i had actually forgotten about tim for a second. we ve been talking i ve been talking at least about how good he seems to be on the campaign trail, good on the stump, good talking to people. he was not good last night. i guess the story, the south carolina story, tim scott really underperformed last night. nikki haley really overperformed to expectations. that was a real surprise there. i do have to say, mika, i m so glad that rev talked about how the republican party has forfeited forever the idea that they were ever some law and order party or ever supported justice or, you know, even the constitution. chris christie is getting booed when he brings up the unpleasant fact that donald trump said he wanted to terminate the constitution of the united states, if that s what it took for him to get back into the white house. but those candidates raised their hands, except for asa
i think the reason you saw three almost shocked faces as you came out of the clip with nikki haley is we don t hear it from republicans often. it was part of why, arguably, governor haley, ambassador haley, was the most interesting person on the stage last night, because she was, in her moments, telling some truth about donald trump. saying he was the least popular politician in america. america does not want a trump/biden rematch. that s born out in the polls. she cited the numbers. she said he added $8 trillion to the debt. she scolded in that moment right there vivek ramaswamy about continuing support for ukraine and why that s important. will it matter? we don t know, guys. but for sure, she had a good night. let s bring into the conversation absolutely. msnbc contributor, our good friend mike barnicle. senior political columnist for politico, jonathan martin. editor of protect democracy, amanda carpenter. elise jordan is still with us, as well. amanda, i ll start with yo
number one, i don t think, by the way, that this was the debate that ron desantis wanted or that he needed. he felt like he was an afterthought by the end of the debate. yes, vivek came in very, very strong, but you saw his weaknesses later on when nikki haley took him down. i thought nikki haley overperformed. i mean, she was impressive. she was the adult in the room. she was the adult in the room on spending, on abortion, on ukraine. mike pence overperformed. but let s be honest, they were not appealing to the viewers of the bulwark or morning joe. it was vivek who knew the maga world war, and he was playing to that. he was playing to the
a georgia state racketeering case, i would have looked at you like you were insane. but that s where we are. that s the fall, and it gets worse. he might not be able to pay a lawyer. i don t know where this goes for him, other than it is going to keep going down. it is a fascinating split screen for the republican party. so convoluted. last night, the candidates were asked on stage if they would still support the former president as the nominee if he is convicted in any of his ongoing legal battles. take a look. if former president trump is convicted in a court of law, would you still support him as your party s choice? please raise your hand if you would. [ applause ] just to be clear, governor christie, you were late to the
ramaswamy certainly commanded the stage, but when he did and had his moment and made his introduction, he put forth a bunch of conspiracy theories and certainly drew the fire. not ron desantis, notably, but it was ramaswamy drawing the fire of people like mike pence, nikki haley and chris christie. i m glad you led with nikki haley. because when i was watching her last night, i was like, wow, that is what republicans should sound like. you know, we talk about sometimes, like, what would it look like on earth if donald trump wasn t there? the first hour of the debate was like all the republicans were sort of living in earth two. even fox news. isn t that sort of the problem? nikki haley, i m so thankful that she took such strong stance for ukraine, because not only republicans needed to hear that but the world needed to hear that. there are republicans who truly believe in the cause of democracy, not just in america but abroad. but the problem is, nikki haley