Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley was referred to by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as a “mealy-mouthed politician.” DeSantis’ campaign, according to Haley, “is exploding.”
Five nights before the Iowa caucuses, on Wednesday night, the two Republicans running for the party’s 2024 presidential primary spot against former President Donald Trump engaged in a one-on-one CNN debate in Des Moines, Iowa, exchanging barbs and accusations of infidelity.
However, in the early going of the discussion, they paid little attention to Trump, who continues to have a commanding lead in both Iowa and national GOP primary surveys.
The discussion illustrated both candidates’ views that the field has to be further narrowed before attention turns to the former president. It took place hours after another 2024 hopeful, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, withdrew from the race.
DeSantis mostly relied on his track record as governor of Florida, claiming that he established a reputation for putting conservative goals into practice there. Haley adopted a forward-thinking stance after leaving the governor’s office in 2017 to serve as US ambassador to the UN under President Trump.
In an argument on how the US should help Ukraine fight Russia, DeSantis stated that Haley thinks “we’re somehow globalists and we have unlimited resources.”
Haley retaliated, denouncing the DeSantis campaign for falling short of high standards thus far.
“With his campaign, he has gone through $150 million – I have no idea how you accomplish that. Haley remarked, “He has nothing to show for it. “He has invested more cash in private aircraft than in advertisements urging Iowans to support him.” How are you going to run a nation if you can’t even run a campaign?
The CNN debate, the last GOP debate before the Iowa caucuses, provided the following nine key points to consider:
In terms of pure politics, Trump’s choice to skip the primary debates has never been more calculated.
While Haley and DeSantis have voiced mild criticism of the former president, such as his inability to “build the wall” and his refusal to go on stage with them, neither has seized the chance to criticize him more sharply or assert that he is unfit to hold office.
When asked if Trump had the “character to be president again,” DeSantis and Haley alternatedly sidestepped the subject.
Haley remarked, “I support many of his policies, but his approach is not mine.” “I don’t take things personally, I don’t have vendettas, and I don’t have vengeance.”
After a lengthy commendation, DeSantis shifted the conversation to “the difference between Nikki Haley and me,” which in this case meant asserting that Haley was more liberal than California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom.
Aside from the few awkward moments, Haley and DeSantis appear to be more content to steer clear of the topic of Trump. And it makes sense in part because polls indicate that the former president is still well-liked by the GOP base.
Remarkably, the one consensus DeSantis and Haley shared the whole evening was that Trump ought to have taken the stage. Throughout the discussion, both candidates repeatedly criticized the front-runner Republican for missing it. Despite being eligible for the debate, Trump chose to take part in a Fox town hall instead.
Reminding people of Trump’s nonattendance at the CNN debate stage was a goal shared by both contenders. “I wish Donald Trump was up here on this stage, he’s the one I’m running against,” Haley remarked at one point.
Notably, DeSantis and Haley couldn’t agree on anything the whole evening save the fact that Trump ought to have taken the stage. Throughout the discussion, the Republican front-runner was repeatedly criticized by both candidates for missing it. Trump chose to take part in a Fox town hall despite having fulfilled the qualifications for the debate.
Reminding people of Trump’s exclusion from the CNN debate platform was a goal shared by both candidates. Haley once remarked, “I wish Donald Trump was up here on this stage because he’s my opponent.”
At a town hall in Des Moines, Trump enthusiastically bragged about his lead in the initial primary campaign polls. However, he said, “New Hampshire is interesting.” “It’s an amazing state with amazing people, but they let Democrats and independents cast ballots in the Republican primary.” What’s the deal, you ask? Thus, while that is a tiny bit untrue, I still believe we will win by a wide margin.
DeSantis and Haley competed to seem the hardest on stage when it came to some of the core conservative principles, such as halting illegal immigration, slashing taxes, and controlling the federal budget.
Neither of the two Republicans said that they would permit someone who entered the nation illegally to stay here.
“When I become president, there will be no amnesty for anyone,” DeSantis declared.
