Amber Athey

The winners and losers of the first Republican primary debate

Republican presidential candidates at the first Republican primary debate (Credit: Getty images)

The first Republican primary debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin wrapped in the early hours of this morning. Here is the definitive list of the evening’s winners and losers.

Winners

Vivek Ramaswamy

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy is the only candidate on the stage who spoke to an issue larger than partisan politics: a lack of American identity and purpose. He accurately pinpointed the undercurrent of malaise in the country. Ramaswamy also was the first to raise his hand unapologetically when asked if he would stop sending money to Ukraine and if he would support former president Donald Trump as the nominee even if he were convicted in one of his pending legal cases. In his early moments he came off a bit arrogant, but that wore off as he settled in and set himself apart from the field.

Doug Burgum

The governor of North Dakota would be a winner just for showing up, considering he tore his achilles tendon playing basketball on Tuesday (as first

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