Highlights of Republican debate: Israel, abortion, fentanyl, Ukraine discussed as Haley and Ramaswamy clash

The third Republican primary debate concluded just after 10pm at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, Florida, after contentious exchanges over candidates’ policies and records.

Five candidates qualified for the showdown, broadcast by NBC News – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, biotech entrepreneur and woke-bashing author Vivek Ramaswamy, former UN Ambassador and ex-South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

Former President Donald Trump has also qualified but did not attend, instead speaking at a rally in nearby Hialeah, Florida.

There were a number of fiery tussles throughout the evening including when Mr Ramaswamy was booed by the crowd for an attack on Ms Haley’s daughter with the former UN ambassador calling him “scum” in response.

The candidates stood united in their support for Israeli military action against Hamas but had differing views on Ukraine with Haley and Ramaswamy again clashing.

There was little time spent addressing the poor performance by the GOP in yesterday’s off-year elections with the focus turning to the topic of abortion.

The next debate is set for 6 December in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Key points

• Who won the third Republican debate?

• Vivek Ramaswamy launches unhinged debate rant blasting GOP ‘losers’

• Haley brands Ramaswamy ‘scum’ in fiery GOP debate: ‘Leave my daughter out of your voice’

• Trump slams ‘weak and ineffective’ rivals at rally during GOP debate

• Republican 2024 candidates are walking the abortion line. One question is throwing them off balance

• Nikki Haley’s star is rising. But can she catch up to Trump?

The Republican candidates have learned from Trump’s legal woes and are condemning Jan 6 – aside from Vivek Ramaswamy

13:00 , Gustaf Kilander

All but one of the Republican candidates appeared to have learned from former President Donald Trump’s deepening legal woes as they appeared for the first Republican primary debate in Milwaukee.

Former Vice President and 2024 candidate Mike Pence stood firmly behind his decision to certify President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory despite mounting pressure from Mr Trump and his supporters, which included violent threats to his life.

Mr Pence was praised by the candidates next to him on the debate stage, apart from entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who came out swinging with conspiracy theories making the rounds on rightwing social media on a variety of topics.

Mr Ramaswamy instead called on Mr Pence to commit to pardoning Mr Trump.

“I’m the only candidate on the stage with the courage to move our nation forward,” Mr Ramaswamy argued.

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GOP candidates urge Israel escalation and US attacks on Iran

12:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Shortly before the candidates took the stage for the third Republican primary debate in Miami on Wednesday, the Pentagon announced that US fighter jets struck a weapons storage facility in eastern Syria used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and affiliated groups, the latest sign of the tense security situation in the Middle East amid the Israel-Hamas war.

Once the spotlights came on, the GOP candidates called for a further ratcheting up of military operations, urging Israel to annihilate Hamas and the US military to directly attack Iran.

Responding to a question about what advice she would give to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley had two words: “Finish them.”

Josh Marcus reports.

‘Finish them’: GOP candidates urge Israel escalation and US attacks on Iran

11:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Haley ‘always had room to grow'

11:00 , Kelly Rissman

Rob Godfrey, Nikki Haley’s former deputy chief of staff, recalled Ms Haley knocking on doors to talk to voters and meeting with small groups “at first as an unknown underdog statewide candidate” and watching her momentum grow. So this “is not a new dynamic for her,” he said.

Drawing parallels between the two campaigns, he said, “Right now it looks like there’s wind at her back.”

Gunner Ramer, the political director of the Republican Accountability Project, also discussed Ms Haley’s uptick in the polls. He said that unlike other candidates, like Mike Pence who had 100 per cent name recognition among voters, Nikki Haley “has always had room to grow.”

Her name and experience are especially favourable at a time when global turbulence is part of a daily conversation, some argued.

10:30 , Oliver O'Connell

‘Losers’: Ramaswamy launches unhinged debate rant blasting GOP

10:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Tech entrepreneur and 2024 candidate Vivek Ramaswamy came out swinging at Wednesday’s debate, calling the Republican Party a “party of losers” and attacking the mainstream media.

