well, i think bergum was one of the _ that? well, i think bergum was one of the few _ that?rgum was one of the few candidates to i one of the few candidates to really come back to that issue. there wasn't an extended conversation about us china relations in the debate, not a lot of opportunity, for example, for candidates to gritty elements of china's —— biden's policy towards china or to articulate what they would do themselves to deal with the problems posed by the us china relationship. it was disappointing from my perspective do not hear more analysis from the candidates for the candidates not being pressed more significant the on how they would deal with the us china relationship. it is the single most important geopolitical relationship the us has right now, not only from a commercial perspective but also from a strategic and military perspective. so the idea that republicans care about the issue, we know republican voters care about it, we know a number of republican officeholders have made this the centrepiece of theirforeign—policy made this the centrepiece of their

we see, you doug bergum.me you go into these debates, and i have worked for candidates who have been lowered down in the tears in these. debates nicolle has as well. you want to have a memorable moment. you want to have a moment that goes out on social media. you want a moment that your donors remember, that you can fund-raise off of. i don't remember a single thing that ron desantis said. i'm obviously not a target donor. but he was not memorable. so, not only did people ignore him. but he did not have a moment that rose in the debate. and both of those are problems for him. >> but did he do himself -- whatever the opposite of a favor is -- just by being bad at talking? >> [laughter] >> there was that story in the washington post, i think, about awkward americans relating to him because he is awkward. so, maybe he appeal to that caucus, perhaps. but i don't think he did himself any favors tonight because he was not memorable. i do think mike pence had a good night, his position on abortion is out of whack wi

are we going to be swept up in bergum mania? could this be ram swami's night? what do you think?e the nominee. these republicans need to try. they need to try to rebuild their party, right? this guy has numerous indictments. he is getting booked so it might interfere, he's being booked the same week as the debate. this is not a viable candidate. and he's going to keep, i mean, he will be the nominee and he'll likely keep running. so the more the party can try to have some kind of post trump vision, even if it doesn't get the kind of attention. look, trump will suck up all the oxygen this week and a lot of these people are probably fighting for a cabinet post in the very unlikely chance of a trump presidency. i would say they need to try. this republican party has been pretty bad about trying. >> and joe, .with asa hutchinson about this. >> you have to have 45,000 donors. we're at 38,000 so we're almost there. >> what does it say whereasa hutchinson may get on this debate stage by the skin of his treated and donald trump has four indictments and can skip the debate. >> it tells us