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From Gisele Fetterman to Megyn Kelly: The funniest tweets reacting to the Republican debate

People online joked about the eight candidates who verbally sparred with one another on Wednesday night in the first GOP debate

Ariana Baio
Thursday 24 August 2023 11:11 BST
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The first Republican presidential debate officially kicked off the 2024 election cycle on Wednesday evening.

As eight candidates went head-to-head on the stage in Milwaukee, viewers at home chimed in to ridicule the endless arguments the group engaged in for two hours.

X, formerly known as Twitter, was alight with jokes about the similarities between the show Succession and the debate, the passionate fight between candidates and some appearances.

From the start, voters were ready to dish it out all in the name of keeping politics entertaining.

Here are some of the funniest reaction tweets to the first GOP primary debate.

In preparation for debate day, people did their best to summarise what two hours of arguments would look like.

For some, the debate brought back memories of notable moments from past events.

But what this year’s kickoff to the 2024 election cycle brought were some unexpected moments – like when former New Jersey governor Chris Christie was asked about UFOs

One comedian said: “THE CHRIS CHRISTIE UFO QUESTION IS… OUT OF THIS WORLD.”

Or former Vice President Mike Pence and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley’s performances when they refused to let other candidates overshadow them.

“I did not have “Mike Pence will keep things spicy” on my debate Bingo card,” former Fox News host Megyn Kelly wrote.

“BREAKING NEWS: Arrest warrant issued for Nikki Haley after murdering Vivek Ramaswamy in cold blood on the debate stage,” an X user tweeted.

Like many previous debates, at times the candidates spoke over each other so furiously that it was difficult for the moderators to control the room.

Gisele Fetterman, the wife of Senator John Fetterman, tweeted: “August (9) just asked if I was watching RHNJ because of all the yelling.”

But unlike Ms Haley, Mr Pence and Mr Ramaswamy, Florida governor Ron DeSantis seemed to be more soft-spoken – much to the surprise of people who expected him to emerge as a strong candidate.

“The next debate will feature DeSantis and Vivek wrestling for Adderall,” Rick Wilson wrote.

If there’s one thing Americans have learned from the first GOP debate, it’s that life inspires art – especially television shows.

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