For two hours, five Republican presidential candidates sparred in a debate dominated by foreign policy questions and at times descended into personal attacks.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, in particular, found herself both attacking and receiving attacks from rivals, most notably businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.
The Nov. 8 event in Miami competed against a rally by former President Donald Trump just a few miles away in Hialeah, Florida.
Foreign Policy Dominated
“Given the critical issues we’re facing specifically on the world stage, we want everyone to hear every word you have to say,” moderator Lester Holt of NBC said in his introduction.The broadcast didn’t disappoint in that regard, as moderators and speakers delved into the United States’ relationships with Israel, Ukraine, Venezuela, Taiwan, Iran, and other countries.
The debate allowed Mr. Ramaswamy to further differentiate himself from the competition, particularly Ms. Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, as he likened both of them to “Dick Cheney in three-inch heels.”
Mr. DeSantis said he would build a wall on the southern border of the United States “like Donald Trump promised.” He discussed a military response to the powerful drug cartels at the heart of human smuggling and drug trafficking across the southern border—measures that would necessarily entangle the governments of the United States and Mexico.
One of the ugliest moments of the night centered on foreign policy as Mr. Ramaswamy and Ms. Haley clashed over TikTok, a social media app with close links to China’s communist regime. Mr. Ramaswamy has been criticized for using it as a campaign tool to target young voters.
“How do you get TikTok banned if you use it?” moderator Hugh Hewitt, a conservative radio host, asked Mr. Ramaswamy.
“In the last debate she made fun of me for actually joining TikTok while her own daughter was actually using the app for a long time,” Mr. Ramaswamy said, turning to Ms. Haley. “So you might want to take care of your family first.”
“Leave my daughter out of your voice,” Ms. Haley replied.
“You’re just scum,” she added as Mr. Ramaswamy continued speaking.
Talking Trump
The candidates discussed the elephant in the room—President Trump—in response to the first question of the debate, which asked why Republican voters should drop their favored candidate for any of the five debating in Miami.“[Trump] owes it to you to be on this stage and explain why he should get another chance,” Mr. DeSantis said, pointing out that national debt piled up under President Trump’s leadership.
Ms. Haley made spending during the Trump administration a big focus of her answer, while also accusing President Trump of “getting weak in the knees” on foreign policy.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was, not unexpectedly, sharply critical of the previous Republican commander-in-chief.
“Anybody who’s going to be spending the next year-and-a-half of their life focusing on keeping themselves out of jail and courtrooms cannot lead this party or this country,” he said.
Mr. Ramaswamy and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) deflected the question in their own ways.
The businessman used his time to criticize the media and Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel.
Mr. Scott, often discussed as a possible vice presidential pick, didn’t criticize President Trump in strong terms either. The lawmaker instead appealed to his ability to “solidify and attract independent voters” to the GOP, specifically citing Hispanic and black Americans who haven’t flocked to the Republican Party in the past.
Yet for all the Trump talk in Miami, nothing that happened there seemed to make much of a dent in the candidate’s dominating lead among Republicans.
From Hialeah, where President Trump held his rally, Kari Lake of Arizona called the rest of the GOP campaigns “vanity projects.”
“They don’t have a chance,” to win the nomination, she told The Epoch Times.
Ms. Lake said that Republicans differ on a very small number of issues and said, addressing her fellow GOPers, “Save our country—and then we can argue and make deals and debate over that 5 percent.”
Abortion a Major Topic, Again
Abortion appeared to be the deciding factor in Democrats’ winning several Nov. 7 elections, including a referendum in Ohio that made abortion legal until fetal viability, which is usually 23 to 24 weeks into a pregnancy.On the heels of the Ohio referendum, the moderators asked Republicans about their positions.
Ms. Haley reiterated her stance that a federal ban is unrealistic given that there aren’t 60 pro-life Republican votes in the Senate. She also noted that a federal ban would require the GOP to also control the House and the White House. She instead called for a ban on late-term abortions, easing contraceptive access, and making adoptions easier.
Mr. Scott reiterated his call for a 15-week federal abortion ban.
Mr. Ramaswamy, who is from Ohio, lamented the pro-life defeat and said that it exemplified a “Republican culture of losing” and that the GOP “did not have an alternative amendment or vision on the table.”
Mr. Ramaswamy also spoke about “sexual responsibility for men” as a factor in pregnancy and avoiding fatherless homes.
Mr. DeSantis, who has called for a 15-week abortion ban, said that the pro-life movement has been “caught flat footed” when it comes to referendum votes on abortion.
Mr. Christie, who is against a federal abortion ban, said that being pro-life means preserving life not just inside the womb but also outside of it.
Entitlements
Mr. Ramaswamy called for “sacrificing” foreign wars and gutting “75 percent” of the federal bureaucracy in order to pay for Social Security. Entitlements—Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid—make up more than two-thirds of the federal budget, and defense accounts for 12 percent.Ms. Haley has called for reforming entitlements for future generations and called for limiting Social Security for the wealthy. She called for expanding Medicare Advantage plans so that there are more options for seniors.
“Any candidate that tells you that they’re not going to take on entitlements is not being serious,” she said.
“Right now you have Ron [DeSantis] and Trump joining Biden and [Nancy] Pelosi saying they’re not going to change or do any sort of entitlement reform,” she said.
Mr. Christie called for eliminating Social Security for the wealthy.
Mr. Scott said he would protect Social Security and said that saving the program comes down to cutting government spending and growing the economy.
A More Disciplined Debate
The NBC debate was more disciplined than previous ones this cycle, particularly the second, which took place at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.Moderators Mr. Holt and Kristen Welker, of NBC, and Mr. Hewitt, of the Salem Radio Network, kept things on track, preventing speakers from talking out of turn under most circumstances.
At the beginning of the night, Mr. Holt laid out the ground rules, noting that repeated interruptions could end up being penalized.
“If you talk over each other, the voters can’t hear you,” Mr. Holt said.
Some candidates probably didn’t get in as many detailed responses as they would have liked, but the ultimate outcome was a less chaotic conversation—though still one lacking the main Republican hopeful, President Trump.
“We should unite behind President Trump and focus on beating Joe Biden,” Jason Miller, a senior adviser to President Trump, told The Epoch Times after the debate.
A chant of “Trump! Trump!” broke out during the debate and was shut down by an NBC producer, according to widely circulated clips on social media.
The three moderators in Miami were contending with only five candidates—Mr. DeSantis, Ms. Haley, Mr. Ramaswamy, Mr. Scott, and Mr. Christie.
That’s easier than corralling the lesser figures whom Alan Schroeder, an emeritus journalism professor at Northeastern University, described as “fringe contenders” who “compete desperately for attention” in an interview with The Epoch Times.
Mr. Ramaswamy used his opening question to turn the tables on the moderators, asking them about media bias.
“The Trump–Russia collusion hoax that you pushed on this network for years—was that real?” Mr. Ramaswamy asked.
Mr. Ramaswamy suggested that Elon Musk, Tucker Carlson, and Joe Rogan should have been moderators rather than the media figures who sat before him.