Kicking off the third Republican debate, moderators asked the five candidates on stage how they would differentiate themselves from the current fronter, Donald Trump.

But Mr Ramaswamy took the opportunity to erupt into a rant about Republicans’ losing streak.

“We’ve become a party of losers at the end of the day,” Mr Ramaswamy said, a day after Republicans underperformed in off-year elections. “There is a cancer in the Republican establishment.”

Mr Ramaswamy then suggested that Republican National Committee (RNC) chairwoman, Ronna McDaniel, was to blame for GOP losses in elections since 2017 when she took office.

Ariana Baio has the story of the unorthodox start to the evening.

Vivek Ramaswamy launches unhinged debate rant blasting GOP ‘losers’

09:30 , Oliver O'Connell

‘Wind at her back’

09:00 , Kelly Rissman

Nikki Haley has long been an advocate for traditional conservative talking points. But it seems like now in particular, as Mr Trump’s base remains firm and the rest of the party searches for an alternative to the flamboyant, frequent defendant former president, her campaign is gaining traction.

She is wary of gun restrictions; while discussing red flag laws in the first GOP debate, she said she didn’t trust that the government “won’t take [guns] away from people who rightfully deserve to have them.”

She is pro-life, but has left space for pro-choice Americans to make the best decision for themselves; she said in April, “Different people in different places are taking different paths.”

Her viewpoints are arguably softer than some of her competitors, perhaps making her more appealing to some Republican voters, conservative strategist Chip Felkel said. “She’s taken a stern stance on some things, but she’s not constantly anti-everything,” he continued, comparing her to Mr Trump’s messaging.

Rob Godfrey, Ms Haley’s former deputy chief of staff as governor who remains neutral during the primaries, attributed her recent “momentum” to the “dynamic in early primary states.” He said races in these states — like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina — “favour some of her best assets as a candidate, which is the ability to connect one-on-one with voters.”

Mr Godfrey attributed this skill to her experience. In her first run to become a South Carolina state representative in 2004, she defeated the then-longest-serving state Representative Larry Koon. She was elected twice more, serving as a state representative from 2005 through 2010, when she decided to throw her hat in the gubernatorial election.

08:30 , Oliver O'Connell

How did Trump think the night went?

08:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Well, he wasn’t there, but he had some thoughts at this nearby rally.

slammed his “Weak and ineffective” Republican rivals for the party’s presidential nomination as he again skipped the latest GOP debate.

The former president urged the party establishment to ditch his opponents and get behind his campaign to try and retake the White House in 2024.

“You have about seven or eight candidates left. I think they are at a debate tonight no one is talking about it, everyone is watching…it’s 61 per cent for your favourite president – me – 10 per cent for Ron DeSanctimonious and 7 per cent for Bird Brain (Nikki Haley),” said Mr Trump at his counter-programming debate in Hialeah, Florida, on Wednesday evening.

“Our nation is in very serious trouble and it is time for the Republican establishment to stop wasting time and resources trying to push weak and ineffective RINOs and Never Trumpers that nobody wants and nobody is going to vote for.

“I watched these guys coming in and they are not watchable. The last debate was the lowest-rated debate in the history of politics, so do you think we did the right thing by not participating?”

Trump slams ‘weak and ineffective’ rivals at rally during GOP debate

07:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Haley brands Ramaswamy ‘scum’ in fiery GOP debate

07:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Among the many spirited exchanges the 2024 Republican presidential candidates engaged in during Wednesday evening’s GOP debate, Nikki Haley calling Vivek Ramaswamy “scum” was one of the most memorable.

During the third Republican debate, moderators asked candidates how they would approach handling security concerns associated with China and TikTok – a topic that candidates had sparred over in previous debates.

When Ms Haley said the app was detrimental, Mr Ramaswamy called out her daughter.

Ariana Baio reports on her full response.

