There were only two Republicans on the US presidential debate stage on Wednesday, as former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis met for the highest-stake face-off yet just five days before the nominating process formally starts with Iowa’s caucuses.
Haley and DeSantis’ spirited debate came in the shadow of a live town hall held by the man who is dominating the primary contest: former US president Donald Trump. Trump has stayed away from all five debates, holding a rival town hall on Wednesday on Fox News. The one Republican candidate whose entire campaign has been based around stopping Trump, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, suspended his campaign just hours before the debate.
Christie was not scheduled to be on the stage anyway as the field was whittled down to the only two candidates who are battling for a very distant second to Trump.
Photo: AFP
On Wednesday, it was clear that the contenders in the Republican primary are fighting for second place.
The opening question was why each of the two candidates thought they were the best option for voters who did not want to support Trump. That set the stakes squarely about second place and the candidates snapped to it.
Haley opened the debate by touting a new Web site to track DeSantis’ “lies.”
DeSantis countered: “We don’t need another mealy mouthed politician who just tells you what she thinks you want to hear, just so she can get into office and do her donors’ bidding.”
Haley responded that DeSantis was only angry that the donors used to be his, but fled his troubled campaign.
It went on and on like that, with the two candidates constantly jabbing each other. They made swipes at Trump, but spent the overwhelming amount of time on the person standing at the podium next to them.
The political rationale is clear: Trump is 77 years old and faces four separate sets of criminal charges and a bid to disqualify him from being US president that is currently at the US Supreme Court. Anything can happen, and if it does, you would rather be the runner-up than in third or lower. Plus, maybe Trump reaches down and picks his running mate from the top of the also-rans.
Trump’s campaign has already quipped that the debates are actually US vice presidential debates and, during his Fox News town hall, suggested he already knew who his pick would be.
As has been the case, Wednesday’s debate did not seem likely to change the overall trajectory of the race, with Trump dominating, but at least there were some stakes.
By staying physically offstage, Trump has largely avoided being attacked in the debates. It is tricky to criticize a man beloved by most Republican voters, and for the most part, the contenders have not bothered.
However, that has been slowly changing, and the trend continued on Wednesday.
DeSantis opened with what has become his standard campaign sound bite that claims that Trump is only interested in “his issues” and DeSantis cares about “your issues.”
Haley quickly criticized the former president for piling onto the federal deficit, not being strong enough against China and failing to end illegal immigration.
There was not extensive criticism of Trump, but unlike in many past debates, DeSantis and especially Haley continued to take pokes at him as they answered other questions. DeSantis, for example, noted that former US president Barack Obama deported more people than Trump did. Haley bemoaned that DeSantis was “trying to copy Trump” by failing to back Ukraine.
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