Haley said, “You have to deport them.”
They both attacked Trump for not finishing the wall along the southern border of the United States. DeSantis strengthened his demand to tax remittances sent by foreigners to their families back home to fund the wall, comparing it to charging Mexico directly.
Haley promised to do away with the federal petrol tax and maintain the tax breaks for small companies that were implemented during the Trump administration. DeSantis reaffirmed his support for a more radical plan to enact a flat income tax, which would require everyone to pay the same proportion of taxes on their income. However, he found it difficult to explain how this would prevent lower earnings from paying more.
DeSantis stated, “I would only do it if people are better off than they are now.”
Both drew on their prior expertise as governors to manage the federal budget. Haley stated a balanced budget was necessary for South Carolina. Under his leadership, according to DeSantis, Florida’s debt has decreased.
Haley, though, dinged DeSantis for voting in Congress to raise the debt limit before landing one of her better shots of the race – poking fun at his political operation for spending $150 million to mixed results and having spent heavily on private planes to travel to campaign events.
Haley’s vicious dismantling of DeSantis’ candidature
Midway through the debate, Haley delivered what was arguably the most scathing blow to DeSantis as a presidential contender when the Florida governor accused Haley of lacking leadership while leaving the door open.
The turning point occurred during a debate over education policies when DeSantis accused Haley of not being able to convince the hesitant South Carolina legislature to support a school voucher program.
She assigns responsibility to others. A leader’s job is to accomplish goals. “Stop blaming and just do it,” he said.
In response, Haley detailed months of turmoil, personnel turnover, and interpersonal conflicts within DeSantis’ campaign and a super PAC that supported him.
She compared DeSantis’ private aircraft trips with her methods, citing financial reports that demonstrated his usage of them.
“I took a commercial flight. My lodging was at the Residence Inn. We went and took out our savings. We took care to spend it wisely,” she remarked. “How will he manage the economy when he takes office if he can’t manage the financial aspects of a campaign?”
Then, Haley said that DeSantis’ campaign was essentially nonexistent outside of Iowa.
“You ran a one-state presidential campaign. Invisible in the state of New Hampshire. Here in South Carolina, you are invisible. You are number five. You’ve (spent) $150 million, and your poll numbers in Iowa have dropped,” she said. “What makes us believe you can function or accomplish anything in this nation?”
If DeSantis and his allies were hurting at the moment, it was because Haley’s remarks were true. The governor of Florida must use his impressive Iowa performance as a springboard for the remainder of the Republican primary contest.
But after the Iowa caucuses, Haley is expected to see the campaign move into much more advantageous territory. She has risen to a commanding second place in New Hampshire polls and is also in a good position in her home state of South Carolina, which has an early February primary.
Haley was concentrating on “political, process stuff — things that no voter cares about,” DeSantis said.
However, the early-state elections will determine if a sizable portion of the Republican electorate hopes to bypass Trump. That segment of the party may strategically support the candidate they believe to be the most formidable opponent of the outgoing president.
Two perspectives on international relations
The GOP’s internal division over foreign policy was evident when Haley and DeSantis argued over how much of a role the US should play in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Haley persisted in her defense of generous assistance to Ukraine to stop Russia from advancing into Poland and other NATO nations.
Haley’s position on Ukraine, according to DeSantis, is a “carbon copy” of that of President Joe Biden. “It’s an open-ended commitment,” he stated, stressing that for the US to concentrate on other matters of national security, like its policy towards China, it must find a means to stop the war.
Both candidates emphasized that the main goal of their strategy for Ukraine is to avert conflict, especially one that would need the presence of US forces there.
Regarding assistance to Ukraine, Haley stated, “This is about keeping Americans safe.”
They battled to portray themselves as more committed than the other to supporting the US partner in Israel. In response to a question on whether they support the demands of certain Israeli Cabinet members for the exodus of Palestinians from Gaza, DeSantis stated that although he disagreed with the strategy, he would not criticize Israel in public or private. Haley was also chastised by him for her UN backing of a two-state solution.