Haley brands Ramaswamy ‘scum’ in fiery GOP debate

06:30 , Oliver O'Connell

GOP candidates urge Israel escalation and US attacks on Iran

06:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Shortly before the candidates took the stage for the third Republican primary debate in Miami on Wednesday, the Pentagon announced that US fighter jets struck a weapons storage facility in eastern Syria used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and affiliated groups, the latest sign of the tense security situation in the Middle East amid the Israel-Hamas war.

Once the spotlights came on, the GOP candidates called for a further ratcheting up of military operations, urging Israel to annihilate Hamas and the US military to directly attack Iran.

Josh Marcus reports.

‘Finish them’: GOP candidates urge Israel escalation and US attacks on Iran

05:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Top DeSantis donor thinks Trump will win

05:00 , Oliver O'Connell

The biggest donor to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis thinks former President Donald Trump will win the GOP primary.

Robert Bigelow told the Financial Times that Mr Trump “is too strong” and that the ex-president “has the momentum, the inertia, to beat him”.

Mr Bigelow called Mr Trump a “bull” while Mr DeSantis is “dinner”.

GOP mudslinging and the battle for second place: Five takeaways

04:30 , Oliver O'Connell

The third Republican primary debate was an ugly slugfest reminiscent of the earliest Trump debates of 2015 — except the former president wasn’t even there.

A group of five candidates, minus their party’s frontrunner, appeared onstage Wednesday evening in Miami for what was billed as a presidential debate but in the end may have just been an exercise in futility, given the continued dominance of Donald Trump in every available poll of the GOP primary.

What transpired over two hours was a slugfest that served as a reminder of what Mr Trump has done to this party, and raised the question of whether his shadow will loom over Republicans long after he fades from relevance.

Let’s look at the main takeaways from Wednesday’s showdown:

GOP mudslinging and the battle for second place: Five takeaways from debate

Anger as Ramaswamy seems to call Jewish Ukraine leader Zelensky ‘Nazi’

04:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Businessman and presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy appeared on Wednesday to call Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, who is Jewish, a “Nazi” during the latest GOP presidential debate.

During a line of comments in which the Republican argued Ukraine is anti-democratic and undeserving of US aid, Mr Ramaswamy claimed, “It has celebrated a Nazi in its ranks, the comedian in cargo pants, a man called Zelensky. That is not democratic.”

The entrepreneur may have stumbled over his words and actually been speaking about a separate person as a “Nazi.”

Josh Marcus reports.

Anger as Ramaswamy seems to call Jewish Ukraine leader Zelensky ‘Nazi’ at GOP debate

With the candidates heading to the spin room, who won the debate?

03:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Republican presidential candidates descended on Miami for a debate on Wednesday – and the third one without former president Donald Trump sharing the stage.

All of the Republican candidates continue to trail behind the twice-impeached, four-times-indicted former president. Still, some of the sharpest exchanges took place when discussing foreign policy, the Israel-Hamas war, Russia’s incursion into Ukraine and China’s rising influence. Many of the Republican presidential candidates once again attacked Vivek Ramaswamy as the millennial businessman came out swinging.

Eric Garcia picks the winners and losers from the third Republican debate.

Who won the third Republican debate?

Closing statements

02:59 , Oliver O'Connell

Scott: We need a great reawakening and “turn from victimhood to victory, stop kneeling in protest and kneel in prayer”.

Christie: I will open up my heart to every American as president.

Ramaswamy: We are at war with those who don’t like our founding principles and a fringe minority. He then tells the Democrats to end the Biden candidacy which he calls a lie and put up their real candidate suggesting Michelle Obama or Gavin Newsom.

Haley: A strong America doesn’t start wars, a strong America prevents wars. We cannot do that with politicians from the 20th Century, we need politicians from the 21st Century.

DeSantis: I’m doing this for you. I delivered on all my promises for Florida and will do the same for the US as president.

