Ex-Trump adviser: GOP presidential debate a ‘s‑‑‑show’

Former Trump campaign adviser David Urban described the first GOP presidential debate on Wednesday as a “shitshow.”

“I think tonight proves that you don’t need Donald Trump to be at a debate to have a shitshow there, right? So I mean, it was complete train wreck,” Urban said on CNN when asked about his first impression of the debate.

“The moderators, I think, didn’t do a great job controlling the crowd. I think a lot of the candidates were stepping on one another,” he continued. “I don’t remember which candidate said like, ‘American people don’t want to hear this. They [don’t] want to hear people argue, they want to hear policies, they want to hear ideas, this is a chance to put things forward.'”

He argued that several of the candidates “did a great disservice” by talking “too much about things that don’t matter.”

“They want to talk directly to the people,” Urban said.

The former Trump campaign adviser also said biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy was “the big winner” in the first GOP debate given how much time he occupied during the event. 

The first primary debate of the 2024 GOP race was at times rowdy as candidates like Ramaswamy, former Vice President Mike Pence, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie took swings at one another. 

One of the moderators of the debate, Fox News anchor Bret Baier, at one point was forced to confront the crowd as they interrupted Christie’s remarks with boos.