The Republican Debate: What Happened?

In case you missed it, the full video of the fourth Republican presidential primary debate is now available to watch.

Is there a point to watching it other than for entertainment value? Probably not.

It was the first debate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis seemed to wake up and realize he would need to fight harder for the second-place position in Iowa if he hoped to thwart former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley’s advance. All of this is moot, however, as former President Donald Trump continues to march toward victories in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina.

Nothing much changed on Wednesday night except for the tone of argument between Vivek Ramaswamy and everyone else on stage. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie finally had it with Ramaswamy and accused of him being a bully. That’s rich coming from a man whose only campaign platform is attacking Donald Trump.

Among the most memorable moments of the night was this exchange between Ramaswamy and Haley which went way over the top in terms of typical civil discourse but was pure fodder for social media memes:

One of the most noteworthy moments of the night when Vivek Ramaswamy attacks Nikki Haley:

"Nikki is corrupt. This is a woman who will send your kids to die so she can buy a bigger house."
pic.twitter.com/wNgme43DBX

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) December 7, 2023

Holding up the sign after saying it multiple times almost turned it into a sketch comedy act. As if you couldn’t get what Ramaswamy was saying, here’s a visual to hammer it home.

Is Nikki Haley corrupt? Probably not more so than any other politician riding the coattails of their own time in office. Ramaswamy is not wrong to pull this thread, most Americans are disgusted with the revolving door of politician-to-lobbyist-to-board member, but the way he approached it was too in your face and came off too mean. Trump would’ve said it differently and made the same point without eliciting sympathy for the victim on the receiving end.

DeSantis attacked Haley many times as well, most notably for a recent clip that surfaced of the former ambassador saying she didn’t want the government getting involved in regulating child abuse in the form of gender mutilation.

First, here’s the clip of Haley saying that the law should stay out of parents being allowed to trans their children from a few weeks back on a CBS News morning show:

Here’s the full video of Nikki Haley speaking about trans issue. pic.twitter.com/NAB80wXvWN

— Sri Harsha (@X___PB) December 5, 2023

Haley: “The law should stay out of it”

That’s what she said about mutilating children at the hands of the transgender lobby. Either by physical mutilation or mutilation through hormones, Nikki Haley doesn’t believe the barbaric practice needs to be regulated by the government in any way. Is that what she means? Because that’s what it sounds like she means.

Children are not able to get a tattoo, drive a car, vote, open a credit card, or even buy a can of spray paint on their own. In Haley’s world, if they want to cut off their breasts or surgically alter their genitals rendering them sterile for the rest of their life, the law should stay out of it.

DeSantis took the ball and ran:

Within the first few minutes of this GOP debate, Ro DeSantis and Nikki Haley are already arguing about "genital mutilation" and trans kids.

Megyn Kelly moves on, but adds: "Trust me, we’re coming back to this issue." pic.twitter.com/wStgjcFtgh

— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) December 7, 2023

And it continued:

Ron DeSantis absolutely wrecked Nikki Haley on the trans issue. pic.twitter.com/YMRJHDJGKK

— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) December 7, 2023

But, she did say that. In her own words, Haley plainly said “the law should stay out of it” if parents want to inflict gender reassignment surgery on their children.

It was an attempt by Haley to come out as a “parents rights” supporter, but she chose the wrong avenue. In the rest of society, we don’t say “parents rights” allow parents to abuse children or intentionally put them in harm’s way. However, in trying to broaden her appeal and be everything to everyone, she softened her stance on the trans issue for some reason. She got called out, and she lied about what she said.

In short, Haley sort of got destroyed on Wednesday night on multiple fronts. Her chameleon act of playing the moderate in the race hit a wall on the debate stage.

The only one coming to Haley’s defense was Christie in this tense exchange with Ramaswamy:

Chris Christie calls out Vivek for insulting Nikki Haley, but Christie's entire campaign has been about insulting President Trump.

MAKE IT MAKE SENSE! pic.twitter.com/e3I7L4N1m8

— Nick Adams (Alpha Male) (@NickAdamsinUSA) December 7, 2023

To which Vivek responded:

Vivek to Chris Christie: Your version of foreign policy experience was closing a bridge from New Jersey to New York, so do everybody a favor, walk yourself off this state, enjoy a nice meal, and get the hell out of this race.”
pic.twitter.com/0OycHAnMtM

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) December 7, 2023

Christie should, in fact, get out of the race. So should Ramaswamy, for the matter. Neither one is going to be the nominee. Christie’s campaign exists only to poke Donald Trump in the eye, and nothing more. He’s hypocritical in the way he endlessly attacks Trump, then plays a virtue card as he chastises everyone else on stage for attacking Haley. It’s a pathetic act.

All-in-all, an entertaining night. A win for the moderators as Megyn Kelly and company did a superb job of shrinking away and letting the candidates duke it out. They asked good questions and didn’t get hung up on dumb “gotcha” issues.

The result? Trump remains the top contender for the nomination while the backup acts play a good debate on TV.