Rosencrantz and Guildenstern at the Republican Debate

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2 years ago

August 24, 2023

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In their first presidential debate last night, Republicans staged their own version of Tom Stoppards classic play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.

Stoppards story focuses on the titular two characters, who are minor figures in Hamlet. The playwright recounts the Hamlet story from their peripheral perspective, as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern wait and wander, distant from the real action. For much of the plays three acts, they strain for even glimpses of the man at the center of the tale, Prince Hamlet.

The eight GOP candidates onstage last night often seemed like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, with their words largely stripped of meaning by the absence of the central protagonist in their drama.

The debate had plenty of heat, flashes of genuine anger, and revealing policy disputes. Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, who has often seemed a secondary player in this race, delivered a forceful performanceparticularly in rebutting the entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy on policy toward Ukrainethat made her the most vivid figure onstage to many Republicans.

But all that sound and fury fundamentally lacked relevance to the central story in the GOP race: whether anyone can dent former President Donald Trumps massive lead over the field. At times, it seemed as if the other candidates had lost sight of the fact that it is Trump, not the motormouthed Ramaswamy, who is 40 points or more ahead of all of them in national polls.

Trump is the big winner, the Republican consultant Alex Conant told me after the debate. Nobody made an argument about why they would be a better nominee than Donald Trump. They didnt even begin to make that argument.

There were plausible reasons the candidates focused so little on the man they are trying to overtake. The Fox News moderators did not ask specifically about Trumps legal troubles until an hour into the debate, instead focusing on discussions about the economy, climate change, and abortion. Ramaswamy seemed to be daring the other candidates to smack him down by repeatedly attacking not only their policies but their motivations. Im the only person on this stage who isnt bought and paid for, he insisted at one point. Loud booing from the audience almost anytime someone criticized Trump may also have discouraged anyone from targeting him too often.

But it was more than the debates immediate circumstances that explained the fields decision to minimize direct confrontation with Trump. That choice merely extended the strategy most have followed throughout this campaign, which in turn has replicated the deferential approach most of Trumps rivals took during the 2016 race.

David A. Graham: Ramaswamy and the rest

Haley took the most direct shot at the former president on policy, criticizing him from the right for increasing the national debt so much during his tenure; Florida Governor Ron DeSantis jabbed Trump toothough not by namefor supporting lockdowns early in the pandemic. Yet these exchanges were overshadowed by the refusal of any of the contenders, apart from former Governors Chris Christie and Asa Hutchinson, to object to Trumps attempts to overturn the 2020 election or his role in sparking the January 6 insurrection. All of them except Hutchinson and Christie raised their hand to indicate they would support Trump as the GOP presidential nominee even if he is convicted of a crime before the election.

To Conant, all of this seemed reminiscent of the 2016 campaign, when Trumps rivals seemed reluctant to attack him in the hope that he would somehow collapse on his own. Their strategy is wrong, Conant said. Hes going to be the nominee unless somebody can capture the support of Republicans who are open to an alternative. And nobody even tried to do that tonight.

David Kochel, an Iowa-based Republican consultant, wasnt as critical. But he agreed that the field displayed little urgency about its biggest imperative: dislodging from Trump some of the voters now swelling his big lead in the polls. What this race needs is to start focusing in on [the question of] Trump or the future, which is it? Kochel told me. Im not sure we saw enough of that last night.

The failure to more directly address the elephant in the room, or what Bret Baier, a co-moderator, called the elephant not in the room, undoubtedly muted the debates potential impact on the race. Nonetheless, the evening might provide a tailwind to some of the contenders, and a headwind to others.

The consensus among Republicans I spoke with after the debate was that Haley made a more compelling impression than the other seven candidates onstage. Her best moment came when she lacerated Ramaswamy for calling to end U.S. support to Ukraine, a move she said would essentially surrender the country to Russian President Vladimir Putin. You are choosing a murderer over a pro-American country, she told Ramaswamy. You have no foreign-policy experience, and it shows.

