‘Lies, ballistic podiatry and warmed over corporatism’: 3 takeaways from 5th GOP debate
Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley faced off in the first one-on-one debate of the presidential primary season Wednesday and the last ahead of Monday’s Iowa caucuses, which will launch the 2024 nominating process.
Staring down what’s anticipated to be a significant defeat to Donald Trump in the opening Republican contest, the Florida governor and former South Carolina governor tangled continuously on CNN for two hours, striving for any advantage in their increasingly competitive fight for second place.
DeSantis was largely on the offensive during the debate, held at Iowa’s Drake University, portraying Haley as a counterfeit conservative with a checkered record that can’t be trusted.
“We don’t need another mealy mouth politician,” DeSantis charged, dubbing Haley as an emblem of “warmed over corporatism.”
Anticipating many of her opponent’s attacks, Haley attempted to assail DeSantis as a serial liar desperate to stem her momentum as his campaign apparatus flails.
“Every time he lies — Drake University — don’t turn this into a drinking game, because you will be over-served,” Haley rebutted.
While both presented themselves as highly prepared and knowledgeable on a wide range of topics, neither were willing to forcefully attack Trump or say he lacked the character to return to the presidency.
“I would probably score the debate as a draw or split decision with DeSantis dominating the first hour and Haley closing strongly,” said Aaron Kall, director of debate at the University of Michigan. “She was defensive and, on the ropes, throughout at different points in the evening.”
Their rapid-fire clash in Des Moines came in the wake of the withdrawal of Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor who was solely competing in New Hampshire as a force to stop Trump.
Trump, who again declined to partake in the fifth debate of this primary season, held a competing town hall on Fox News. Vivek Ramaswamy, a wealthy entrepreneur who rocked previous debates with his vitriolic attacks on Haley, did not meet CNN’s polling requirement to participate.
Here are 3 takeaways from the final debate before the 2024 Iowa caucuses:
DESANTIS EMBODIES GOP BASE ON UKRAINE
In a highly substantive exchange on continued U.S. aid to Ukraine, DeSantis and Haley revealed the seminal divide among Republicans on the U.S. commitment to foreign wars.
Whereas Haley, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, argued that the U.S. doesn’t have to choose between arming Ukrainian soldiers to defeat Vladimir Putin and funding domestic priorities, DeSantis slammed that position as unsustainable globalism.
“We’ve got homeless veterans, we’ve got all these problems. This is the U.N. way of thinking that we’re somehow globalists and we have unlimited resources,” DeSantis charged. “You can take the ambassador out of the United Nations, but you can’t take the United Nations out of the ambassador.”
While Haley’s answer was lauded as crisp and passionate, “DeSantis gave the answer that most matches the GOP primary electorate,” said Scott Jennings, a Kentucky-based Republican consultant.
About half of Republicans now say the U.S. is giving too much money to Ukraine, though it is unclear how motivating foreign wars will be for Iowans still settling on their choice for president.
HALEY HITS DESANTIS, THE CAMPAIGNER
About an hour into the debate, the pile of issue-based attacks that DeSantis had flung against Haley on taxes, immigration and education appeared to hit a nerve with her.
When DeSantis battered Haley for failing to implement school choice in South Carolina and chastised her for a failure of leadership, Haley opted to take a different tact: Dump on DeSantis the candidate.
“If leadership’s about getting things done, how did you blow through $150 million in your campaign and you’re down in the polls?,” Haley asked. “If he can’t handle the financial parts of a campaign, how’s he going to handle the economy when it comes to the White House?”
Haley suggested that her campaign-centric attack had been provoked by DeSantis’ relentless attacks on her record.
“He has been demeaning me over and over again, telling lies …You’ve campaigned for president in one state. You’re invisible in New Hampshire, you’re invisible in South Carolina … You’ve got $150 million and you’ve gone down in the polls in Iowa.”
In her closing remarks, Haley underscored the potency of her candidacy in a general election against President Joe Biden, citing larger polling leads than either DeSantis or Trump.
But in the moment, DeSantis looked baffled that Haley would equate the effectiveness of political advertisements and strategy with the education of children. He dismissed political strategy as a top concern for voters and steered the conversation back to substance.
Though in one humorous utterance, he accused her of “ballistic podiatry,” in other words, shooting herself in the foot.
“Second half evolving into a food fight,” said Jimmy Centers, an Iowa based Republican consultant. “Iowans would have benefited from a conversation on kitchen table issues.”
BUT WAS ANYONE EVEN WATCHING?
Viewership for the Republican debates have steadily declined with each offering. While the first debate back in August scored 12.8 million eyeballs on Fox, ratings have declined precipitously since then. December’s debate, held by cable start-up NewsNation, registered just 4 million viewers.
Whether the imminence of the caucuses will reverse the trend is unknown, but DeSantis and Haley were also up against the ratings leader Fox, which regularly draws double the amount of viewers of CNN during the primetime evening slot.
But with just 100,000 to 150,000 Iowans projected to take part in the caucuses, a shift of even a few thousand voters could mean the difference between second or third place.
Still, Trump wasn’t the only competitive counter-programming that DeSantis and Haley faced.
“The most important event in Iowa tonight [was] Caitlin Clark and the Iowa girls basketball team playing at Purdue,” said Republican consultant Ed Brookover.
