Republican presidential candidates from left, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., stand on stage before a Republican presidential primary debate hosted by NBC News Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023, at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County in Miami. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee) WILFREDO LEE AP
A smaller field than in the previous two debates, these take place as the party approaches the start of 2024 voting in January. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramasamy, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott (R) qualified for the Miami stage. The contenders scuffled on stage as they tried to close the gap on former President Trump, who leads the field by a wide margin. Once again, Trump chose to counter-program by holding a rally instead of attending the event.
Five things to remember from the third GOP presidential debate are as follows:
Haley seen as a threat
Haley took a lot of flak throughout the evening, demonstrating the non-Trump Republicans’ perception of her power. She tussled with DeSantis, who has long been viewed as Trump’s most formidable opponent, and in some of the most memorable exchanges of the evening, she came under direct fire from Ramaswamy. She once referred to the business owner as “scum” for mentioning her daughter.
The assaults were not unexpected. Since the first debate in August, Haley’s popularity has grown, and she has worked to maintain this momentum in her bid to unseat DeSantis from his position in second place. Trump even acknowledged this, scolding her during the second debate. In the weeks preceding Wednesday night’s competition, she has only received more favorable polls, which has made her a prime target for her rivals. Over the weekend, Haley said in a document that she was now the “only viable” Trump opponent. In a fictitious contest, Haley defeated Biden in six battleground states, according to a recent New York Times/Siena College survey.
Clear divisions on foreign policy
As the contenders answered issues concerning Israel, China, and the Ukraine, their differences on foreign policy were evident.
Ramaswamy and DeSantis condemned the United States for continuing to assist Kiev in the midst of the ongoing conflict, while Haley and Christie vehemently supported Ukraine in its struggle against Russia and emphasized that the United States should protect its friends. Scott took a more central position.
Ramaswamy seemed to allude to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a “Nazi,” but his campaign later attempted to explain that he was not referring to the Kyiv leader with the statement. DeSantis stated that “we need to bring this war to an end.”
Haley and DeSantis also argued on China, with the candidates squabbling about issues about the video-sharing software TikTok and its parent business, ByteDance, which is located in Beijing.
Following a devastating strike by the terrorist organization Hamas last month, which sparked Israeli counterattacks and resulted in continued violence in the region, all of the contestants seemed to support Israel. Israel should “finish” Hamas, according to Haley.
Ramaswamy becomes personal with Haley
At the beginning of the two-hour show, Ramaswamy insulted Haley, referring to her as “Dick Cheney in three-inch heels” in response to a query regarding what the businesswoman would advise Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Israel launches an offensive against Hamas.
“Do you want a leader from a different generation who’s going to put this country first, or do you want Dick Cheney in three-inch heels?”
Haley retaliated right away. She said, “First, I’d like to say that they are five-inch heels, and I don’t wear them unless you can run in them.” She went on to say that the heels are for ammunition rather than making a fashion statement.
From then on, it became much hotter. As she made fun of the former UN ambassador for TikTok, Ramaswamy mentioned her daughter.
“In the last debate, she made fun of me for actually joining TikTok while her own daughter was actually using the app for a long time,” he stated. “So you might want to take care of your family first.”
Haley fired out, “Leave my daughter out of your voice,” as the audience booed. She said, “You’re just scum.”
“It’s okay, you have her supporters encouraging her,” Ramaswamy said.
Ramaswamy was obviously targeting Haley since he kept turning around to get at her during the evening. Also, the previous U.N. The ambassador threw a few jabs of her own at him. She made the joke that Presidents Xi Jinping of China and Vladimir Putin of Russia are “salivating” at the prospect of having someone like Ramaswamy in the White House.
It should come as no surprise that the two did not shake hands as they left the debating room.
Moderators doing a good job
The moderators of the third debate, Kristen Welker and Lester Holt of NBC News, together with conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt, mostly succeeded in keeping the Republican candidates within the parameters of their questions.
The candidates spoke over each other during the previous two debates, making it difficult for the moderators to keep control. For this reason, it’s possible that the moderators in Miami were not afraid to silence the candidates or the audience when it was required.
Welker once remarked, “We ask the questions,” in response to Ramaswamy’s attempt to interrogate Haley.
“Audience, let’s not go down this road. We’ve asked you to please keep—restrain yourself. That would be helpful so we can hear the candidates,” Holt said in response to a round of applause from the crowd.
Not everything went as planned for the threesome. At one point, Ramaswamy criticized Holt and Welker, saying that if Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan, and Elon Musk hosted the event instead, it would have “ten times the viewership.”
Though there were moments during the evening when tensions between contenders like Haley and Ramaswamy flared, they were typically able to keep the events moving forward.
More likely not to move the needle on Trump
Even though several of the contenders gave powerful debate performances, they were unable to overcome the fact that Trump has been leading in almost all state and national polls since the beginning of the contest.
The question posed at the beginning of the Wednesday night event was why the candidates who were on stage should win the GOP nomination instead of Trump, who was having a rally about fifteen miles away from the location of his competitors’ stages.
Trump has opted out of every debate thus far, claiming his commanding advantage over the opposition. He appeared to restate his earlier demands for the RNC to forgo any further debates when he urged the GOP to “stop wasting time and resources” on candidates “that nobody wants” during his rally on Wednesday night.
A few contenders seized the chance to criticize Trump during the first part of the debate.
DeSantis remarked of the former president, “He owes it to you to be on this stage and explain why he should get another chance.”
Trump “was the right president at the right time,” according to Haley, but she criticized him for his views on foreign policy and the national debt, stating, “I don’t think he’s the right president now.”
Even so, it doesn’t appear probable that the discussion will have a big enough impact to deprive Trump of his lead, as other Republican strategists have dismissed the developments.
Many in the party are hoping that the field of candidates will get smaller in the primary so that Republicans who are looking for someone to replace Trump may unite behind one person. However, it’s still uncertain if even that would be sufficient to unseat the outgoing president in the race for the nomination.
