{"id":11391,"date":"2023-11-09T13:01:34","date_gmt":"2023-11-09T13:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2023\/11\/09\/gop-debate-haley-takes-incoming-fire-as-presidential-candidates-battle-for-second-place-behind-trump\/"},"modified":"2023-11-09T13:01:34","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T13:01:34","slug":"gop-debate-haley-takes-incoming-fire-as-presidential-candidates-battle-for-second-place-behind-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2023\/11\/09\/gop-debate-haley-takes-incoming-fire-as-presidential-candidates-battle-for-second-place-behind-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"GOP Debate: Haley takes incoming fire as presidential candidates battle for second place behind Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"

MIAMI \u2013 <\/span>Nikki Haley gave as good as she got at the third Republican presidential primary debate \u2013 on a slimmed down stage during a showdown full of insults intertwined with serious policy discussions.<\/p>\n

In a sign of the former United Nations ambassador and former South Carolina governor\u2019s ascendancy in the 2024 GOP nomination race, Haley was repeatedly in the spotlight during the two-hour debate held in Miami, Florida, just a few miles from where former President Donald Trump \u2013 the commanding Republican front-runner \u2013 was simultaneously holding a rally.<\/p>\n

Three of her rivals teed off on Haley, but it was biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy who fired the most shots.<\/p>\n

It appeared to get real ugly and quite personal between the two candidates as Ramaswamy took aim at Haley\u2019s pledge to ban the short-form video hosting service TikTok \u2013 which is a subsidiary of a Chinese owned company \u2013 over national security concerns.<\/p>\n

\u2018She made fun of me for actually joining TikTok while her own daughter was actually using the app for a long time,\u2019 Ramaswamy argued. \u2018So you might want to take care of your family first before preaching to anyone else.\u2019<\/p>\n

Haley quickly snapped back.<\/p>\n

\u2018Leave my daughter out of your voice,\u2019 she told Ramaswamy.<\/p>\n

As some in the audience booed Ramaswamy \u2013 who\u2019s tussled with Haley repeatedly in recent months \u2013 she charged \u2018you\u2019re just scum.\u2019<\/p>\n

Haley entered Wednesday\u2019s debate on a roll \u2013 thanks to well-received performances at the first two showdowns that helped to propel her into battle with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the race to become Trump\u2019s main rival.<\/p>\n

The debate started with Trump in the cross-hairs, as the former president skipped his third straight showdown with his rivals.<\/p>\n

\u2018He should explain why he didn\u2019t have Mexico pay for the border wall. He should explain why he racked up so much debt. He should explain why he didn\u2019t drain the swamp,\u2019 DeSantis emphasized as he jabbed at Trump.<\/p>\n

And Haley spotlighted that the former president \u2018put us $8 trillion in debt, and our kids are never gonna forgive us for that.\u2019<\/p>\n

And when it comes to dealing with Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine, she argued that her former boss is getting \u2018weak in the knees.\u2019<\/p>\n

But Haley and DeSantis soon took aim at each other, fueling their burgeoning rivalry, with each accusing the other of being too friendly to China during their tenures as governors.<\/p>\n

And Haley once again accused DeSantis of banning fracking in Florida, which he once again denied.<\/p>\n

On the policy front, Haley reiterated her support for entitlement reforms. And on the combustible issue of abortion \u2013 on the day after abortion fueled Republican defeats in key ballot box contests across the country in the 2023 off-year elections \u2013 Haley noted \u2018as much as I\u2019m pro-life, I don\u2019t judge anyone for being pro-choice. And I don\u2019t want them to judge me for being pro-life.\u2019<\/p>\n

Haley and Sen. Tim Scott \u2013 a fellow South Carolinian \u2013 argued over the feasibility of passing a 15-week federal abortion ban.<\/p>\n

\u2018No Republican president is going to ban abortions,\u2019 she reiterated, as she spotlighted that the GOP doesn\u2019t have the 60 votes needed in the Senate to pass such a bill.<\/p>\n

Later, in the post-debate spin room, Scott said in a Fox News Digital interview that \u2018you should be willing to fight for what you believe in. Our party should be the party of life. A 15-week limit is plenty of time for people to make a decision about what they want to do.\u2019<\/p>\n

DeSantis made news during the debate by clearly saying the nearly two-year old conflict between Russia and Ukraine needs to come to an end.<\/p>\n

\u2018We need to bring this war to an end,\u2019 DeSantis. said. \u2018The U.S. needs to focus more on other priorities, including the southern border\u2026We need the Europeans to step up and do their fair share, and we need to get serious about this threat this country faces, which is the Chinese Communist Party.\u2019<\/p>\n

Ramaswamy spent much of the debate throwing bombs, mostly at Haley.<\/p>\n

He described Haley, the only woman on the stage, as \u2018Dick Cheney in three-inch heels.\u2019<\/p>\n

She fired back saying her heels are actually five inches and are \u2018for ammunition.\u2019<\/p>\n

In his opening answer, Ramaswamy also attacked the debate moderators. And pointing to Tuesday\u2019s dismal performance by the GOP at the ballot box, he charged that \u2018we\u2019ve become a party of losers. He then demanded the resignation of Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel.<\/p>\n

Asked by Fox News about the jab from Ramaswamy, McDaniel said after the debate that \u2018everybody\u2019s gotta get headlines. Right. I\u2019m going to focus on beating Joe Biden. I am very proud of the RNC and our staff and the work that we\u2019ve done to win back the House.\u2019<\/p>\n

The fifth contender on the debate stage, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, mostly kept his spotlight on policy, from the wars in Europe and the Middle East to economic matters and abortion.<\/p>\n

But Christie, a vocal GOP critic of Trump, also took aim at the former president, who embroiled in four trials, including two for trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat.<\/p>\n

\u2018Anybody who is 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,\u2019 Christie charged.<\/p>\n

Trump, at his rally 10 miles away, once again tried to steal the spotlight.<\/p>\n

\u2018Nobody\u2019s talking about it,\u2019 the former president told his supporters as he dismissed the debate. \u2018Everybody\u2019s watching us.\u2019<\/p>\n

Nicole Schlinger, a longtime Iowa based conservative strategist, told Fox News that Haley \u2018came in with a reputation of being the strongest debater on the stage. Nothing tonight changed that.\u2019<\/p>\n

She offered that \u2018DeSantis seemed to have more swagger tonight, and I think that\u2019s directly correlated to [Iowa] Governor Kim Reynolds endorsement this week.\u2019<\/p>\n

But DeSantis didn\u2019t reference the endorsement during the debate.<\/p>\n

Pointing to Ramaswamy, Schlinger said that \u2018Vivek was provocative as always.\u2019 But she added that \u2018ultimately I don\u2019t think going after Nikki Haley\u2019s daughter will do him any favors.\u2019<\/p>\n

And she called the debate a draw, arguing that \u2018I doubt anyone\u2019s mind was changed.\u2019<\/p>\n

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub<\/strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in New Hampshire.\u00a0<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
This post appeared first on FOX NEWS<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MIAMI \u2013 Nikki Haley gave as good as she got at the third Republican presidential primary debate \u2013 on a slimmed down stage during a showdown full of insults intertwined with serious policy discussions. In a sign of the former United Nations ambassador and former South Carolina governor\u2019s ascendancy in the 2024 GOP nomination race, <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":11392,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11391","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}