The GOP presidential hopefuls are in Miami for a debate

The Third Reionization Debate in Miami: Five Candidates and One Explanation for Their Failure to Become a Superconductor

The third Republican presidential debate will take place Wednesday evening in Miami with the smallest field of contestants yet — just five candidates. That’s down from the clamorous field of eight who shouted and jostled their way through the first encounter in Milwaukee in August.

This will be the smallest slate of candidates on stage yet. There were only five Republican candidates who met the Republican National Committee’s qualifications this time around.

Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota did not reach the required 4 percent in polls but did beat the donor threshold. The seventh candidate who was at the September debate, former Vice President Mike Pence, ended his campaign in October.

The former president has not qualified for any of the Republican debates so far, even though he has met the polling and fundraising thresholds. But he has not met qualifying standards – specifically one that requires each candidate to pledge they will support whoever wins the nomination. Trump has flat out refused to sign that pledge: he has also said that he doesn’t want to elevate his opponents by being on stage with them.

Just like in the last two debates, though, Trump is planning some counter programming. He will hold a rally during the debate. Hialeah is a predominately Cuban American area — which is a subset of voters Trump has done very well with. Latino voters in South Florida preferred Trump over expectations.

Ms. Haley has drawn more attention in recent weeks, as other candidates — most notably former Vice President Mike Pence — have lost support or dropped out. She has a chance to use her momentum to eclipse Mr. DeSantis, her most serious rival in the race, to be the top Trump alternative.

This will be the first debate since Israel was attacked by Hamas on Oct. 7. Israel’s response and how Biden is handling the crisis will be up for discussion. RNC chair Ronna stated in a statement that the party is partnering with the Republican Jewish Coalition and she expects the candidates to reiterate their support of Israel on stage.

NBC will show the debate. The event can be streamed at the NBC News website as well as on other streaming services. On NBC News Now and on both NBC and NBC, coverage will begin at 7 p.m.

Noticias Telemundo will broadcast the debate with Spanish translations on its website, mobile app and social media accounts. Universo, a Spanish-language NBC affiliate, will also broadcast the debate with translations.

Haley Hasn’t Seen a One: Trump or DeSantis? An Iowa Governor Can’t Have an Easy Night in November

To qualify for the second debate, candidates needed to have at least 70,000 unique donors and record 4 percent support in at least two national polls and two polls from early-voting.

Ms. Haley has a choice here: Will she devote more time to her attacks on Mr. Trump or to challenging Mr. DeSantis? The video that was released by her campaign claims that the governor will not have an easy night.

In New Hampshire in October, Mr. DeSantis made a similar critique of the president. “Now is not the time to be doing like what Donald Trump did by attacking Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, attacking Israel’s defense minister, saying somehow that Hezbollah were ‘very smart,’” he said.

The attacks of Trump on his foreign policy credentials has made this difficult for Mr. DeSantis. His re- election last year as governor in Miami was a resounding success. Kim Reynolds, the governor of Iowa, endorsed him this week. Mr. DeSantis has staked his bid on his performance in the state’s first-in-the-nation caucuses on Jan. 15.

What should you do to hurt us? He said so in an interview. “If he says something which I think is worthy of being responded to, I’ll respond to it. But I’ve now spent four hours on the debate stage with him, and I haven’t heard him say one thing worthy of being responded to.”

The Role of Foreign Policy in Nominating the 2016 U.S. Senate XXVIII: Ukraine, Russia, and the Middle East

There are exceptions to the foreign policy that has not proved determinative during presidential nominating contests. But the war in Ukraine and the bloodshed in the Middle East are likely to feature prominently at the debate on Wednesday.

The question of aid to Ukraine is dividing the Republican Party and could show how different the candidates would be from Mr. Trump. The candidates are likely to be asked whether they agree with the plan to tie money for Ukranian to a border bill.

Haley referred to her time as U.N. Ambassador as a time when she called on Israel to “finish” Hamas and described support for Israel as the tip of the spear when it comes to Islamic terrorism.

Mr. Ramaswamy proved to be an energetic debater in the first debate, but by the second debate he became more of a target. As he registers in the single-digits in many polls, he does not loom as a major force in the race going into tonight. And Mr. Christie could hardly be more out of step with much of the Republican Party with his relentless attacks on Mr. Trump: He is routinely booed at Republican events.

There are many questions surrounding how many people will be watching. In the second debate, viewing dropped to 10 million from 12 million in the first debate. It appears unlikely that Donald Trump will make a dramatic last-minute appearance on the stage.

The waning audience is perhaps not a surprise given Mr. Trump’s dominance. With Mr. Trump enjoying a wide lead in many polls, the race can feel like it is over before a single vote is cast, even if large swaths of Republicans say they are at least open to nominating someone else.

The third Republican primary debate: What to expect, where to go, and when to expect new leadership in the U.S. Department of State

There were a number of times when the two disagreed, one of them being when Haley accused him of being pro-China as governor of South Carolina. Haley and Ramaswamy’s exchanges had the most heat.

It’s been a contentious primary so far, and as the field narrows, the undercard candidates appear to be feeling pressure to stand out from their rivals even as Trump continues to dominate.

The debate was lead by Trump even though he wasn’t there. NBC’s Lester Holt, one of the moderators, opened with a question about the absent frontrunner, asking why they should be the nominee instead.

