As Scott Jennings pointed out on CNN, we saw a quasi-alignment at times in this debate with the pre-Trump GOP lined up against the post-Trump GOP. Haley took a lot of incoming from DeSantis and, of course, Ramaswamy and seemed to hold up fine, while DeSantis had probably his best debate, despite taking shots from Christie, who was feistier than in the prior contests.
DeSantis and Ramaswamy hit Haley hard on her donors early on, and she shrugged it off with some one-liners about how they are simply jealous because they want her donors and how a lot of her contributors used to be with DeSantis. She didn’t score her usual points replying to Ramaswamy’s jibes and smears, instead treating his attacks as beneath her notice. She disappeared for a long period in the middle, and I don’t think made the impression she did in the first debates, but didn’t suffer any disasters, either.
It is telling about the position DeSantis finds himself in that, after taking an above-it-all posture in the first debates, he came out swinging against Haley. He clearly won a later exchange with her (and Christie) on trans policy. On the other hand, Christie nailed him for often not directly answering questions. But on one of the questions where Christie made a big deal of this, on Trump’s mental capacities, I don’t think the average listener would have thought DeSantis evaded (he said we need someone younger). I thought the Florida governor was strong throughout, although he always seems to be trying a little too hard to hammer his points home. The key question, obviously, is whether it’s enough to generate some forward momentum, when nothing has been enough so far.
Christie was energetic, and had great moments defending Haley’s honor near the beginning and slamming Vivek. He also stood out hitting the other candidates for not being forthright enough in criticizing Trump, although the harsh terms that Christie used tonight are one of the reasons he’s so unpopular with Republican voters.
Ramaswamy reached the logical endpoint of his clownishness when he held up a notepad with the words “Nikki=corrupt.” His focus on Haley has become monomaniacal and unhinged, and he, once again, surely did more damage to himself than her or anyone else he targeted.