Abortion and last night’s election result

02:49 , Oliver O'Connell

What does last night’s election result mean for the Republican Party in regard to abortion?

DeSantis: I stand for a culture of life.

Haley: Pro-life but the focus needs to be on consensus because the states are deciding and there are areas in which there can be cooperation.

Scott: I want a 15-week limit on abortions.

Haley responds: Let’s see what we can agree on, but don’t make the American people you are going to push something on them when you don’t have the votes in the Senate to do what you are saying.

Ramaswamy: Sexual responsibility for men.

Christie: This is an issue to be decided in each state.

New question: Southern border and fentanyl crisis

02:39 , Oliver O'Connell

Scott: If we want to deal with deaths from fentanyl, we need to deal with it at ports of entry and through the southern border.

Christie: Executive order to have National Guard partner with Customs and border agents at ports of entry and southern border. The country also needs to treat people with drug problems.

DeSantis: We’re going to shoot them stone-cold dead.

Haley: End all normal trade relations with China until the flow of fentanyl stops. Then attack cartels. Then deal with border, sanctuary cities, and move from catch and release to catch and deport. She agrees with Christie on the focus on mental health and addiction.

Ramaswamy: Use our own military to protect our own border and not fight foreign wars.

Biden campaign sees debate as ‘afterthought’ with focus on Trump

02:25 , Oliver O'Connell

Social security & entitlements

02:23 , Oliver O'Connell

Nikki Haley: Any candidate that tells you they're not going to take on entitlements is not being serious. She notes that Social Security will go bankrupt in 10 years and Medicare in eight. She lumps DeSantis in with "Trump, Biden and Pelosi" for not tackling reform.

Questioning turns to the economy

02:17 , Oliver O'Connell

After more than an hour, the first question about the economy is asked.

Scott called for more pipelines and domestic drilling and said he would sign the Keystone XL pipeline deal.

DeSantis wants to rip up every part of Bidenomics and throw it in the trash.

Ramaswamy wants to ramp up the supply of everything from energy to housing.

Haley: We need to beef up the middle class by eliminating the federal gas tax to help those in rural areas as well as going after earmarks, Covid fraud, and stop the expansion of the IRS.

“I’ll veto any spending bill that doesn’t go back to pre-Covid levels,” she says.

Watch: ‘Leave my daughter out of your voice ... You’re just scum'

02:09 , Oliver O'Connell

New question: Would you ban TikTok?

02:02 , Oliver O'Connell

Christie: TikTok is not just spyware, it is polluting minds — the example of the last few weeks with antisemitic propaganda finding its way into the US. He says it will be banned in his first week in office. China blocks US social media.

DeSantis: Agrees and says he is also concerned about the effect on the minds of the young. He says it is part of a full spectrum approach to combating China.

Haley: Does not answer the question but decides to respond to an attack by DeSantis on China and investment in their respective state.

Ramaswamy: Attacks Haley over Chinese investment and then mentions her daughter using TikTok.

Haley: "Leave my daughter out of your voice ... you're just scum."

Watch: Candidates asked about military readiness and China

01:55 , Oliver O'Connell

Trump outpacing GOP debate on Rumble

01:54 , Oliver O'Connell

As the GOP debate reaches its first break, former president Donald Trump is on stage in Hialeah, Florida, only a few miles from the action other five candidates for the Republican nomination.

On streaming service Rumble he is pulling in approximately 120,000 viewers, while the Republican debate just 70,000 — though it is also being broadcast on NBC, MSNBC and the network’s own streaming servcies.

Watch: Ramaswamy attacks Zelensky

01:44 , Oliver O'Connell

New topic: Ukraine

01:42 , Oliver O'Connell

The question on support for Ukraine is first given to Scott who doesn’t directly say whether he would keep funding Ukraine or stop funding Ukraine and pivots to talking about the southern border.

Ramaswamy eagerly awaits his turn to answer and launches into an anti-Ukraine, anti-Zelensky screed, calling the Ukrainian president “a comedian in cargo shorts”.

