by Brandon Goldman @realbgold
In a substantive third Republican debate, the remaining five Republican candidates in
the primary race for president met in Miami to discuss the major issues facing
voters.
Governor Ron DeSantis took center stage as the highest polling candidate
beneath President Trump. He was flanked on either side by Nikki Haley, Vivek
Ramaswamy, Tim Scott, and Chris Christie.
In the most respectful debate so far, the candidates used their time to
discuss issues relating to Israel and anti-Semitism, Ukraine, entitlement
reform, immigration, and abortion.
This debate was moderated by Kristen Welker and Lester Holt of NBC News and
talk show host Hugh Hewitt.
There was not much disagreement on the headline topics between the remaining
candidates. Vivek Ramaswamy, however, made sure to include his normal dose of
populist dissent, including a few jabs at Nikki Haley.
The initial portion of the debate was focused on the war in Israel and the
rising anti-Semitism on college campuses. The five candidates agreed that
Israel has not just a right, but a responsibility to completely destroy the
Hamas threat, and that universities harboring anti-Semitic student groups
should be penalized. Senator Tim Scott even called for students with visas to
be deported if they participate in anti-Semitic protests on campus.
In the most heated moment of the night, Ramaswammy was asked a question by
Hewitt about his campaigning on Tik Tok, despite the app being controlled by
the Chinese state. He immediately called out Governor Haley’s daughter for
using the app, accusing Haley of hypocrisy for her recent criticism of the
Ramaswamy campaign.
Nikki Haley responded, “Leave my daughter out of your voice,” with
subsequent booing from the crowd directed at Ramaswamy. “You’re just scum,”
Haley then said, with an air of passive disgust.
The candidates reached varying degrees of agreement on the other topics
discussed throughout the evening and the accompanying policy prescriptions, but
the elephant in the room remained, throughout the entire evening—President
Trump. Specifically, the question lingered of how anybody on the debate stage could
sway a sizable portion of the 60% of Republicans currently favoring Trump into
their own camp, since as of now, the primary race is not particularly
close.
The closest we got to an attempt at reaching those voters came from DeSantis
who, in his opening statement, called out Trump for having added to the
national debt and failing to finish the southern border wall. Haley, for her
part, said that Trump was right for previous elections but is not the right
person now.
The evening overall seemed more of a glorified news segment than an actual
debate. While there were some intriguing and nuanced policy discussion, it all
seemed to fall flat in the massive shadow cast by Donald Trump.
At bottom, neither the debate nor this primary race is about policy. It is
about swinging back at a political establishment perceived by Republican voters
as wholly corrupt and out to destroy their champion.
Until the Trump stranglehold on the party loosens, debates for second place
will have to suffice for the remaining Republican voters who desire to see a
new leader.