With the Iowa caucuses rapidly approaching, a shrinking field of Republican White House hopefuls gathered Wednesday in Alabama for the fourth presidential debate.
As usual, former President , who is dominating the GOP primary, didn鈥檛 appear. Instead, Florida Gov. , former South Carolina Gov. , businessman and former New Jersey Gov. continued their effort to gain a sliver of the spotlight in the race.
Here are some takeaways from the final primary debate of 2023.
Fighting Trump for once
The front-runner in the Republican primary has no end of vulnerabilities. He faces and just the night before repeatedly if he returns to office.
But, as has been the pattern, Trump was ignored during much of the debate. There was one great exception in the second hour, when the moderators asked Christie about Trump. The onetime New Jersey governor complained that his three primary rivals have been silent about the threats Trump presents to democracy.
鈥淵ou want to know why these poll numbers are where they are?鈥 Christie asked. 鈥淏ecause folks like these three people on this stage want to make it seem like his conduct is acceptable.鈥
Christie then began jousting with DeSantis, who confined his criticism of Trump to the former president鈥檚 age and failure to achieve all of his agenda in his first term. 鈥淚s he fit to be president or isn鈥檛 he?鈥 Christie asked. 鈥淚s he fit? Ron, Ron? He鈥檚 afraid to answer.鈥
Ramaswamy accused his rivals of all 鈥渓icking Donald Trump鈥檚 boots,鈥 but then proceeded to argue the Jan. 6,2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol was an 鈥渋nside job鈥 鈥 hardly distancing himself from the former president and his penchant for lies and misinformation.
Ramaswamy has been particularly adept at pulling fire away from Trump. The 38-year-old political novice and pharmaceutical entrepreneur has specialized in grating, personal attacks that his rivals just can鈥檛 bring themselves to ignore.
On Wednesday, he challenged Haley to name three Ukrainian provinces that he claimed his 3-year-old could identify, and Christie, who had tried to launch an attack on Trump to open the debate, exploded.
鈥淎ll he knows how to do is insult good people who have committed their lives to public service,鈥 Christie said.
Minutes later, Haley took an unusual swing at Trump for failing to go further than simple trade actions against China. But DeSantis jumped in, attacking Haley for her relationship with China. The two Republicans began snapping at each other, leaving Trump unmentioned.
By the end, the moderators asked the candidates which previous president inspired them. No one named Trump.
Haley under attack
Haley was under attack from the opening seconds of the debate. And it didn鈥檛 let up for almost 20 minutes, a clear reminder that the former United Nations ambassador鈥檚 opponents see her as a growing threat in the race.
DeSantis amped up the pressure as he answered the debate鈥檚 opening question, which was about his struggling campaign.
鈥淵ou have other candidates up here, like Nikki Haley, she caves every time the left comes after her,鈥 DeSantis said, casting himself as a fighter.
The Florida governor then seized on Haley鈥檚 recent support from Wall Street and at least one major Democratic donor. Ramaswamy soon joined in, highlighting the personal wealth Haley accumulated since leaving the public office.
鈥淭hat math doesn鈥檛 add up,鈥 Ramaswamy charged. 鈥淚t adds up to the fact you鈥檙e corrupt.鈥 Minutes later, Ramaswamy called Haley a fascist.
Haley defended herself aggressively. But as the political adage goes, if you鈥檙e explaining, you鈥檙e probably losing.
鈥淚 love all the attention, fellas, thank you,鈥 she said.
And she drew some applause from the crowd when she pushed back against the criticism of her political donations.
鈥淚n terms of these donors that are supporting me, they鈥檙e just jealous. They wish they were supporting them,鈥 she said.
Christie has faced questions about why he鈥檚 not dropping his struggling campaign and backing Haley, who shares many of his more moderate views. While he鈥檚 not showing any sign of leaving soon, he took the opportunity to defend Haley, particularly from Ramaswamy鈥檚 heated critiques.
