Still, it seems unlikely that Wednesday’s debate will do much to change the dynamics of the race.
Vivek Ramaswamy called Nikki Haley a “Dick Cheney in three-inch heels,” and attacked her daughter’s use of TikTok.
Haley called Ramaswamy “scum,” and said Ron DeSantis has not been tough enough on China for “murdering Americans from fentanyl.” DeSantis accused Haley of writing a Chinese ambassador a “love letter.”
Those candidates showed up at Wednesday night’s debate in Miami looking to scrap, and hoping to break from the pack to become the leading candidate to challenge Donald Trump for the Republican nomination.
The debate, which was heavily focused on foreign policy, showed that the five candidates on the stage — DeSantis, Haley, Ramaswamy, Chris Christie and Tim Scott — agreed on a lot of issues: backing Israel in its war against Hamas terrorists, standing up to Iran, backing Jewish students facing increased antisemitism on college campuses. With fewer candidates on stage and better moderation, the debate was generally more substantive than the previous two.
They mixed it up when they could, despite a debate rule that didn’t allow candidates to automatically respond if they were attacked or called out by an opponent on stage.
Ramaswamy was the first to come out swinging, taking aim at Haley who has risen in the polls after strong performances in the first two debates. In an exchange that was supposed to focus on support for Israel, Ramaswamy accused Haley of using her political career to become a multimillionaire. The country, he said, needs a “leader from a different generation,” not a neoconservative “Dick Cheney in three-inch heels.”
Haley responded that they were actually “five-inch heels,” and “they’re not for a fashion statement, they’re for ammunition.”
Ramaswamy’s comment also seemed to be directed at DeSantis, who has been accused by detractors of wearing lifts in his boots to make himself appear taller, an accusation the governor has repeatedly denied.
Haley and Ramaswamy sparred again later in the debate, in a particularly charged and personal exchange over China’s use of TikTok to spy on Americans and to poison young people’s minds. “In the last debate, she made fun of me for actually joining TikTok. Well, her own daughter was actually using the app for a long time, so you might want to take care of your family first,” Ramaswamy said of Haley, who responded, amid a chorus of boos from the audience, that Ramaswamy should “leave my daughter out of your voice,” and is “just scum.”
Haley and DeSantis, the top two candidates in the polls behind Trump, also attacked one another for not being tough enough on China.
Listing her preferred methods for combatting China’s growing threat to the U.S., Haley said she would “end all formal trade relations with China until they stop murdering Americans from fentanyl, something Ron has yet to say he’s going to do.”
DeSantis responded, saying Haley “welcomed [China] into South Carolina and gave them land near a military base, wrote the Chinese ambassador a love letter saying what a great friend they were,” the Florida governor said. “That was, like, their number one way to do economic development. In Florida, I banned China from buying land in this state.”
Ramaswamy continued to stand out for being the most skeptical Republican candidate when it comes to continuing to support Ukraine in its defensive war against Russia. He said he is unpersuaded by pleas for support from Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, whom he called a “celebrated Nazi” and a “comedian in cargo pants.” The war between Ukraine and Russia is not a clear cut case of good versus evil, Ramaswamy said.
“I’m telling you, Putin and President Xi are salivating at the thought that someone like that could become president,” Haley said. Christie said that “the absolute giving in to dictators, which is being suggested on this stage, just shows the immaturity of the approach.”
NBC anchor Lester Holt, one of three moderators, started the debate by asking each candidate to make the case why he or she should be the nominee, and not Trump. The former president has not participated in any debates so far this year, and has instead held counter programming. On Wednesday, he held a rally nearby in Hialeah.
DeSantis declared that he will “lead this country’s revival,” and said that Trump is “a lot different guy than he was in 2016” and should be on stage defending his failures. Haley said Trump was “the right president at the right time. I don’t think he’s the right president now.” Scott said “the truth of my life destroys the lies of the radical left.”
Christie vowed to be the “president who will do those big things.” Regarding Trump, he said, “anybody who is going to be spending the next year and a half of their life focusing on keeping themselves out of jail in courtrooms cannot lead this party or this country.”
Ramaswamy used the question not to attack Trump, who has a massive polling lead, but to attack Republican Party chairwoman Ronna McDaniel for leading a “party of losers.” He also took aim at the moderators, Holt, NBC’s Kristen Welker, and conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt. “This should be Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan, and Elon Musk,” he said. “We’d have ten times the viewership asking questions that GOP primary voters actually care about.”
It seems unlikely that Wednesday’s debate will do much to change the dynamics of the race.
While many Republicans had hoped that the debates could help propel one of the candidates into a position to challenge Trump’s dominance in the polls, so far no one has broken away from the pack. Despite not participating in any debates, Trump still maintains a massive polling advantage. The Real Clear Politics national polling average shows him with a 44-point lead over DeSantis and a nearly 50-point lead over Haley.
Wednesday’s debate was the first since former vice president Mike Pence dropped out of the race due to a lack of traction. Doug Burgum, the governor of North Dakota, and Asa Hutchinson, the former governor of Arkansas didn’t qualify to be on the stage.
It is also the first debate since Hamas terrorists slaughtered Israeli citizens on October 7, leading to a massive retaliation by Israel to eliminate the terror group once and for all.
Trump was criticized after the Hamas attack for calling Hezbollah, its radical terrorist ally, “very smart” and for calling Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu weak.
On his home turf in Florida, DeSantis appeared more confident in Wednesday’s debate than he has in past debates. Prior to announcing his candidacy in May, many anti-Trump Republicans and Trump skeptics saw the Florida governor as the most likely to take down the former president. But his campaign has floundered, frustrating some supporters.
With Haley rising in the polls, DeSantis has faced increased calls to go on offense. But he continued to hold back, waiting to attack until after he was attacked first.
He said Wednesday that his message to Israel’s leaders would be to “finish the job once and for all with these butchers, Hamas.” He said his message to Iran would be, “harm a hair on the head of an American service member, and you are going to have hell to pay.” And he called for a “full spectrum approach” to fending off China, and a simple policy: “We win, they lose.”
Haley looked to continue to make the case that she should be considered a top-tier candidate. She called for sending a message to China by helping Ukraine fend of Russia’s assault, and for standing by the nation’s foreign allies. “America can never be so arrogant to think that we don’t need friends,” she said. “After 9/11, we needed a lot of friends.”
She also called for taking a tough stand against college presidents who don’t take a strong stand against antisemitism. She also warned pro-Hamas protesters, that “Hamas said death to Israel and death to America. They hate and would kill you, too.”