We have concluded the RNC debate season. In less than six weeks, the Iowa caucuses will be held and the first votes will be cast to determine the Republican presidential nominee. I don’t think anyone is sad about that.
The debates were not very illuminating for any candidate if you ask me. They usually devolved into shout fests and everyone talking over everyone else. The first debate was the worst because the stage was too crowded and quickly escalated out of control. Republicans have to stop debating with progressives as moderators. The Univision host who was a moderator in one debate was a hideous mistake. She served up nothing but Democrat talking points and the Republican candidates had to respond to that gibberish. It was a waste of time. I thought the all-women panel of moderators did a good job. Then I read a tweet this morning that opened my eyes.
Megyn Kelly kicked off the debate and the first question went to Ron DeSantis. She essentially asked him why he isn’t dropping out, given the poll numbers and how he hasn’t caught on as the alternative to Trump that had been expected. It was a ridiculously arrogant question, especially before a single vote had been cast, but it is something said by people not supporting the governor. DeSantis said what many of us say – I don’t care what the polls say. Let the voters vote.
DeSantis destroying the polls narrative and telling everyone straight. He's the only candidate running that beat the left on every single issue.
"The Voters actually make these decisions, not pundits or pollsters"#withDeSantis #DeSantis2024 #freedomworks #GOPDebate #polls pic.twitter.com/ADMeX2SrFw
— MattA (@MattAAW) December 7, 2023
Then I read the tweet. Turns out that Megyn Kelly had a hot mic moment where her bias came out and it had to do with that question.
🚨Hot mic: you can hear @megynkelly and @RealClearNews make fun of @RonDeSantis look (not knowing their mics were still on). Fast-forward to 1:18:40
Megyn also admitted that she “struggled” with asking DeSantis a question about his likeability because that was her opinion. This…
— Jorge Washington (@theredhombre) December 7, 2023
I’m adjusting my opinion about the moderators.
I live-tweeted the debate, as I usually do with this kind of political event. I pondered who would draw blood first and that was Ron DeSantis. He went after Nikki Haley first. Haley was the one in the barrel for this debate, given her rise in some polls. She is very close to DeSantis in some polls and may have overtaken him in New Hampshire, as has Christie. She is ahead of him in South Carolina, her home state.
DeSantis called Haley out for caving to critics and being beholden to big Wall Street donors. Haley went on to say DeSantis is jealous of her big donors which is an odd statement for any candidate to make. It is not generally seen as a good thing to boast about Wall Street billionaires supporting a candidacy. In Haley’s case, the Wall Street donors generally support Democrats and they are using Haley to make Trump the nominee. They want Biden to run against Trump. Haley said she doesn’t care about that and will take their money. That exchange was cringey.
The truth is that DeSantis had a very good debate because he remained a happy warrior. He smiled a lot, didn’t get too far down into the mud, and countered attacks by talking about his successes in Florida. He also spoke about his experience in the military and Chris Christie slammed him for that, which is also odd in a Republican primary. Republicans typically support veterans and military members, right? DeSantis is the only veteran running for the GOP nomination. He is right to make that distinction, especially when it comes to foreign policy and border security.
The debate with Newsom seems to have been good practice for the final debate. The fourth RNC debate was his strongest performance. On the other hand, it was Nikki Haley’s worst performance.
It was clear that Haley would be attacked by the others because she had received the Koch endorsement and Wall Street donor money. Her numbers are getting a little better. Ramaswamy has attacked her since the beginning but this time DeSantis made points against her, too. He attacked her record as governor as she attacked him. As the attacks came from everyone, her best line emerged – “I love all the attention, fellas. Thank you for that.”
"I love all the attention, fellas. Thank you for that." Nikki
— Karen Townsend (@penguinponders) December 7, 2023
Nikki just wasn’t the Nikki we are accustomed to seeing on the debate stage. She called DeSantis a liar, a lot. That isn’t usually what others say about him. She just seemed off. Her face didn’t look as it normally does, either. Maybe it was stress. That would be understandable. Her husband is deployed and she’s running for president. But, to be considered for the job of president, she has to look stress-free. Just reverting to calling everyone a liar isn’t a good strategy. She is strongest when she talks about her opposition to China and other bad actors during her time as U.N. Ambassador during the Trump administration. She was good there and didn’t waver in an America First agenda.
Nikki’s record as governor was easy for DeSantis to pick apart. She caved on transgender bathrooms in schools, encouraged Chinese businesses to come into the state, and so on. The person strongest against her was Vivek. He lost his mind during this debate and most of his hysteria was against Haley. Vivek called her corrupt throughout the debate. He berated her for sitting on the board of Boeing and making millions of dollars after she left the Trump administration. He held up a large notepad at one point with the text “Haley = Corrupt” written on it. That was interesting. Did Vivek take a page from the DeSantis playbook during the Newsom debate and bring a prop to make his argument? It was lame.
Vivek rudely told Chris Christie to leave the stage, go enjoy a good meal, and return to New Jersey. Yikes! That was low, even for Vivek. Chris Christie was asked why he was continuing in the race, given his very low poll numbers, except in New Hampshire. Vivek lost his mind on everyone but most of all Nikki Haley.
Sensing that his window is closing, Ramaswamy, who polls at just 4.9% in the RealClearPolitics Average, threw haymakers, rabbit punches, and low blows at Haley. In his telling, she was “the only person more fascist than Biden,” a neo-con akin to former Vice President Dick Cheney “in lipstick,” and a warmonger “who will send your kids to die so she can have a bigger house.”
But turning the screws again, Ramaswamy accused Haley of playing identity politics, and he recycled one of her recent attacks on him into a one-liner. “Nikki, I don’t have a ‘woman problem,’ you have a corruption problem,” Ramaswamy said holding aloft a prop.
“NIKKI = CORRUPT,” read the letters scrawled on his notepad. The crowd groaned and booed. Asked if she would like to respond, Haley didn’t take the bait. “No,” she said. “It’s not worth my time to respond to him.”
He has come to the conclusion he has nothing to lose at this point. Christie called Vivek an arrogant blowhard. That’s accurate.
Chris Christie was given the least amount of time, it seemed. He spoke up for Nikki as Vivek was slamming her personally, not on her policy opinions. Vivek questioned Nikki’s intelligence and that set off Christie. Christie criticized the others for not speaking out against Trump as he does. Trump is like Voldemort – he who must not be named, Christie said. Christie also declared himself to be the only candidate who was answering the questions instead of going off on tangents as he said the others were doing.
As I said, I give the debate victory to DeSantis. As a former colleague tweeted out last night, DeSantis had a really good closing statement.
Outstanding closing statement from @RonDeSantis at the #GOPDebate:
"We are in jeopardy of being the first generation of Americans to leave our kids less prosperous and less freed than the one we inherited. I refuse to sit idly by and let that happen. But we've got to have… pic.twitter.com/xEOuWYAHp0
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) December 7, 2023
The fact remains that Trump is solidly ahead in polls but no one has cast a vote. The media has pronounced Trump as the nominee and they want to see him run against Biden. It’s unclear whether the others can catch up and slow the Trump train. I look for DeSantis to win Iowa and I’m not at all certain that Trump will win New Hampshire. If he loses Iowa and New Hampshire, he goes into South Carolina a wounded frontrunner. Would Haley go ahead of him in South Carolina at that point? We don’t know. It all starts in less than six weeks. Let’s let the voters vote and see what happens.
