie McMillan Cottom
Texts From the Swamp
Lydia Finds Hope in a Moment of Crisis
The Election of Our Discontent
Trump 2.0: ‘A Blueprint for Retribution’
The Pro-Life Movement Had a Plan Post-Roe. The G.O.P. Didn’t.
Paul Krugman on the Economy as a Voting Issue
The Presidential Fitness Test
Our Super Bowls, Ourselves
Men Are From YouTube, Women Are From TikTok
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