“She embraced that incorrectly, and we are correct to say that we trust Israel to make these decisions,”
Haley stated that the US should give Israel everything it needs and concentrate on freeing the captives held in Gaza, claiming that a two-state solution was impossible since the Palestinians did not want it. She then attacked DeSantis for traveling to Iowa to campaign alongside Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, the lone Republican member of the House to vote against a resolution denouncing antisemitism in the wake of Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel.
DeSantis remarked, “That’s just cheap, cheap garbage.”
In response to a question about whether the US should strike back against Iran for attacking US troops in Syria and Iraq, Haley stated that the US must “go and take out every bit of the production that they have that’s allowing them to do those strikes” and criticized Biden for not acting more. She chastised Biden for being unaware that his defense secretary was in the hospital.
“My spouse is currently deployed,” Haley remarked. “It is inexcusable, as a spouse of a military person, that the secretary of defense would not even communicate with the president, let alone his staff.”
DeSantis, who has served in the military himself and has been to Iraq before, also demanded a US reaction.
DeSantis declared, “I would never place our troops in danger, as Biden is doing in the Middle East, without defending them with everything they have.”
Taking it easy on January 6
They avoided the former president when there was a chance to question him about his understanding of the nation’s basic ideals and his election fraud.
Haley said, “You take an oath to the Constitution,” in response to the question of whether there was a significant gap between her and Trump’s views on the Constitution. She said that the 2020 presidential election was “lost by Trump” and that January 6, 2021, was “a terrible day.”
DeSantis again sidestepped when it came time for him to respond. He turned his back on the topic and cited George Washington as his constitutional hero.
However, do you know who else is deserving of criticism? the individuals who disregarded the Constitution during COVID-19,” he said.
DeSantis, a Harvard-educated attorney who wrote a book accusing the Obama administration of misusing the Constitution, also refrained from expressing his opinion on whether or not he believes that a president should be immune from prosecution for any actions taken while in office, such as killing a political rival, as Trump’s attorney claimed this week.
He said, “I’m not exactly sure what the outer limits are.” “I don’t believe a lawsuit has been filed over it.”
Haley did not hedge on that point.
“No, that is completely absurd,” she retorted.
DeSantis and Haley attempt to approach abortion more gently.
Their positions have remained unchanged. DeSantis and Haley are against abortion and in favor of state legislation that would outlaw it generally.
However, on Wednesday night, both contenders made an effort to defuse the situation.
“Leave as many babies as we can and support as many mothers as we can,” Haley stated, bemoaning the GOP’s handling of the issue.
Similar advice was given by DeSantis: “You have to be pro-life for the rest of your life.” “And you’ve got to have compassion for what is going on in this country.”
When DeSantis questioned Trump’s stance on abortion during a CNN town hall last week, Haley and he both sidestepped the initial question about whether they thought Trump was “pro-life.”
Although Haley agreed that Trump “did some pro-life things as president,” she skillfully shifted the conversation to criticize the outgoing president for missing the discussion by saying, “You’d have to ask him.”
In response to Trump’s refusal to come on stage with them (despite being asked and qualified), DeSantis also used the question to poke fun at him. Additionally, he claimed that Trump had “given a gift to the left” by criticizing Iowa’s abortion law, which was supported by Governor Kim Reynolds, a DeSantis ally. This had caused him to question the former president’s sincerity.
During a cordial town hall, a voter on Fox was posing a question like to this to Trump. If he secures the nomination once more, the following answer will probably appear in hundreds of millions of dollars worth of advertisements from Democrats and pro-choice organizations:
“I achieved the termination of Roe v. Wade, which they had been trying to do for 54 years,” declared Trump. And I’m happy that I completed it. We succeeded in doing so and accomplished a miracle.
What aspects of the economy Haley and DeSantis get right and wrong
Voters are particularly concerned about the economy this year, and since Biden’s management of it has received negative ratings in surveys, DeSantis and Haley seized the chance to outline their proposals.