Haley is up next and says Putin and Xi are salivating at the thought of someone like Ramaswamy getting into the White House.

Christie agrees with Haley and calls Ramaswamuy’s approach immature and say those that do not remember history will repeat it, reminding Americans that the last time the US turned away from a shooting war in Europe it bought them only a couple of years.

DeSantis dodges the Ukraine funding question by saying he won’t send US troops there (but will to the border) but won’t say whether he supports continuing to fund the war or not.

Questioning moves on to antisemitism

01:34 , Oliver O'Connell

Ramaswamy separates from the other candidates about antisemitism in colleges by arguing that punishing anti-Israel speech would be a slippery slope.

The other candidates argue that colleges need to act and punish anti-semitism and pro-Hamas speech.

DeSantis points out he was first to call for foreign students to be deported over antisemitism and mocks Joe Biden for his initiative to fight “so-called islamophobia”.

Christie says he combatted hate crimes against Jews and Muslims as US attorney in New Jersey during the Bush administration after 9/11.

"You must work with both sides ... but let us never have a false moral equivalence."

Haley compares antisemitism with racism and says: “If the KKK were doing this, every college president would be up in arms.”

01:22 , Oliver O'Connell

Vivek Ramaswamy goes after Nikki Haley and DeSantis over Middle East/foreign policy:

Do you want a leader from a different generation who's going to put this country first? Or do you want Dick Cheney in 3-inch heels? In this case we've got two of them on stage now.

And Haley fires back: "I'd first like to say they're 5-inch heels and I don't wear them unless you can run in them. ... The second thing I would say is I wear heels and they're not for a fashion statement. They're for ammunition."

Second question: Israel-Hamas war

01:19 , Oliver O'Connell

The candidates are asked what they would tell Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

DeSantis and Haley: Finish the job.

Ramaswamy: I would go one further Israel has the right to defend itself - I would tell him to smoke the terrorists on his southern border and I would do the same on our southern border.

Scott: Wipe Hamas off of the map and the US should cut off the head of the snake and strike Iran.

Christie: America is here to preserve the state of Israel but Israeli intelligence failed and this requires more cooperation.

01:13 , Oliver O'Connell

Christie: I’ll say this about Donald Trump — 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.

Scott: The truth of my life destroys the lies of the radical left and says he wants to restore our Christian values.

First question: Why should supporters of Donald Trump support you?

01:11 , Oliver O'Connell

DeSantis: Blames the elites in the country for current problems. “Donald Trump is a lot different guy than he was in 2016,” he says, however: “As we saw last night, I’m sick of Republicans losing. In Florida, I showed how it’s done.”

Haley: Donald Trump was the right president at the right time but that is not the case now.

Ramaswamy: We’ve become a party of losers. I will “yield my time to you he tells Ronna McDaniel if she’s willing to walk on stage and resign, before attacking the media and NBC for hosting the debate — This should be Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan and Elon Musk.

01:00 , Oliver O'Connell

What could bring Trump back to the debate stage?

00:59 , Oliver O'Connell

When asked what it would take for Mr Trump to return to the debate stage, Dr Thompson mentioned dropping polls and sky-high ratings for the debates as possible incentives.

“If you see a big jump for Haley, Scott, or DeSantis, and a big decline, measurable in the high single digits, that might be enough for him ... because he is very good at understanding the media ... that he needs to be a bigger part of the conversations that people are paying attention to,” he said.

“Another thing that might bring him back is record viewing ... if the numbers are off the charts for this debate, and seemed like they would follow suit for debate number four, he might come back for that,” he said, adding that “if something measurable happens for him in any one of his many pending legal cases, he might decide that he needs a bigger platform”.

Will Trump-stand-in Ramaswamy be sidelined?

00:45 , Gustaf Kilander

“I see him trying to” remain as a stand-in for Mr Trump “and kind of turning stuff up to 11,” Dr Thompson says of Mr Ramaswamy.

