The Democrats held their first primary debate last night and half of the candidates running shared the stage to talk about climate change, healthcare, guns and national security.
The debate, which is a two night event, aired on NBC and was (poorly) moderated by Rachel Maddow, Chuck Todd, Savannah Guthrie and Lester Holt. Glitches and hot mics during the debate made it even more disastrous for the network and President Trump weighed in, tweeting that it was “BORING.”
BORING!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2019
.@NBCNews and @MSNBC should be ashamed of themselves for having such a horrible technical breakdown in the middle of the debate. Truly unprofessional and only worthy of a FAKE NEWS Organization, which they are!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2019
Beto O’Rourke had an even worse night, awkwardly breaking into Spanish during one of his answers, prompting weird side eye looks from Cory Booker, who later on decided to answer one of his questions in Spanish.
There was a lot of Spanish speaking at the first #DemocraticDebate on @NBCNews @BetoORourke @CoryBooker @JulianCastro https://t.co/P5J6FAHqqt pic.twitter.com/Z6yLxgfM58
— NBC News NOW (@NBCNewsNow) June 27, 2019
Anderson Cooper asked Booker on CNN about that side eye and Booker responded that “I knew he had laid a gauntlet down. … Both [Castro] and I knew, as people who can speak Spanish, that now we were going to bring it as well.”
Sen. Cory Booker responds to the latest photo of him reacting to former Rep. Beto O’Rourke speaking Spanish: “I knew he had laid a gauntlet down. … Both [Castro] and I knew, as people who can speak Spanish, that now we were going to bring it as well” https://t.co/QkKe4HCNc0 pic.twitter.com/m2iaH7B2GA
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) June 27, 2019
Then the moderators got in on it, asking QUESTIONS in Spanish and Julian Castro, not to be outdone, gave some of his answers in Spanish as well.
Elizabeth Warren, who was clearly the moderators favorite person of the night, came out swinging in the first half but faded away into obscurity the rest of the night, overshadowed by Amy Klobuchar and Tulsi Gabbard, who came away as the surprise winner, despite only having around 4 minutes of talking time overall.
According to Drudge Report, Gabbard was the most searched name during the debate. She looked cool, composed and stood out, wearing a bright red suit with a Rogue-esque silver streak in her hair.
And after her debate performance, Gabbard, killed the other candidates in a poll on the site, garnering 45% of the vote. No one else is even close – Elizabeth Warren comes in second with 10%.
Gabbard is definitely one to watch as the race moves on.
Watch the 5 minutes that have people talking Tulsi!
A soldier's truth about the establishment war machine driving US foreign policy https://t.co/JC0MqYSEmT #DemDebate – #TULSI2020 pic.twitter.com/kJnp3gRfKq— Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) June 27, 2019
Here are their final thoughts on the biggest geopolitical threat to the United States. The answer that got the most applause was Washington Governor Jay Inslee, who said “Donald Trump.”