Haley points to a genuine problem here on government expansion during Covid. The Covid emergency is over, and spending isn’t quite as high as it was at the peak of the pandemic, but it is still much higher than it was pre-Covid. SNAP and Medicaid expanded significantly despite household finances, in many respects, being the same or slightly better than they were pre-Covid. This is a tricky problem for any future president.
DeSantis has gotten marginally better at facial expressions while somebody else is talking.
Haley’s answer on inflation being driven in part by wasteful giant spending bills throwing money into the economy is a good answer, but I wonder if it’s what voters want to hear. And then she shifts into a fairly standard “cut spending, cut taxes, simplify the brackets” answer.
Interesting shift in the dynamic of the race. With Haley feeling like she’s already put DeSantis in the rear view mirror, she’s focusing her attacks on Trump, while DeSantis is focusing on hitting her.
We are eleven minutes into what is reportedly set to be a two hour debate and my overwhelming takeaway — which may change by the end — is that everybody onstage has lost profoundly.
Haley is now reeling off a good hit on Trump for being soft on China.
DeSantis’s line that Haley may be more liberal than Gavin Newsom is ineffective because it’s ridiculous.
Tapper: Does Trump have the character to be president?
Haley: You need moral clarity. [Reels off Trump’s flaws]
Tapper: Does Trump have the character to be president?
DeSantis: Haley lies more and is more liberal than Gavin Newsom.
“She may even be more liberal than Gavin Newsom is,” DeSantis says of Haley. No one believes that.
End ethanol subsidies.