What Trump Brings Out in Americans
Welcome to Up for Debate. Each week, Conor Friedersdorf rounds up timely conversations and solicits reader responses to one thought-provoking question. Later, he publishes some thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here.
Question of the Week
If you could pose one earnest question to any of the Republican candidates, what would it be? (No insults disguised as questions allowed.)
Send your responses to conor@theatlantic.com or simply reply to this email.
Conversations of Note
On Wednesday, the Republican Party held a presidential primary debate. Eight candidates attended: North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, former Vice President Mike Pence, the entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina. Donald Trump, who did not attend, is leading all polls by a wide margin.
Here’s the political scientist Seth Masket’s reaction to the event:
The debate did what it was supposed to do, which was tease out the differences among the candidates for the sake of the viewing audience. Vivek Ramaswamy calling climate change a hoax while Nikki Haley says it’s real but we need to pressure