The debate lifted Nikki Haley as one of the prime alternatives for the people who are worried that Trump carries too much baggage to get elected, the veteran GOP pollster Whit Ayres told me last night. She gutted Ramaswamay.

Ramaswamy forced himself into the center of the conversation for much of the night, making unequivocal conservative declarations such as The climate agenda is a hoax, and categorical attacks on the rest of the candidates as corrupt career politicians.

Yet the evening showed why he may not advance any further than other outsider candidates in earlier GOP races, like Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann in 2012. His choice to emulate Trump as an agent of chaos surely thrilled the GOP voters most alienated from the party leadership. But Ramaswamys disruptive behavior and tendency toward absolutist positions that he could not effectively defend seemed likely to lower his ultimate ceiling of support. He appeared to simultaneously deepen but narrow his potential audience.

Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina also had a difficult night, though less by commission than omission. In his first turn on such a big stage, he simply failed to make much of an imprint; the evening underscored the limitations of his campaign message beyond his personal story of rising from poverty. I forgot he was even there, Kochel said. Maybe nice guys finish last; I dont know. He disappeared.

Former Vice President Mike Pence, by contrast, was as animated as hes been in a public forum. That was true both when he was making the case for an almost pre-Trumpian policy agenda that reprised priorities associated with Ronald Reagan and when he was defending his actions on January 6.

DeSantis, who seemed slightly overcaffeinated at the outset, didnt disappear, but he didnt fill Trumps shoes as the focal point of the debate either. The other candidates devoted little effort to criticizing or contrasting with him. To Conant, that was a sign they consider him a fading ember: No reason to risk losing a back-and-forth with a dead man, Conant said. Others thought that although DeSantis did not stand out, he didnt make any mistakes and may have succeeded in reminding more conservative voters why they liked him so much before his unsteady first months as a presidential candidate.

Christie in turn may have connected effectively with the relatively thin slice of GOP voters irrevocably hostile to Trump. That may constitute only 10 to 15 percent of the GOP electorate nationally, but it represents much more than that in New Hampshire, where Christie could prove formidable, Ayres told me.

But it wont matter much which candidate slightly improved, or diminished, their position if they all remain so far behind Trump. Ayres believes materially weakening Trump in the GOP race may be beyond the capacity of any of his rivals; the only force that might bring him back within their reach, Ayres told me, is if his trial for trying to overturn the 2020 election commences before the voting advances too far next year and damages his image among more Republican voters.

In a Republican context, Ayres said, The only institutions that have the ability to bring hm back to Earth are not political institutions; they are judicial institutions.

Kochel, who attended the debate, pointed out that the loud disapproval from the crowd at any mention of Trumps legal troubles accurately reflected the desire of most GOP voters to bury the issue. A lot of the base right now collectively has their hands up over their ears and are going La-la-la, Kochel said. The problem for the party, though, is that while Republican partisans may not want to deal with the electoral implications of nominating a candidate facing 91 criminal charges, general-election voters are going to deliver a verdict on all of this even if a jury doesnt.

David A. Graham: What people keep missing about Ron DeSantis

Apart from Christie and Hutchinson, the candidates on the stage seemed no more eager than the audience to address Trumps actions. While all of them agreed Pence did the right thing on January 6 by refusing Trumps demands to reject the election results, none except those two and Pence himself suggested Trump did something wrong in pressuring his vice president. Nor did the others find fault in anything else Trump did to subvert the 2020 result.

The final act of Stoppards play finds Rosencrantz and Guildenstern drifting toward a doom that neither understands, nor can summon the will to escape. In their caution and timidity, the Republicans distantly chasing Trump dont look much different.

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Vladimir Putin’s spymaster ‘has telephone call with MI6 chief’ as EU leaders meet to discuss Ukraine funding

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2 hours ago

December 19, 2025

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Vladimir Putin's spymaster 'has telephone call with MI6 chief' as EU leaders meet to discuss Ukraine funding

Vladimir Putin’s spymaster has said he had a “rather lengthy telephone conversation” with the new head of MI6, Russian state news agency Tass has reported.

