Donald Trump Is Declared the Winner of the First GOP Debate, Even Though He Never Even Attended

One of the truest things anyone can probably say of former President Donald Trump, is that he never fails to completely floor us all. And this time, at least, he didn’t even have to do a single thing to pull it off. On Wednesday, August 23rd, the first debate of the 2024 GOP primary race for President of the United States was held in Milwaukee. Trump shocked no one by saying he’d skip it. What did end up shocking many of us though, including me, is that he would be declared the winner of the debate by multiple sources, even though he wasn’t even there. As Aaron Blake with <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/08/23/who-won-republican-debate/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> declared: <blockquote> “It could scarcely have turned out better for the absentee front-runner.” </blockquote> Former White House official and CNN political commentator <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2023/08/24/opinions/first-republican-primary-debate-roundup/index.html" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">David Axelrod</a> agreed, saying: <blockquote> “And the winner was… the man who wasn’t there.” </blockquote> Divisive journalist Megyn Kelly echoed what many others identified as a rather dismal performance by the eight additional candidates vying for the Republican nomination. As she <a href="https://twitter.com/megynkelly/status/1694546451055927557" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">commented</a> on X/Twitter: <blockquote> “With no clear winner, the winner was Trump. Nothing happened to change the dynamic of this race tonight.” </blockquote> <a href="https://medium.com/the-midnight-garden/donald-trump-is-declared-the-winner-of-the-first-gop-debate-even-though-he-never-even-attended-518f93e2f6b">Learn More</a>