Haley and DeSantis go for each other’s jugular

An hour and fifteen minutes into Wednesday night’s presidential debate, Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley started arguing over Social Security reform.

The Florida governor said he wouldn’t raise the retirement age when the average life expectancy was falling. The former U.N. Ambassador reminded voters that he had voted to do just that in Congress. They talked about the impact of inflation and what younger generations should expect.

And then DeSantis accused Haley of engaging in ballistic podiatry … as in, shooting oneself in the foot.

The moment summarized the night as a whole. The fifth Republican primary date — the first to feature just two candidates — had its share of sharp exchanges and substantive moments.

But it also had obvious stagecraft too. Candidates who had honed their political skills over the past year on the trail came in with a sharpness to them and familiar, pre-rehearsed barbs. Haley mentioned a website she’d launched, "DeSantis lies dot com," at least 13 times. It felt stilted.

The debate took place just hours after Chris Christie announced he would be suspending his presidential campaign, offering a tantalizing opportunity for each of them to make appeals to his supporters, donors and endorsers. They also needed to use the night to present themselves as the chief alternative to Trump.

And unlike in past debates, they did take the opportunity to criticize the GOP frontrunner, with each raising disagreement with his conduct on Jan. 6 (a “terrible” day, as Haley said) and scoffing at the argument his lawyers are currently making that he is immune from prosecution for acts he took while in office.

But the night, ultimately, will be remembered as a grinding slugfest, one filled with policy disagreements, political knife fighting, but also a healthy dose of canned lines and accusations of foot shooting.

Highlights of the debate can be found below.

DeSantis and Haley share nice words … kind of

It was a night full of feisty attacks between DeSantis and Haley, but the moderators tried to end the debate on a lighter note. It ended up being a bit awkward.

When asked what DeSantis admires about Haley, he said he appreciated her work as U.N. ambassador. He also said that being governor of South Carolina is a “great achievement,” noting that his wife went to college there.

When asked what she admires about DeSantis, Haley offered a terse, “I think he’s been a good governor.”

“Okay,” moderator Jake Tapper said, as a few awkward chuckles broke out.

Haley and DeSantis disagree with Trump’s presidential immunity argument

DeSantis made clear he did not think a president was immune from criminal prosecution. The Florida governor said that Donald Trump's lawyers would lose their current appeal, in which they're arguing that he can't be prosecuted for his conduct while in office.

"It's not going to be an issue with me because I'm always going to follow the Constitution," DeSantis added.

Haley called the argument "absolutely ridiculous." She called the argument that a president could order the killing of a political rival and not be prosecuted for it unless he was impeached first something that lacked "common sense." Trump's lawyers have made that argument.

Attacking Trump on Jan. 6

Though Trump's actions on Jan. 6 don't seem to be of great importance to his supporters in the primary, polls show they remain a general election liability.

Haley dialed in on this point and said, "What happened on Jan. 6 was a terrible day. Trump will have to answer for it. Trump will have to answer for it.”

“The fact that he wanted to change what the states did, the fact that he wanted to overturn the election in D.C., those votes happen at the state level. You don’t ever allow in D.C. for those votes to be changed at the federal level,” Haley said. “States’ rights matter.”

DeSantis followed up saying “you can’t terminate the Constitution. I mean, you know he does,” he said referring to Trump, adding the former president commits “word vomit from time to time on social media.”

Haley: ‘These fellas don't know how to talk about abortion’

Haley, the only female candidate in the Republican race, sought to once again stake her position among the GOP field as comparatively moderate on abortion, an issue on which Republicans have frequently been on the losing side since the fall of Roe v. Wade two years ago.

The former South Carolina governor characterized herself as “unapologetically pro-life,” citing her husband and children. But she said the goal for Republicans should be to “save as many babies as possible” rather than “demonize the issue.”

In response to a criticism from DeSantis, who accused her of fabricating claims that some Republicans want to jail women over abortions, she pointed to legislation in her home state of South Carolina that would do just that. Haley doesn’t support the bill. But her remarks highlighted the tension among Republicans in navigating post-Roe policies.

