By Piper Sartison
Elm Staff Writer
On Wednesday, Nov. 8, the third Republican debate took place in Miami and was streamed through NBC News. Overall, the debate was dense, as the topics covered a wide range of domestic and foreign issues in America.
A main takeaway from the event was the continued absence of former President Donald Trump, who was leading a rally a few miles away. One would assume that the political leaders would have taken this opportunity to discredit his candidacy; yet, he surprisingly was barely discussed in the two-hour debate. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis did, however, mention his rocky past as a President, saying he is “sick of Republicans losing.”
One of the key points in the discussion was foreign policy. According to The New York Times, Former Governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley “emerged as a power center on the debate stage, giving a forceful performance that took advantage of the night’s focus on foreign policy.”
Haley has a background as a United States ambassador to the United Nations. Her motivations lie in diminishing the previous foreign policy goals of Trump’s.
Haley came out confident in stating her foreign policy visions. She announced her support for military strikes in Iran and vowed to support Israel in every way possible. The following candidates supported her stance, sharing various versions of the same argument.
The Washington Post consider DeSantis and Haley to be the most popular competitors for the position against Trump.
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, a candidate from Ohio, meanwhile, was clearly in a distressed state throughout the night. The New York Times stated that he “fought not just with the rivals flanking him but also with the NBC moderators.”
One can infer that he may be attempting to intimidate his competitors through mockery, as he poked fun at DeSantis’ height and made a misogynistic comment about Haley, calling her “Dick Cheney in three-inch heels.”
According to Politico campaign reporter Natalie Allison, “the biggest winner [of the debate was] Nikki Haley. She managed to articulate her policy positions, defend her record, attack her primary rivals and deliver headline-making lines. DeSantis held his own on foreign policy and the rest of his platform, but failed in any memorable way to weaken Haley, his top rival in the undercard race.”
Senator Tim Scott, an underdog among the Republican Candidates, was an interesting figure in the debate. He qualified as a speaker by a narrow margin, and only seemed to preach his idea of America needing to face some form of a spiritual healing.
Abortion was one of the central topics of the debate, yet the candidates lacked confidence and assurance in answering the question. One can wonder why a group of Republican political leaders struggle to discuss this topic with assurance, especially after they achieved their dream of overruling Roe vs. Wade in the Supreme Court.
Overall, the third Republican debate was tense, messy, and underwhelming.
The candidates stated similar responses to questions regarding foreign policy, social security, Tik Tok, and abortion. It would have been interesting to hear their answers to further questions regarding financial and social issues in America.
One positive note was that they seemed to be somewhat united in their division between Donald Trump, who was a sheer disaster during his time in the Oval Office.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Photo caption: Nikki Haley recently achieved consistency in her political success on the campaign trail and at Republican debates.