鈥淭his is a smart, accomplished woman,鈥 Christie told Ramaswamy during an animated exchange. 鈥淵ou should stop insulting her.鈥
Capitalist contradiction
One candidate was attacked for sitting on a corporate board and being too close to big business. Others fretted about a plot by giant firms to re-engineer the country鈥檚 politics 鈥 and then one said he wants to gut government regulations to free up business.
This wasn't a Democratic debate, dominated by that party's skepticism of corporate titans. The Republican party in the era of Trump is a lot more conflicted about business and industry than in its prior, free-market form.
That was obvious from the first set of questions aimed at Haley, who was asked whether her roles on corporate boards and donations from major companies would sit well with the party鈥檚 鈥渨orking-class voters.鈥
DeSantis and Ramaswamy continued to hit Haley over that dynamic, even as Haley quipped they were just 鈥渏ealous鈥 of her donor support. DeSantis also claimed Haley wanted to let in as many immigrants as 鈥渢he corporations鈥 desired and boasted about how he withdrew $2 billion of Florida public pension money from a hedge fund over its use of environmental, social and corporate governance.
鈥淭hey want to use economic power to impose a left-wing agenda in this country,鈥 DeSantis said of some corporations鈥 embrace of ESG, an effort to use progressive principles in investing.
But then Ramaswamy bemoaned the way the government doesn鈥檛 fully recognize cryptocurrencies as a real financial instrument, and segued into promising to eliminate three-quarters of the government bureaucrats to cut regulations. That is a routine promise of Ramaswamy鈥檚, and comes as the U.S. Supreme Court is poised to that could sharply limit how the federal government can regulate industries, a longtime goal of conservative activists who helped assemble a six-judge majority on the high court.
Later, Ramaswamy took yet another turn, arguing there should be strict bans on the back-and-forth between staffers in business and government. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think that we should want capitalism and democracy to share the same bed anymore,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 time for a clean divorce.鈥
The GOP鈥檚 contradictions over corporations weren鈥檛 an explicit subject of the debate, but they were an undercurrent that won鈥檛 be resolved for a while.
Split over rights for transgender people
On immigration, on the economy and on China, the candidates on stage largely agreed. One policy area where there were real differences? Transgender rights.
The issue was barely on the national radar in the last presidential election. But in 2024, it is a centerpiece of the GOP鈥檚 increasing focus on cultural issues.
Haley defended her decision, back when she was governor, to decline to support a law that would have limited bathroom use to a person鈥檚 gender assigned on their birth certificate.
DeSantis pounced. As Florida governor, he insisted he did more to crack down on transgender rights than anyone on stage.
鈥淚 stood up for little girls, you didn鈥檛,鈥 he chided Haley.
DeSantis also offered a fiery argument for laws that block parents from allowing their children to receive transgender-related medical treatment.
Christie pushed back. He also reminded his rivals that conservatives used to believe in less government, not more.
鈥淭hese jokers in Congress, it takes them three weeks to pick a speaker鈥 and we鈥檙e going to put my children鈥檚 health in their hands?鈥 the former New Jersey governor said. 鈥淎s a parent, this is a choice I get to make.鈥
The Bizarro primary gets more bizarre
For the past seven months, the political world has watched a sort of Bizarro primary unfold 鈥 a number of Republican politicians have insisted they will become the next president while the last one, Trump, leaves them in the dust.
For those not in the know, Bizarro was a Superman character who came from a world where everything was scrambled. It's been hard to escape that upside-down feeling as, every month, there's another debate that Trump skips where no one does anything to change the trajectory of the race.
Wednesday night was an example. The debate was on NewsNation, a little-viewed upstart cable channel. The debate also aired on CW stations 鈥 but only in the eastern and central time zones.
Indeed, one big question was whether the debate's ratings would be surpassed by those of DeSantis' faceoff with California's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, on Fox News last week. The Republican 香港六合彩挂牌资料 Committee is expected to soon announce whether it'll allow further unsanctioned debates. At least one more debate is expected before the Jan. 15 Iowa Caucus.
Perhaps the ultimate Bizarro twist would be if these confrontations mattered in the presidential election. You can never tell when something unexpected might happen in politics. But the time for these debates to matter, if it ever existed, is rapidly running out.
