Wednesday night time’s Republican presidential debate, held in Tuscaloosa, Ala., will function simply 4 candidates — Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy and Chris Christie — sparring over every thing from abortion to Israel to former President Donald Trump. After we requested Instances Opinion columnists and contributors what they’d ask the candidates in the event that they had been moderating the talk, they got here again to us with questions designed to check them on weapons and crime, overseas wars and well being care — exposing the place the sector stands on, say, army assist for Ukraine or a draconian state abortion ban. However above all, what they wished to see was the moderators needling the candidates into taking a powerful stance on the previous president. Right here had been the responses:
Maureen Dowd
Gov. Haley, you could have your first advert up about “ethical readability” and “chaos.” However you don’t point out Donald Trump. Why not?
Ought to Donald Trump be prohibited from working for president due to Jan. 6 and all these federal costs?
Frank Bruni
If you happen to’re elected president, would you take into account pardoning Donald Trump if he’s convicted by a jury of a number of of the 91 felony counts he faces?
Jamelle Bouie
The Republican Get together has misplaced the vast majority of the favored vote in seven out of the final eight presidential elections. Regardless of this, it has held the presidency for a complete of 12 years due to the Electoral School. If you’re the nominee in 2024 and also you win the vast majority of the favored vote however lose the Electoral School, would you concede to Joe Biden?
Ross Douthat
Gov. Haley, please identify one United States army intervention within the final 30 years that you just consider was a mistake, and clarify why.
Gov. DeSantis, whereas working for president in 2016, Donald Trump promised to switch Obamacare with some type of common well being care. Do you assist repealing Obamacare with a measure that ensures medical health insurance to all Individuals? If not, why? In that case, what would that measure be?
Gov. Haley and Gov. DeSantis, if Donald Trump is the Republican nominee, is there something he might do between now and November 2024 that will make you refuse to assist him towards Joe Biden? In that case, please specify.
For all of the candidates: The Western world is getting old quickly. The Republican Get together at the moment stands for severe restrictions on immigration. Is there any public coverage that your hypothetical administration would pursue that will encourage Individuals to have extra children?
Nicholas Kristof
Weapons are the main reason for dying for kids in America at present. And the states with the highest firearms mortality charges are largely Republican states. Why is that, and what particular steps can we take to cut back gun deaths in America?
President Reagan was recognized for standing up relentlessly to Moscow. But if Republicans proceed to dam President Biden’s requests for assist to Ukraine, isn’t Russia the large winner? Has the G.O.P. come full circle from confronting Russian aggression to changing into its finest hope?
Michelle Cottle
Gov. Haley, immigration coverage continues to be sacrificed on the altar of political gamesmanship. Border safety is necessary, however it is just one piece of the puzzle. As president, how would you jump-start a push for bipartisan, complete reform?
Mr. Ramaswamy, what wouldn’t it take so that you can drop out of this race and spare Individuals your troll-y nonsense? A column in The Each day Caller? Your individual Fox Information present? The promise of a midlevel cupboard put up?
Gov. DeSantis, why has your candidacy been sagging? What do you intend to do to show it round?
Gov. Christie, the bottom appears to hate you. How do you reply to individuals who fear that you just staying within the race any longer helps Donald Trump by stopping non-Trump voters from consolidating behind a challenger whose marketing campaign is getting extra traction?
Pamela Paul
A query for all: Confidence within the army, whereas nonetheless comparatively excessive in contrast with confidence in different establishments, is the bottom it’s been in over 25 years, on the identical time that the army is struggling to usher in recruits. What would you do to revive belief within the army and recruit extra folks to volunteer for the armed providers?
Thomas Friedman
Gov. DeSantis, should you had been in Congress at present, would you vote with Senate Minority Chief Mitch McConnell to proceed army and financial assist for Ukraine and maintain Kyiv in its battle with Russia for the following yr, or with the Home isolationists towards any additional assist? If it’s the latter, how would you react if Vladimir Putin publicly thanked you?
Gov. Haley, the late Henry Kissinger turned well-known for his diplomacy, with President Nixon, for peeling China away from the Soviet Union again within the Nineteen Seventies. If you happen to had been president at present, would you take into account making an attempt such a transfer with Xi Jinping’s China, or do you suppose we should always confront Russia and China on the identical time? How would that make America safer?
Gov. Haley, as probably America’s first Indian American president, do you suppose we should always get harder with President Narendra Modi to restrict his curtailments of Indian democracy, or are you OK with what he’s doing?
Ezra Klein
Gov. DeSantis and Gov. Haley, in 2021, your states — Florida and South Carolina — had larger murder charges per capita than New York and California. That was additionally true in 2020, and 2019, and 2018, and 2017, and 2016 and 2015. Why is that?
Michelle Goldberg
Twenty ladies are suing Texas after being denied abortions, together with in instances of severely harmful or nonviable pregnancies. Ought to Texas amend its abortion ban to create a well being exemption?
Charles Blow
Gov. DeSantis, you made your campaign towards what you referred to as “wokeness” a centerpiece of your governorship and a springboard on your presidential bid. You even wrote a guide during which anti-wokeness was a central theme. However over the summer season, polling confirmed that Republican voters had been unlikely to be swayed by a slender concentrate on rooting out left-wing ideology in colleges, media, tradition and enterprise — and also you didn’t point out the phrase “woke” in any of the primary three debates. Did you overestimate the foreign money anti-wokeness would have with the Republican major voters, and do you remorse such a laserlike concentrate on a single cultural matter?
Tressie McMillan Cottom
Our constitutional proper of “free speech” has grow to be a partisan challenge. That is having a chilling impact on analysis, training and public staff. How do you outline “free speech”? What function ought to the president and Congress play in shaping the best way that free speech intersects with public establishments?
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