Trump emerges unscathed from final GOP debate as rivals rip each other, not front runner

Donald Trump may have won the fourth and final GOP presidential primary debate in absentia Wednesday night as his trailing rivals tore into each other — and not so much him — throughout the two-hour encounter.

The quartet of Republican candidates that made the stage — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — largely insulted each other in a heated debate at the University of Alabama while leaving polls-topping Trump relatively untouched.

Only Christie, who has made strident salvos at Trump a hallmark of his lagging campaign, showed a willingness to again rip into Trump.

For the most part, the candidates disputed with each other. DeSantis and Ramaswamy repeatedly attacked Haley. They called her out for participating on corporate boards, her position on Florida's transgender policies and support from donors.

"As far as these donors who are supporting me, they're just jealous that they aren't supporting them," Haley shot back, and then added: "And thanks for all the attention fellas. I love that."

Trump campaign issues attack ad at Biden, PAC releases statement on debate

Trump did not post on Truth Social, his social media platform, during the debate. But about an hour and a half into the event, his campaign issued a 25-second commercial labeling Biden a "weak leader."

Later, a spokeswoman for Make America Great Again Inc., a super PAC that supports Trump, issued a statement calling the debate a "waste of time, money, and energy" in a race for a consolation prize.

"These candidates are putting up a fake fight to satisfy their egos and please their billionaire puppet masters," the statement said. "It’s beyond time for Republicans to do what’s best for the country — unify around President Trump so we can maximize our use of time, money, and energy against Joe Biden and the Democrats.”

Nonetheless, Trump got scuffed up occasionally.

Here are the seven instances the former president who wants to be the next president took incoming fire in a debate he skipped out on:

1. Christie: Trump is biggest issue in GOP primary — not in a good way

Christie, the former New Jersey governor, said he was the only "person on this stage who is telling the truth" and "taking on what needs to be taken on" and was disappointed it took 17 minutes before there was an opportunity to raise the former president's name.

Christie chastised Haley, DeSantis and Ramaswamy saying they were acting as if the race were between the candidates on stage. Christie noted that Trump, who he said "didn't have the guts to show up and stand here," is the one with sizeable leads in the polls, and his opponents onstage lacked the courage to take him on.

"The fact is that when you go and you say the truth about somebody who is a dictator, a bully, who has taken shots at everybody whether they've given great service or not over time, who dares to disagree with them, then I understand why these three are timid to say anything about him," he said. "The fact of the matter is the truth has to be told."

Christie said Trump is unfit to be president again, citing the former president's talk of using the Department of Justice to go after his "enemies."

"I am in this race because the truth needs to spoken. He is unfit," Christie said. "And there is no bigger issue in this race than Donald Trump."

2. Haley hits Trump on China policy, spending; DeSantis ducks criticizing Trump fiscal policy

On China, Haley lauded Trump for forcing Beijing to accept an altered trading relationship on less favorable terms to the Asian giant's interests. However, she also criticized Trump's approach as too narrow in its dealings with China by overlooking purchases of land in the United States by Chinese investors, Chinese investment in universities and allowing a spy base in Cuba.

"And Trump didn't do anything about it," she said.

The former South Carolina governor also repeated an attack line she has used in previous debates that faults Trump for adding close to $8 trillion in debt in his four years as president. "And we're all paying the price for that," she said.

In previous debates, DeSantis has been sharply critical of Trump's fiscal policies, too. On Wednesday, he chose to make federal spending and budget red ink a bipartisan issue, rather than to blame Trump.

"The printing and spending of the money was (by) both parties in Washington, D.C.," he said. "That's just a fact."

Christie, who defended Haley against Ramaswamy's personal attacks, differed with her lauding Trump's increase on tariffs on Beijing saying it is a factor in the inflationary spiral that has dominated economic policy in the United States for the past two years.

"It is also the increase in prices that were driven by Donald Trump's tariffs," Christie said, adding that all of Trump's bluster on China did not change the country's policies or behavior.

3. Haley said Trump's Muslim travel ban not about religion but the threat

Asked about Trump's call for a "Muslim ban" on travel to America, Haley said she did not favor a "straight up" prohibition based on faith but rather favored limiting entry to people from countries "that have terrorist activity, that want to hurt Americans."

"You can ban people from those countries. That's the way we should look at it," she said. "Which countries are a threat to us."

She said she is particularly concerned about people from Yemen, Iran and Lebanon crossing the U.S. border.

"It's not about a religion," she said. "It's ... that certain countries are a threat and danger to us."

4. Immigration topic opens door to another Christie attack on Trump

Christie said Trump's plan to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants is "predictable." He distinguished Trump's rhetoric today and his words from eight years ago, noting that now Trump tells Americans that he is their "retribution" as opposed to when he said in 2015 that he was their "voice."

"This is an angry, bitter man who now wants to be back as president because he wants to exact retribution on anyone who has disagreed with him, anyone who has tried to hold him to account for his own conduct," he said. "And every one of these policies that he is talking about is about pursuing a plan of retribution."

He rebuked his fellow rivals for saying in the first debate that they would still support Trump as the nominee even if he were convicted of federal crimes against the U.S. elections process and wrongly possessing and storing some of the nation's most sensitive government secrets.

"So do I think he was kidding when he said he was a dictator? All you have to do is to look at the history," Christie continued. "And that's why failing to speak out against him, making excuses for him, pretending that somehow he is a victim, empowers him."

The reason that Trump is leading in the polls, Christie added, is because his fellow rivals' silence gives the impression his conduct is acceptable.

