Donald Duck and bad jokes: What people are saying about the second GOP presidential debate

Donald Duck, sex, poor jokes and “bring it, Tim,” made up some of the key moments of the second Republican presidential debate Wednesday night.

Commentators and analysts are calling the Fox News-hosted event everything from a failure to “garbage.” As seven candidates rounded up in the Ronald Reagan library in California, insults were thrown at each other, Donald Trump and Joe Biden were attacked, and moderators attempted — sometimes futilely — to reel candidates back to the questions at hand. Here’s what people are talking about a day after the second Republican presidential debate.

Haley vs. everyone

Most commentators have said Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and ambassador to the United Nations, seemed to come out on top once again, as she feuded with fellow South Carolinian Tim Scott, a U.S. senator, and scolded Vivek Ramaswamy, an upstart billionaire entrepreneur.

“Honestly, every time I hear you, I feel a little bit dumber for what you say,” Haley snapped at Ramaswamy.

Haley and Scott took jabs at each other towards the end of the night for one of the first times on the campaign trail. The two had traditionally refuted to go after one another.

As Scott started to go after Haley on federal funding, she smiled at him and proceeded to interrupt him with, “Bring it, Tim.” The crowd laughed.

The Washington Post ranked Haley at the top for winners of the night.

“After multiple candidates failed to directly answer questions about the United Auto Workers strike, Haley invoked what others probably wish they had: the impact of inflation on the workers,” the Washington Post reported. “On that question and others, she looked less like she was pandering and punting on questions than the other candidates did.”

Nicole Russell, an opinion writer at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, wrote that the debate was “garbage,” and that “America deserved better,” but ultimately gave the most credit to Haley, while she said Scott faded into the background again.

That’s not funny

Jeff Yang, of CNN, wrote that one of the latest questions we as a civilization must ponder is why Republicans’ jokes are so poor.

“The candidates showed a remarkable inability to deliver zingers at a debate held in the memorial library of a Republican president who was a master of them,” Yang wrote.

There was Chris Christie’s attempt to nickname chief rival Donald Trump as “Donald Duck,” a strike at Trump’s decision to “duck” the second debate in a row. Then there was Mike Pence’s jab at Ramaswamy’s voting record, or lack thereof, which landed slightly better than Pence’s apparent joke about his own sex life.

“My wife isn’t a member of the teacher’s union, but I gotta admit, I’ve been sleeping with a teacher for 38 years,” Pence said.

Most commentators described the moment as awkward, at best.

Yang did, however, say the funniest moments of the night were unintentional, both pointing to Haley and Scott’s interactions, specifically citing, “the weirdly chaotic shouting match that ensued between Nikki Haley and Tim Scott over the cost of the curtains in her UN Ambassador’s residence.”

Who knows what will spiral into new jokes and memes on social media. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ smile did not make an appearance, although he did break out a multitude of pre-rehearsed lines, which some commentators say were lacking.

The inescapable Trump

Despite Trump’s absence on stage, it was abundantly clear that his presence was more than apparent. Washington Post analysis rated him “second” in the winners of the night.

“Donald, I know you’re watching, you can’t help yourself, I know you’re watching,” Christie said as he pointed into the camera. “You’re ducking these things … You keep doing that and no one up here is going to call you Donald Trump anymore. We’re going to call you Donald Duck”

The Post wrote while it may be “unoriginal” to have rated Trump as the second winner of the debate behind Haley, the “debate was more of a nonevent than the first one, and Trump’s decision to skip these affairs is “increasingly being vindicated, strategically at least.”