Two months ahead of the Iowa caucuses, Wednesday’s Republican presidential debate in Miami was one of a dwindling number of opportunities for former President Donald Trump’s rivals to prove that they have a real chance of winning the nomination.
National and early state polls continue to show Trump dominating the field, with the support of as many as half of Republicans. The former president once again skipped the debate, instead holding his own rally in nearby Hialeah.
His GOP opponents started the debate by landing some blows on the former President, but quickly pivoted to attacking each other and outlining their own views on the Israel-Hamas war, related hate incidents at home, and China. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley occupied much of the spotlight as they vie for second in the polls, with both DeSantis and Haley accusing each other of having ties to China and only attacking the country’s leaders when convenient..
These were some of the highlights of the third Republican presidential debate in the 2024 campaign.
Knives out for Trump
Asked at the start of the debate why any of them should be the Republican nominee over Trump, the five candidates onstage drew some of the clearest contrasts yet.
“Donald Trump’s a lot different guy than he was in 2016,” said DeSantis. “He owes it to you to be on this stage and explain why he should get another chance. He should explain why he didn’t have Mexico pay for the border wall. He should explain why he racked up so much debt. He should explain why he didn’t drain the swamp. And he said Republicans were going to get tired of winning. Well, we saw last night. I’m sick of Republicans losing. In Florida, I showed how it’s done,” referencing his landslide reelection in 2022.
Credit - Joe Raedle—Getty Images
Haley painted a portrait of a country in dire straits thanks to antisemitism, an insecure border, and wars abroad. She described Trump as the right choice for 2016, but not for 2024, blaming him for saddling the country with $8 trillion in debt.
“He used to be right on Ukraine and foreign issues, now he’s getting weak in the knees and trying to be friendly again,” she said, earning applause from attendees.
Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy lamented Republicans’ losses in multiple states Tuesday night, but mostly steered clear of attacking Trump, instead going after the NBC News anchors who were moderating the debate and suggesting Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan, and Elon Musk would have been better picks.
Donald Trump’s rivals vow to back Israel and argue over China and Ukraine at the third debate
In their first debate since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, the Republican presidential candidates all declared hawkish support for Israel but squabbled over China and Ukraine as they faced growing pressure to try to catch Donald Trump, who was again absent.
Sparring over several issues were Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, who has appeared competitive with DeSantis’ distant second-place position in some national polls. Much of the debate focused on policy — especially foreign policy issues — rather than Trump and his record.
Haley, the former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador, declared she would end trade relations with China “until they stop murdering Americans from fentanyl — something Ron has yet to say that he’s going to do.” In return, the Florida governor said Haley “welcomed” Chinese investment to her state, referencing a land deal with a Chinese manufacturer while she led South Carolina.
All five candidates face growing urgency, with the leadoff Iowa caucuses just a little more than two months away, to cut into Trump’s huge margins in the 2024 primary and establish themselves as a clear alternative. But it’s not clear many Republican primary voters want a Trump alternative. And given his dominance in early state and national polls, Trump again skipped the debate to deprive his rivals of attention.
Trump was the subject of the debate’s first question, when moderators asked each candidate to explain why they were the right person to beat him.
DeSantis said, “He owes it to you to be on this stage and explain why he should get another chance.” He suggested Trump had lost a step since winning the White House in 2016, saying he failed to follow through on his “America First” policies.
Knives Out in Third GOP Primary Debate as Candidates Attack Each Other, Defend Israel
Republican candidates turned up the heat with strong rhetoric focused on drawing distinctions in a debate that had a particular focus on foreign policy. Republican candidates for their party’s presidential nomination gathered in Miami on Wednesday evening in their third debate of the primary season.
Once again the party’s leading candidate---former President Donald Trump---whom polls have shown with an advantage of as much as 50 points, was absent, leaving the remaining candidates to draw distinctions with the former president.
Those who were present on stage included Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott. The GOP candidates primarily drew distinctions between themselves however, in a debate featuring numerous personal attacks, especially among the highest polling candidates on stage.
Throwing Elbows
Candidates made efforts to draw distinctions between each other in a debate that saw significant interaction between the nominees.
Vivek Ramaswamy set the tone early on by attacking the “corrupt media establishment,” as well as the network hosting the debate, a perennial conservative punching bag.
“Was that real or was that Hillary Clinton made up disinformation?” said Ramaswamy, referring to the so-called “Russiagate” investigation against former President Trump that failed to find evidence of alleged collusion between him and Russia in the 2016 election.
Ramaswamy suggested Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan, and Elon Musk would’ve served as better hosts of the debate, drawing cheers from the Republican audience.
Ramaswamy kept up the combative tone throughout the evening, especially in his interactions with Nikki Haley who’s currently surging in the polls. Ramaswamy occasionally interrupted Haley during her answers and at one point referenced the former ambassador’s daughter, a remark that caused Haley to refer to Ramaswamy as “scum” in perhaps the most heated exchange of the evening.
Meanwhile, Chris Christie continued to differentiate himself by touting his alleged bipartisan appeal as a former governor of a traditionally Democratic state and Tim Scott brought a religious tone to the proceedings. DeSantis reserved much of his ire for pro-Palestine student protesters, having recently banned Students for Justice in Palestine groups from Florida’s college campuses.
Israel Front and Center
Israel played heavily into the first hour of the debate amidst the country’s month-long military incursion into the besieged Gaza Strip.
Matthew Brooks, CEO of the group Republican Jewish Coalition, asked several questions relating to US-Israeli relations and a reported increase in antisemitism on US college campuses.
DeSantis urged Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu to “finish the job” in their war on the militant group Hamas, while Haley likewise repeated her infamous “finish them” line.
Haley continued to distinguish herself as perhaps the biggest foreign policy hawk in the contest by bringing up the subject of Iran early on in the evening. “There would be no Hamas without Iran,” said Haley, referring to the country’s alleged funding of armed groups in opposition to Israel. The former UN Ambassador mentioned economic cooperation between Iran, Russia, and China, calling them an “unholy alliance” throughout the evening.
Nikki Haley on Iran, Hamas, Israel. pic.twitter.com/WlseGgjYAZ
— Vibrani (@VibraniNora) November 9, 2023
Ramaswamy distinguished himself by suggesting a slight skepticism towards deep involvement in Israel’s conflict, saying “Israel has the right and the responsibility to defend themselves.” The discussion prompted another dispute between Ramaswamy and Haley, with the businessman calling her a “multimillionaire… military contractor” and “Dick cheney in three-inch heels.” “I wear heels, they’re not for a fashion statement, they’re for ammunition,” Haley retorted.
Ramaswamy spoke of avoiding the “mistakes of the neocon politicians of the past” in another comment that seemed directly aimed at the former ambassador.
Red Scare
A debate over the social media platform TikTok emerged late in the second half of the debate, with candidates denouncing the platform and claiming China is using the platform to promote harmful and anti-Israel views.
Most of the candidates claimed they would ban the TikTok app in the United States. Ramaswamy distinguished himself by rejecting the idea and claimed Haley is hypocritical given that her daughter uses the platform---the comment thus prompted Haley’s “scum” remark.
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