"Let me make it clear. His conduct is unacceptable," Christie said. "He is unfit. And be careful of what you're going to get if you ever get another Donald Trump term. He's letting you know 'I am your retribution.' But he will only be his own retribution."

5. Trump's age leads to a sharp exchange between Christie, DeSantis

The moderators pointed out that Trump, should he win, would be older on the first day of his second presidency than Joe Biden was on the first day of his current administration. They questioned DeSantis about his campaign attack ads intimating that Trump is "confused" and quoted the governor saying Trump has "lost the zip on his fastball."

They asked the governor if he believed Trump was not mentally fit to be president, which produced a spirited exchange.

DeSantis said that "Father Time is undefeated" and believing a president at 80 years of age would be immune to the impact of age is unrealistic. He called for a next generation of leaders, and a candidate who would be able to serve two terms.

Pressed if he believed Trump was not mentally fit, DeSantis deflected by restating he believed a younger candidate is desirable.

As for Trump's tough rhetoric, DeSantis said he wanted to remind people that Trump did not fire Dr. Anthony Fauci or FBI Director Christopher Wray, or "clean up the swamp," nor did he deliver on building a border wall paid for by Mexico and didn't deport more people than President Barack Obama.

"Some of these policies he ran on in 2016, I was cheering him on then, but he didn't deliver," DeSantis said.

At that point, Christie pounced on DeSantis and said the governor had not answered the question of whether Trump was mentally fit for office.

"Why doesn't he just answer the question?" he said.

Christie and DeSantis then sparred back and forth for more than a minute, talking over each other as the moderators struggled to regain order.

In the exchange, a frustrated DeSantis insisted he would be "spitting nails on Day One." Asked twice more if he thought Trump was mentally fit, DeSantis talked past the yes or no question.

Christie pounced again: "He won't answer. He's afraid to answer."

"No, I'm not," DeSantis shot back.

"Either you're afraid or you're not listening," Christie charged. "This is the problem with my dear colleagues. They are afraid to offend. Let me tell you something. If you're afraid to offend Donald Trump, then what are you going to do when you sit across from (Chinese President) Xi, you sit across from the ayatollah (Iranian leader), you sit across from (Russian President Vladimir) Putin. You have to be willing to offend with the truth."

"It's not about offending," DeSantis said. "It's about pointing out, do you want to elect somebody who will be older than Biden when he went in 2021? I don't think he's as bad as Biden was at all. But I do think that over a four-year period it is not a job for someone who is pushing 80."

6. Trump might have wanted to hear his name on this last question...

As they prepared to close out the debate, the moderators asked which president they would emulate if they were elected president next year.

Chris Christie chose Ronald Reagan.

Nikki Haley cited George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

Ron DeSantis lauded Calvin Coolidge.

Vivek Ramaswamy picked Thomas Jefferson.

None chose Trump.

7. Christie, Haley take final shots at Trump in closing statements

Christie predicted that on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024, Trump would not be able to cast a vote because he would have been convicted of felonies and would have lost his civil rights. Nominating Trump, Christie said, would only "guarantee four more years of Joe Biden."

Haley said she would reject Trump's chaotic style, saying her White House would have "no drama, no vendettas, no whining."

George W. Bush in Boca Raton: 43 takes on Trumpian America First ideology on Ukraine, immigration

Debate takes place as scrutiny of Trump's behavior, commentary intensifies

The fourth debate took place amid two separate surges, one by Haley in some voter surveys and the other growing scrutiny of the former president's statements, state of mind and purported "dictatorial" impulses.

The latter, in particular, has been a source of intensifying attention and commentary.

The Atlantic, for example, in its January/February issue, published a series of essays speculating on the priorities of a second Trump term. Editor Jeffrey Goldberg concluded: "America survived the first Trump term, though not without sustaining serious damage. A second term, if there is one, will be much worse."

Trump dismissed the criticism with a sardonic comment this week in which he said he would be dictatorial only on "Day One" and then added: "After that, I'm not a dictator, OK?"

Biden's campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, jumped on Trump's statement: “Donald Trump has been telling us exactly what he will do if he’s reelected and tonight he said he will be a dictator on Day One. Americans should believe him.”

That drew an all-capital letters response from Trump with emphatic punctuation: "CROOKED JOE BIDEN IS A THREAT TO DEMOCRACY!!!" Trump wrote.

The Lincoln Project calls out Trump asking if he has 'dementia'

The Lincoln Project, a longtime Trump nemesis, this week released a one-minute ad titled "Feeble" calling out Trump's recent gaffes and misstatements and asking if he has dementia at a time that polls suggest mental sharpness has emerged as among the most serious doubts voters harbor about Biden.

"Trump is obviously weaker this time around than the last time he ran, and he knows that President Biden is a much stronger, fitter, and better President," the group of so-called "Never Trump" Republicans and others stated.

The ad ran in Palm Beach County markets and drew a sharp attack from Trump on Truth Social.

Trump wrote that the "Lincoln Project, and others, are using A.I.(Artificial Intelligence) in their Fake television commercials to make me look as bad and pathetic as Crooked Joe Biden, not an easy thing to do."

The Lincoln Project, however, refuted Trump's assertions that the commercial included AI-generated images. And it relished in a statement that the "Lincoln Project lives rent free in Trump's head," given the Truth Social post and and Trump's referring to the ad during a televised town hall interview with Fox News personality Sean Hannity.

Antonio Fins is a politics and business editor at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at afins@pbpost.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Did Trump 'win' GOP debate? Rivals ripped each other, not front runner