DeSantis trains his fire on an ascendant Haley in latest Republican primary debate

The simmering feud between Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley erupted at the fourth Republican presidential debate on Wednesday as Florida’s governor let loose on his 2024 rival with a kind of urgency and ferocity that some supporters feel has been missing from much of his campaign.

With fewer than seven weeks to go before the Iowa caucuses, DeSantis showcased a more aggressive persona than he has in past Republican debates, going after Haley within minutes of the debate starting.

He cast her as the kind of Republican who’s “not willing to stand up and fight back against” liberal policy priorities, accused her of cozying up to the Chinese Communist Party during her tenure as South Carolina governor and sparred with her over gender-affirming medical care for youth.

“You have other candidates up here, like Nikki Haley — she caves every time the left comes after her,” DeSantis said.

DeSantis’ approach to Haley during Wednesday’s debate in Tuscaloosa, Ala. — the final Republican National Committee-sanctioned debate of the year and likely the last before voting begins next month — underscored the growing sense of urgency within DeSantis’ orbit.

Recent polls show Haley closing in on — or even leading — DeSantis in Iowa, where his campaign is banking on a strong performance to propel him forward in the presidential race. In other early-voting states, like New Hampshire and South Carolina, Haley is running firmly ahead of DeSantis.

RELATED CONTENT: ‘Afraid to answer’: Christie challenges DeSantis on whether Trump is fit to be president

Both Haley and DeSantis, however, are trailing former President Donald Trump, the primary contest’s clear frontrunner, by wide margins in virtually every national and state-level poll.

While DeSantis’ allies have sought to downplay his rivalry with Haley for weeks as nothing but a false narrative, his performance on Wednesday suggested otherwise.

At one point, DeSantis appeared to team up with another 2024 hopeful, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, in an onslaught against Haley, with Ramaswamy casting her as a corrupt politician who was drawing the support of corporate political donors and so-called elites. Haley almost appeared to relish the attacks.

“I love all the attention, fellas,” she said. “Thank you for that.”

At another point, DeSantis dredged up Haley’s proposal to require social media companies to ban users from posting on their platforms anonymously due to national security concerns, accusing Haley of wanting to clamp down on free speech rights. Without the ability to post online anonymously, DeSantis said, conservatives run the risk of being “canceled.”

Haley responded to that attack by mentioning that DeSantis himself supported legislation earlier this year that would have made it easier to sue news organizations that rely on anonymous sources for their reporting.

RELATED CONTENT: Haley takes fire from DeSantis, Ramaswamy: 3 takeaways from the fourth GOP debate

Haley sought to needle DeSantis for what she described as his flagging presidential prospects, dismissing his attacks as lies about her record that were intended to deflect from his struggles on the campaign trail. When DeSantis mentioned that “Wall Street liberal donors” had begun giving to Haley’s campaign because “she’s been very weak on China,” Haley painted the accusation as rooted in jealousy.

“He’s just mad because those Wall Street donors used to support him and now they support me,” she said.

Later on in the debate, Haley was even more direct with DeSantis: “Ron has continued to lie because he’s losing.”

The debate-stage feuding on Wednesday night, however, left no candidate unscathed. The two other 2024 hopefuls on stage, Ramaswamy and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, put their contempt for one another on clear display, with Christie calling Ramaswamy “the most obnoxious blowhard in America” and Ramaswamy advising Christie to “get the hell off the stage.”

Christie, for his part, offered up an aggressive effort to focus the debate on Trump, who despite being the primary’s frontrunner has refused to participate in any of the four GOP debates. After DeSantis skirted around a question about whether Trump is fit enough to serve as president, Christie went on offense.

“He is afraid to answer,” Christie said of DeSantis. “This is the problem with my three colleagues: They’re afraid to offen [Trump],” Christie said. “You have to be willing to offend with the truth.”

Christie also offered some help to Haley, rushing to her defense after Ramaswamy suggested that she didn’t know certain details about Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.

“This is a smart, accomplished woman,” Christie said to Ramaswamy during a particularly heated exchange. “You should stop insulting her.”