DeSantis and Haley rip into absent Trump at Republican debate

Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley wasted no time in tearing into an absent Donald Trump at the third Republican primary debate in Miami. The former president, Florida governor said, “owes it to you to be on this stage and explain why he should get another chance”. Trump, the runaway leader in the race, dodged the debate to host a rival rally in nearby Hialeah.

But DeSantis, whose own campaign has been tanking of late, was in a combative mood. “He [Trump] should explain why he didn’t have Mexico pay for the border wall. He should explain why he racked up so much debt.

He should explain why he didn’t drain the swamp. And he said Republicans were gonna get tired of winning. Well, we saw it last night: I’m sick of Republicans losing,” DeSantis added, referring to Tuesday’s Democratic electoral successes in Kentucky and Virginia .

Haley, the former South Carolina governor, joined in the anti-Trump onslaught. She said: “I think he was the right president at the right time. I don’t think he’s the right president now.

I think that he put us a trillion dollars in debt, and our kids are never gonna forgive us for that. I think the fact that he used to be right on Ukraine and foreign issues – now he’s getting weak in the knees and trying to be friendly again. ” The third Republican primary debate is expected to be a more bitter affair than its predecessors in Wisconsin and California, with sparring over global conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine likely to dominate.

DeSantis was expected to clash with Haley over foreign policy; Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor, will ramp up his attacks on Trump over his legal troubles and efforts to usurp democracy; while the businessman Vivek Ramaswamy is ready to expand his role as the contest’s livewire upstart as he defends himself against criticism for controversial racial comments . With the US election a year away, most Americans don’t want Biden or Trump Read more A fifth candidate, the South Carolina senator Tim Scott, finds himself in a similar position to DeSantis, tanking in the polls and keen to regain lost momentum. Looming above everything is the specter of the former president, who refuses to be part of the debate process and was instead firing up his supporters at an open-air park as his challengers took the stage at the Adrienne Arsht Center for Performing Arts in downtown Miami .

Trump’s position is that he is so far ahead in the race for the nomination, more than 44 points, according to Real Clear Politics (RCP), as to make the two-hour debate meaningless. In campaign messaging on Tuesday, he called it “a battle of losers”. He has also refused to sign the loyalty pledge to support whoever is the eventual nominee, a requirement from the Republican National Committee (RNC) to participate in debates.

Trump’s arguments have some merit, say analysts who have watched the field of contenders whittle down in recent weeks. Two of the seven who took part in the 28 September debate in Simi Valley, California, were not in Miami: Mike Pence, Trump’s former vice-president, who has dropped out , and the North Dakota governor, Doug Burgum, who failed to reach the 4% qualifying threshold in any national poll. While Trump’s own candidacy is mired in legal troubles that could yet derail him, his remaining rivals are not even close.

Scott, Christie and Ramaswamy are all polling in the low single digits, leaving DeSantis and Haley, themselves only at 13% and 9%, per RCP, as the most viable alternatives. The stakes are arguably higher for DeSantis, whose flailing campaign was further battered by the Florida senator Rick Scott’s endorsement of Trump last week and an opinion poll Tuesday suggesting most Republican voters in his own state do not want him . “What DeSantis always needed to do was to become the pre-eminent alternative to Donald Trump without being opposed to Donald Trump, and he hasn’t succeeded in that, to put it mildly,” said Gregory Koger , professor of political science and director of the Hanley Democracy Center at the University of Miami.

Nikki Haley greets supporters in Charleston in February. Photograph: Mic Smith/AP “He needs to reverse the slide and his polling numbers by creating a new narrative about who he is, why he’s running, and why he is a better alternative to Trump and the other candidates in the field and on the stage. ” Koger said he sees one opening in the Gaza conflict.

DeSantis, a vociferous supporter of Israel, has been active to the point of running a de facto foreign policy involving Florida resources and personnel, allowing him to argue he would be a stronger leader on the world stage. He has exchanged barbs with Haley , Trump’s former ambassador to the United Nations, over admitting refugees from Gaza, aid for Ukraine and her actions towards China when she was South Carolina governor that he sees as conciliatory. Meanwhile, Haley, who performed well in the first two debates, and has enjoyed a recent surge in popularity , has painted DeSantis as an isolationist at a time when, she says, the US needs to work with global partners more than ever to build a robust foreign policy.

Their feud could be a centerpiece of Wednesday’s debate. “The big issue will definitely be Israel and Gaza,” Koger said. “And I think it’s narrowed down to Haley and DeSantis, both in polls and in terms of their temperament and positioning, as the two most likely alternatives to Trump.

” There will be one more Republican debate, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on 6 December, before the 2024 primaries begin with the Iowa caucuses on 15 January. DeSantis won the influential backing of the Iowa governor, Kim Reynolds, but must elevate himself above others in the Miami debate, hosted by NBC News and the conservative Salem Radio Network, to keep his campaign alive, Koger said. “The candidates will want to talk about immigration, how they would resolve issues at the US-Mexico border, cultural issues, restrictions on LGBTQ+ people, restrictions on what factual history is taught in American schools, and at the university level, what can be said when topics are off-limits at centers of free thought and debate,” he said.

“That’s what they want to talk about. What they should be talking about is the future of American democracy and the future of the Republican party within it. The ex-president and leading candidate refuses to accept the outcome of the 2020 election, and actions by him, his associates and other Republicans seem to suggest they don’t necessarily plan on respecting the outcome of the 2024 election either.

“So do they believe in electing leaders in this society, even if that includes losing elections? I need to hear from each of them. ”.