“I predict that he’ll be more marginalized in this debate, that the three candidates that I think have a puncher’s chance would be DeSantis, Haley and Scott, and that they will tend to focus their discussion on each other, marginalizing both Christie and Ramaswamy,” he adds.

“They see him as not a member of their club, which in many ways he is not,” Dr Thompson says of Mr Ramaswamy, who’s in his late 30s and has never held public office.

“He’s gotten attention by being loud, by saying incendiary things, and by being non-traditional, and so he’ll try more of that,” he adds, noting that his rivals “may try the good parenting approach – when your child’s having a tantrum, you kind of ignore them, and then all of a sudden, three minutes later you notice the tantrum is over”.

“By paying attention, you only magnify the effect of it,” he adds.

Christie: ‘Some men just want to watch the world burn’

00:30 , Gustaf Kilander

Mr Christie has been waging what’s seen by many as a kamikaze campaign to take down Mr Trump, so far to no avail.

“I think Chris Christie just wants to watch the world burn ... he’s a bomb thrower. And I think he’s going to continue throwing bombs,” Dr Thompson says. “He’s going to accuse everyone on the stage of kind of kowtowing to Donald Trump, not being able to beat Donald Trump and he’ll continue to criticize Trump ... I predict more of the same from Christie.”

Dr Thompson adds that “it’s not impossible that the metrics for the fourth debate come out and Christie would be on the edge or maybe not able to meet them. So he might try something a little more radical in this debate, to bolster himself one last time so that you can stay in the following rounds”.

“He goes to these forums and gets booed, and he continues to take on Trump. And that’s his line,” Dr McKinney says. “To give him credit, I think this is what he fundamentally believes.”

Tim Scott: Does the GOP want a happy warrior?

00:15 , Gustaf Kilander

As many of the GOP’s most dedicated supporters, many of them backing Mr Trump, want nothing more than grievance politics and thrashing the left.

In that environment, Mr Scott is attempting to break through with soaring rhetoric and a happy warrior campaigning style. But the question is, does the GOP want that?

“People are voting against someone instead of for someone ... it really makes negativity important, because people want to hear why they want to be voting against the other person, instead of how great a candidate is,” Dr Thompson says.

“I’ll also say, though, that the fundamentals of American optimism may not have completely evaporated yet. We saw Trump really capitalize on grievance politics in 2016. And the country has been through hard things. But the country has always gone through hard things,” he adds.

He argues that the US has been an “optimistic nation” for a long time. “So I think that it’s technically a mistake to only stress the negative and that it’s possible that a candidate with an optimistic message, even today’s Republican Party could break through”.

Dr McKinney adds that “his issue positions and his narrative contains those elements” that are traditionally Republican.

“Nikki Haley has had some very useful responses to Tim Scott that have weakened Tim Scott’s appeal somewhat in terms of the effectiveness of his arguments and his lines of attack,” he notes.

VIDEO: Five Candidates to Face Off in Wednesday’s GOP Debate

00:00 , Gustaf Kilander

NBC co-hosting debate with rightwing media group

Wednesday 8 November 2023 23:30 , Gustaf Kilander

When hosting the debate, NBC News is working with the Salem Media Group, a conservative media group that one of its executives has said “bankrolled” a documentary about false 2020 election claims.

The group co-hosted four debates with CNN during the 2016 election. Since then, many of its top broadcasters on talk radio and podcasts have made increasingly aggressive and bizarre remarks about politicians and social issues, The Washington Post notes.

NBC now faces criticism for working with the group, despite that there may not have been an option not to do so if the network wished to host a GOP primary debate.

Salem was put forward to work with NBC on the debate by the Republican National Committee.

Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, a Salem broadcaster, will be one of the moderators, but an NBC spokesperson said the network will have full editorial control.

Brian Rosenwald wrote a 2019 book outlining the history of talk radio. He told The Post that “this is a major mistake for NBC”.

“I think it really undermines their journalistic credibility,” he added.