The candidates all are vying to replace him, but they’ve each taken a slightly different approach to navigating the thorny issue of how to take on a frontrunner who is deeply popular with the party’s base without alienating those voters.

“It’s time for a new leader since a lot has happened since Donald Trump’s ascent, and he needs toanswer for his record,” said the congressman.

Haley tried to thread the needle, validating voters who’d supported Trump in the past while calling for new leadership: “I think he was the right President at the right time. I don’t think he’s the right man for the job. She accused Trump of getting “weak in the knees” on foreign policy issues including support for Ukraine.

Ramaswamy dodged the Trump question completely but instead called for new leadership, pointing out that the party got trounced last night and that there was a picture oflosers.

Ramaswamy made a strange suggestion, saying that billionaire Elon Musk, Joe Rogan and former Fox News Host Tucker Carlson should have moderated the debate.

Christie, who is challenging Trump directly, said the United States needed a leader who would look outward and make it look inward.

Source: 6 takeaways from the third Republican primary debate

What do Republican presidential candidates tell Netanyahu about the Israeli war breaking and the border problem? — Six takeaway lessons from the third Republican primary debate —

Support for Israel has historically been bipartisan in the United States, but Republican support is particularly strong – especially among the party’s white evangelical Christian base – and the candidates each jockeyed to demonstrate their steadfast backing for the world’s only Jewish state.

Asked what they would tell Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the candidates largely echoed each other. DeSantis said he would tell him to, “finish the job” with Hamas. DeSantis touted his efforts to bring home Americans who found themselves trapped in Israel as the war broke out.

Ramaswamy promised he would smoke the terrorists on our southern border if the Israeli leader asked him to.

Responding to a later question about rising antisemitism on college campuses, Ramaswamy expressed support for free speech before saying, “These kids have no idea what they’re talking about when they side with Hamas over Israel. They are not real.

Ramaswamy once again voiced doubt about the funding, prompting Haley to say that Russian President Putin and Chinese President Xi would be interested in a person like that becoming president.

Haley wants to tie U.S. funding forUkraine to funding for Israel, to make the point that backing both war efforts is a larger goal of shoring up democracies around the world.

The United States will not send troops to Ukranian but will send troops to the Mexican border. China was called the nation’s greatest national security threat by his call for greater focus.

Scott talked about the southern border in foreign policy, an issue that the candidates feel more comfortable talking about on the campaign trail.

Source: 6 takeaways from the third Republican primary debate

The Third Republican Primary Debate: Six Takeaways from a Candidate’s Discussion about Foreign Policy Around the Israel-Hamas War

During a discussion about foreign policy around the Israel-Hamas war,Ramaswamy seemed to take a stab at either Haley, the only female candidate, or DeSantis, whose footwear has been a recent subject of speculation. Ramaswamy asked, “Do you want Dick Cheney wearing three-inch heels?”

The tone continued in the discussion of Chinese influence. Another moderator, conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt of Salem Radio Network, asked the candidates about the potential national security risk associated with social media platform TikTok.

Hewitt noted that Ramaswamy has campaigned on TikTok, and asked how he would restrict a product he uses. Ramaswamy accused his daughter of having used the app.

Asked about a plan for keeping the program for elderly and disabled Americans solvent in the long-term, Christie and Haley each said they would increase the eligibility age, but declined to say by how much. Christie said wealthy Americans should not accept Social Security, citing billionaire Warren Buffet as an example, but did not specify an income level at which he believes such a rule should apply.

DeSantis appeared skeptical of Haley’s suggestion of tying the retirement age to increasing life expectancy since the program was created, noting that life expectancy has been declining in recent years.

Scott warned against raising the retirement age for people with physical jobs that become more difficult to perform with age, and appealed to the plight of farmers who do heavy physical labor in the first-in-the-nation-caucus state of Iowa.

Source: 6 takeaways from the third Republican primary debate

Six Takeaways from the Third Republican Primary Debate: The Case for Prohibiting Abortion in the United States and the Implications for the State Legislature

The disappointing election results for Republicans who oppose abortion rights made it inevitable that a question on the topic would be asked. The issue did not come up until over 90 minutes into the debate.

The challenge for Republicans in their primaries is to win over the conservative base of the party without alienating the swing voters of the general election. As moderator Kristen Welker of NBC noted, that political risk for Republicans was underscored by the election results. Welker asked the candidates if they saw a path forward for the Republicans on the abortion issue.

Ramaswamy was upset about the vote to add reproductive rights amendment to the state constitution and called for a greater emphasis on sexual responsibility for men.

The role of state legislature in deciding abortion policy was emphasized by Christie and Haley. “I trust the people of this country, state by state, to make this call for themselves,” Christie said, adding that he finds his home state of New Jersey’s liberal abortion laws “reprehensible.”

Of all five candidates on stage, Scott has arguably made the most direct pitch to religious conservatives, emphasizing his Christian beliefs and opposition to abortion. With Mike Pence out of the race, Scott seemed to pick up where he left off, calling for a 15-week abortion ban.

Haley stated on the stage that if a law were to pass it would require a Republican majority in Congress as well as the presidency.

Source: 6 takeaways from the third Republican primary debate

The First Question about Scott’s War for Conservative Values Revisited: “The Bible is an Explanation in Paradoxical Perspective”

Scott quoted the Bible, and then said that he wanted to win the war for Christian conservative values, after answering the first question.