Sergei Naryshkin, Russia’s foreign intelligence director, said: “A few days ago, I had a rather lengthy telephone conversation with the newly appointed chief of MI6 [Blaise] Metreweli.”

He added that Russian intelligence officers worked officially in London while MI6 officers worked officially in Moscow, according to Tass.

Ms Metreweli took over as chief of the Secret Intelligence Service on 1 October.

Sky News military analyst Michael Clarke believes it shows Moscow is “trying to imply that the Brits are somehow appealing to them… because of the negotiations going on in Washington”.

Further US-Russia talks are expected to take place over the coming days.

EU talks stall amid fears over ‘Russian retaliation’

Mr Naryshkin’s comments came as the European Union held crunch talks on Ukraine funding in Brussels.

EU leaders met at the bloc’s headquarters on Thursday to discuss a plan to use frozen Russian assets – but tensions have arisen, with Belgium vocally opposed to the plan amid fears of Russian retaliation.

Most of the €190bn (£166bn) of assets frozen after the start of the war in 2022 are currently held in Belgium, specifically by Euroclear, the Brussels-based financial clearing house.

Belgium’s Prime Minister Bart De Wever said the plan to loan Ukraine the frozen assets “drastically increases the risk of Russian retaliation”.

“It’s not acceptable that this happens to Belgium alone,” he added. “If we jump, we jump together.”

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he understands “the risks that he is talking about, but I think that we face bigger risks”.

“Ukraine has the right to this money because Russia is destroying us,” Mr Zelenskyy said.

In a post on X, he added: “The decision now on the table – the decision to fully use Russian assets to defend against Russian aggression – is one of the clearest and most morally justified decisions that could ever be made.”

Trump claims peace deal is ‘close’

On the other side of the Atlantic, Donald Trump has been pressuring Ukraine to move quickly to secure a peace deal.

The US president’s envoys are scheduled to meet with a top adviser to Mr Putin in Miami on Saturday, where they are due to discuss the evolving US peace agreement aimed at ending the war.

Mr Trump has been optimistic that a deal can be reached.

“Well, we’re getting close to something, but I hope Ukraine moves quickly because Russia is there,” he said. “Every time they take too much time, Russia changes their mind.”

Russia ‘deploys nuclear-capable missiles’ to Belarus

Russia has deployed its latest nuclear-capable missile system to Belarus according to the country’s president, Alexander Lukashenko.

The authoritarian leader said the Oreshnik, an intermediate range ballistic missile system, arrived in the country on Wednesday and is entering combat duty.

He did not provide any further details.

Russia has previously deployed tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, the territory of which it used to launch the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

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Democrats release more Epstein photos – with crucial deadline now just hours away

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2 hours ago

December 19, 2025

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Democrats release more Epstein photos - with crucial deadline now just hours away

Democrats have shared more pictures from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate, a day before the government’s deadline for the full release.

The 68 photos published on Thursday are among more than 95,000 images that the House Oversight Committee Democrats said they were reviewing.

They said the images were “selected to provide the public with transparency into a representative sample of the photos” and to “provide insights into Epstein’s network and his extremely disturbing activities”.

But the Democrats added that they are still analysing thousands more images that are “both graphic and mundane”.

There is no suggestion of wrongdoing on the part of those pictured in the images – and the context surrounding the photos is not known.

Mystery text quotes price for ‘girl’

The latest cache includes a text message appearing to discuss the price for a girl.

It isn’t clear who sent the messages and to whom, but the screenshot shows some details on an unidentified girl, described as a teenager here.

“I will send u girls now,” one of the texts read.

Writing on body

Several pictures show handwritten messages on a person’s body.

One appears to be quoting the opening paragraph of the book Lolita – which can be seen in the background of the picture.

The book was written by Vladimir Nabokov and tells the story of a girl groomed by a middle-aged literature professor.