The Independent has reached out to NBC for comment.

Will the DeSantis attacks on Trump keep coming?

Wednesday 8 November 2023 23:15 , Gustaf Kilander

Dr McKinney says that the Florida governor appears to be becoming more comfortable attacking Mr Trump as the campaign goes on.

After not going after the former president in the first debate, he “kind of dipped his toe in the water” in the second debate, arguing that Mr Trump is unelectable, an argument weakened by recent polling showing Mr Trump ahead of President Joe Biden.

Dr McKinney notes that Mr DeSantis’s debate performances “certainly have not helped him ... and some of that seems to be, although he’s been governor, his lack of preparation for the national stage”.

He adds that “we’ve seen several faux pas of campaign strategy and other things coming from the DeSantis campaign,” noting that he’s all over the place on attacking or not attacking Mr Trump.

“His debate performances and use of these debates have simply demonstrated there’s some awkwardness there” and a “lack of preparation – certainly not in any way as prepared as Nikki Haley,” he says.

On the other hand, Dr Thompson says Mr DeSantis’s “approach is consistent and doesn’t involve a ton of creativity. I don’t mean that negatively – he’s found something that works and he’s sticking to it.

“What’s working for him are his talking points about successes in Florida – MAGA conservatism will bring former Trump voters ... He’s taken a slightly more aggressive approach toward Donald Trump recently, but it’s always kind of toeing the line, remaining respectable.”

“He’s really looking to secure Trump voters and so he wants to do that in a way that is as effective as possible,” he adds.

‘I’ve never lost a race, I’m not going to start now,’ Haley says ahead debate

Wednesday 8 November 2023 23:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Will Haley continue to take centre stage?

Wednesday 8 November 2023 22:45 , Gustaf Kilander

Dr Thompson says he mainly looking out for two things – can former UN Ambassador and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley “continue to perform incredibly well in the debates, creating distance between herself and the other candidates?”

The second is if her fellow South Carolinian, Senator Tim Scott “can really enter the fray, I expect there to be a lot of back and forth between [Florida Governor Ron] DeSantis and Haley, and I’m wondering if it gives Scott a chance to shine in his kind of positive optimistic vision for the Republican Party”.

Dr McKinney says Ms Haley has placed herself in the last of three camps in the GOP primary – those attacking Mr Trump head-on, those staying away from criticising the former president at all, and those attempting to criticise Mr Trump without upsetting his base.

He adds that she “has smartly figured out” a way to “question Donald Trump, his presidential performance, his decisions”. She will attack Mr Trump, but only “on the policy and issue-level, where she gets into some details and has facts and figures, whether it’s domestic policy, whether its budget, whether it’s international foreign policy”.

“She stays away from the in-the-gutter, personal character attacks, and I think that strategy allows her to be seen” as an “adult in the room... she attacks him, but it is not the [former New Jersey Governor] Chris Christie attack,” Dr McKinney notes.

“I think Nikki Haley has performed very well, I don’t see any reason why we would expect any different ... Christie will continue to go after Trump and [biotech entrepreneur] Vivek [Ramaswamy] will continue to try to be Donald Trump on the stage ... I don’t see anything fundamentally changing,” he adds.

Jimmy Kimmel mocks ‘non-viable’ GOP debate candidates with Avengers jab

Wednesday 8 November 2023 22:30 , Martha McHardy

Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel gave his review of five GOP presidential candidates he described as “non-viable” on Tuesday night, ahead of the third Republican primary debate.

The third GOP presidential debate is due to take place in Miami on Wednesday. So far, front-runner Donald Trump, who is currently embroiled in a civil fraud trial in New York, has not attended any of the primary debates.

The former president has indicated he sees no point in participating in the debates given his substantial lead over the other candidates in the polls.

He is not expected to attend the debate in Miami on Wednesday.

In his Tuesday night show, Mr Kimmel reviewed Mr Trump’s contenders, describing them as “non-viable”.

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