Both contenders accurately noted that the US debt, which currently stands at a record $34 trillion, is severely impeding economic expansion. Furthermore, it is taking public funds away from other program expenditures, with interest rates at a 22-year high.
To return the federal debt to levels before the epidemic, Haley pledged to reduce borrowing and expenditure. However, a rapid reduction in spending would have broader impacts because government spending accounts for a significant portion of the GDP of the country.
DeSantis conceded that mortgage rates are higher for home purchasers now than they were before the outbreak. He omitted to emphasize, though, that the Federal Reserve’s effective attempts to reduce inflation by raising interest rates are mostly to blame for that.
He and Haley also accurately noted that Americans are still affected by inflation. However, several of the details were either slightly inaccurate or incorrect. DeSantis remarked, “Have you seen your grocery bill lately?” as an example. One of the main issues affecting working people is that. In actuality, the rate of increase in food costs is slower than the rate of inflation overall. Furthermore, neither mentioned that Americans’ salaries are rising at a higher pace than the rate of inflation overall, making it easier to bear some price rises.
Haley and DeSantis spoke on the primary issue facing America: inflation.
Both Haley and DeSantis emphasized the suffering that inflation is causing many Americans in terms of their finances.
Customer surveys from organizations like The Conference Board and the University of Michigan do support this. According to such studies, Americans’ perceptions of the economy are worse now than they were before the 2021 inflation explosion. This is because, even though the labor market has remained strong with unemployment at 4% and firms continue to add positions at a quick pace, rapidly rising prices affect all Americans.
The leader of the official committee responsible for stabilizing prices, Jerome Powell of the Federal Reserve, stated in September that “surveys are showing dissatisfaction, and I think a lot of that is just, people hate inflation — hate it.”
Reducing government spending is a major economic strategy that both Haley and DeSantis stated they would prioritize if elected to the presidency in November.
However, it may not have much of an impact on reducing inflation in the near run.
According to economist Olivier Blanchard and former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke’s study, supply-chain disruptions and demand shocks from the pandemic era were the main causes of the roughly three-year rise in inflation. In June 2022, the Consumer Price Index—a widely used indicator of inflation—reached a peak of 9.1%, which lasted four decades. From then, it has slowed, increasing by 3.1% in November 2023 compared to the previous year. (On Thursday, the Labour Department makes available its December Consumer Price Index.)
Economists and Fed representatives are currently more concerned about the employment market’s dynamics and the direction of consumer demand when it comes to inflation.
Since the federal budget “is on an unsustainable path,” Powell admitted last month that prior Fed chairmen have usually concurred. However, slashing government spending won’t be the magic cure to halt inflation.
DeSantis and Haley further stated that they supported the US increasing its energy output, which may have a disinflationary effect. Ultimately, however, the White House’s arsenal for combating inflation is quite little.
Congress and the Fed hold the most sway.
No conspiracy theories during the debating phase
The entire argument was far less conspiracy-focused when neither Donald Trump nor businessman Vivek Ramaswamy were there. Seldom did Hunter Biden surface. There were also no conspiracy theories, such as the erroneous assertion that the FBI was the catalyst for the attack on the US Capitol building on January 6, 2021. Haley even criticized Trump at one point for referring to January 6 as “a beautiful day.”
“January 6th was a bad day, in my opinion,” she remarked.
In contrast, Ramaswamy and Trump both like delving into conspiracy theories and outlandish concepts. The businessman has repeatedly made the ludicrous claim that January 6 was an “inside job.”
“Three years ago, if you had suggested to me that January 6 was somehow an inside operation or the result of government entrapment, I would have dismissed it as fringe, conspiracy theory gibberish. After delving a little further into it, I can assure you that it’s not, Ramaswamy stated last month during a CNN town hall.
On social media, Trump has also promoted unfounded conspiracy theories. On Monday on Truth Social, he posted a blog post from the website Gateway Pundit suggesting that Haley’s parents were not US citizens when she was born and she is thus ineligible to be president – akin to the birther conspiracy that surrounded former President Barack Obama.