The Lincoln Project says Joe Biden won GOP debate; he’s better than ‘dystopian vision’ presented

The Lincoln Project, an anti-Donald Trump political advocacy group, announced several of its takeaways from this cycle’s first GOP presidential debate. 

Noting former President Trump’s absence on the debate stage, The Lincoln Project’s top takeaway was who won the debate, and like Trump, that winner didn’t even participate.

“The winner of tonight’s debate was President Joe Biden,” the group wrote. “Even without Trump on the stage, the ‘debate’ was a two hour grievance-fest pushing a twisted, dystopian vision of America that should give us all pause.”

The group also weighed in on Trump’s counterprogramming — an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson that began airing five minutes before Trump’s GOP rivals began their debate in Milwaukee.

They called his interview, which doubled down on election lies and showered praise for Jan. 6 Capitol rioters, “unhinged.” That talk, paired with “the ranting and raving of the Presidential debate,” put “the GOP’s unity around its bankrupt agenda” on “full display.”

Noting “an obsessive culture war that will rollback individual rights, destroy public schools, allow dictators and autocrats to run rampant and deny basic science,” The Lincoln Project blasted the eight candidates who participated in the debate as uninterested in governing. The group argued they are seeking “more celebrity and influence so they can either score a cable TV deal or get into Trump’s good graces and be considered for a possible job.”

Indeed, that assumption came up even among candidates, with businessman Vivek Ramaswamy accusing former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley of seeking jobs in the defense industry and Ramaswamy suggesting former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie could land a gig on MSNBC.

And Ramaswamy certainly made a case for a job in a potential Trump 2.0 administration as the only candidate who outright said he would pardon Trump if elected. 

Christie, Haley, and to a lesser degree former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, were the only candidates who directly criticized Trump and even they did so sparingly. 

“The refusal by each candidate — except Chris Christie — to confront the realities and crimes of Jan. 6th, should frighten every American who believes in the rule of law and the Constitution,” The Lincoln Project wrote. “The candidates’ insistence that we forget January 6th shows they do not take democracy seriously and are willing to accept Trump’s criminality if it helps their own political careers.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who had the position of honor on the debate stage as the top-polling candidate present — though still behind Trump by double digits — said during the debate that the American people are ready to move on from the Capitol riot. 

The Lincoln Project said the debate “was a distraction from the issue at hand: Democracy is threatened by the current GOP, not just Donald Trump.” 

“President Biden’s three years of success deeply contrasts with the reality show the GOP put on tonight. President Biden has turned the economy around after Covid, passed the most sweeping infrastructure law in generations that will provide jobs, and brought decency and responsibility back to the White House,” the group wrote. 

“After tonight, there is no question that President Biden is the only candidate who supports the rule of law and will fight for democracy at home and around the world.”