Another shows writing on a foot, which reads: “She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock.”

Other messages can be seen on the neck, hip, back and chest, with the latter reading: “The tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down”.

In a different image, Epstein is pictured with three girls in his house in New York. One appears to be touching Epstein’s chest, one is holding her wrist up and another is looking at a laptop.

The identity of the women has been hidden.

Epstein with high-profile figures

Some high-profile figures also appear in the newly released images, with one showing Epstein sitting alongside Sheikh Jabor Bin Yousef Bin Jassim Bin Jabor al Thani.

He is the chairman and director of several privately established companies and is a member of the Qatari royal family.

Another image shows Epstein with the former president of the UN General Assembly, Miroslav Lajcak, who held the role between 2017 and 2018. He is also a former Slovakian foreign affairs minister.

Last month, he told TASR news agency: “The reopening of the Epstein case occurred after I left New York, and the full extent of his inexcusable actions, which I strongly condemn, only came to light after his arrest.”

Shaher Abdulhak, a deceased Yemeni billionaire businessman whose son is a suspect in the murder of a Norwegian woman in Mayfair, was also pictured with Epstein.

His son, Farouk Abdulhak, fled to Yemen after the rape and death of Martine Vik Magnussen in March 2008 and has been wanted for questioning ever since.

Ms Magnussen was found dead among rubble in a basement in Great Portland Street.

She and her friends had been celebrating finishing their end-of-term exams at the Maddox nightclub before she vanished. Her body was found two days later.

Also featured in the newly released images were former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, magician David Blaine, businessman Tom Pritzker, billionaire Bill Gates, director Woody Allen, talk show host Dick Cavett, Trump ally Steve Bannon, and Kuwait’s former information minister Anas al Rasheed.

Photos of identity documents with redacted names were also published, including one with text saying that “the bearer was convicted of a sex offense against a minor”, which could belong to convicted sex offender Epstein.

Also among the identification documents is a heavily redacted Russian passport. It belongs to a female, but other information has been blocked out.

The release also includes ID documents from the Czech Republic, South Africa, Ukraine, and Lithuania.

Deadline looming

The picture drop came a day before the deadline set by a bipartisan bill that compels the US Justice Department to release the Epstein files within 30 days, which was signed into law by US President Donald Trump last month.

Mr Trump had promised to release the Epstein files during his ultimately successful presidential campaign, but he later made a U-turn, even going as far as calling the Epstein files a Democratic “hoax”, before eventually changing path again to sign the bill.

House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries said ahead of the deadline that he believes the Department of Justice will release the files in time, and warned that there will be “strong bipartisan pushback” if they don’t.

“Based on my conversations with some of the top Democrats who’ve been working on this matter, related to full and complete disclosure of the Epstein files, we do expect compliance,” he told reporters on Thursday.

Full release going ‘down to the wire’

National security lawyers inside the Department of Justice are “working down to the wire” as Friday’s deadline for the full release of the Epstein files edges closer, according to Sky News’ US correspondent James Matthews.

He said those lawyers are mulling “how much is actually divulged in these documents”.

“There will be redactions… the question is, how far short of everything? How far short of the full story will the release fall?” Matthews said.

“The issue at the heart of it… where does Donald Trump feature? Remember, he emphatically denies all knowledge of Epstein’s criminal activities and any involvement in them.”

‘Frustration building’

Meanwhile, frustration is building at the justice department ahead of the release, according to CNN.

A source has told the US broadcaster that there could be up to 1,000 redactions needed from each attorney.

Lawyers reportedly believe they aren’t getting clear or comprehensive direction on how to make the most information available under the law.

A previous batch of images featured more high-profile figures, including Donald Trump, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Bill Clinton, British entrepreneur Richard Branson, Emirati businessman Ahmed bin Sulayem, and singer Jimmy Buffett.

Several images of a sexual nature have also been released, including a picture of a bowl of novelty condoms with a caricature of Mr Trump’s face, and various sex toys.

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