DeSantis borrows Rep. Massie's zinger

One of the Florida governor’s oddest zingers of the night was accusing Haley of “ballistic podiatry.”

Luckily, he explained what he meant. “She’s got this problem with ballistic podiatry — shooting herself in the foot,” he said.

DeSantis isn’t the first to use the line in relation to Haley. GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who supports DeSantis, has said on X that it was a term used at MIT, his alma mater.

DeSantis' Social Security pledge: No age hikes when life expectancy is ‘declining’

DeSantis said he would not raise the retirement age “in the face of declining life expectancy.”

“I don't see how you can raise the retirement age when our life expectancy is collapsing in this country,” he said. “That's a huge problem in and of itself.”

Haley retorted that DeSantis voted to raise the retirement age for Social Security benefits three times during his time in Congress. She said that voters in their 20s should plan on the retirement age to change “to reflect more of what life expectancy should be.”

Haley dings DeSantis for campaign struggles

Haley repeatedly went after DeSantis’ campaign struggles and pointed to examples of lavish spending as a way of questioning his leadership — saying he had “blown through $150 million,” a figure that references spending by an outside super PAC backing DeSantis. The Florida governor himself does not control that money, though his campaign also blew through cash in its first few months before seemingly slimming down.

The former U.N. ambassador contrasted DeSantis’ private jet flights, mostly funded by the super PAC, Never Back Down, with her own travel, saying she flew commercial and stayed at Residence Inns.

“If he can't handle the financial parts of a campaign, how is he going to handle the economy when it comes to the White House?” she said.

DeSantis sought to fight back by arguing Haley was focused more on campaign mechanics than issues that affect voters. But after the Florida governor was cut off by moderators, Haley was ready with another dig: “I think I hit a nerve.”

Haley calls Defense Secretary's absence ‘unforgivable’

The revelation that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was hospitalized for several days without telling anyone at the White House landed as an issue in the middle of the Republican debate.

Haley, whose husband is an active member of the South Carolina Army National Guard, took umbrage at Austin's absence. The hospitalization was related to treatment for Austin's previously undisclosed prostate cancer diagnosis.

“As a military spouse, the idea that the secretary of defense would not even be in contact with the president, much less in contact with his staff, is unforgivable,” Haley said.

DeSantis won’t tell Israel not to expel Palestinians

DeSantis wasn’t willing to oppose a highly controversial idea floated by some far-right Israelis: the mass expulsion of Palestinians from territories such as Gaza, where Israel is fighting a war against Hamas militants that attacked it on Oct. 7.

Instead, he said he wouldn’t tell Israel what to do.

“I think there's a lot of issues with that. But if they make the calculation that to avert a second Holocaust, they need to do that — I think some of these Palestinian Arabs, Saudi Arabia should take some, Egypt should take some,” DeSantis said. “They've never been willing to accept any of these folks in their own neighborhood.”

Haley and DeSantis tangle over America’s support for Ukraine

Haley insisted that Washington had to help Kyiv stand up to Russia because if it didn’t, the Russian threat would grow and eventually reach NATO countries, pulling Washington in deeper.

DeSantis questioned the amounts of money being spent on the war and accountability for it, while also warning there seems to be no endgame.

“We need to find a way to end this,” he said, complaining that Haley “doesn’t articulate how this comes to an end.” DeSantis also said the focus on Ukraine was distracting America’s need to focus on the rising challenge from China, as well as domestic challenges.

"You can take the ambassador out of the United Nations," DeSantis said, "but you can't take the United Nations out of the ambassador."

Haley’s point on that end, however, was that allowing Russia to win in Ukraine was also a victory for China, which has largely backed Russia amid the war.

“Dictators always do what they say they’re gonna do,” she said. “This is about preventing war.”

Haley calls for deporting undocumented immigrants

When asked what she would do with the 10 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, Haley did not skip a beat.

“You have to deport them,” she said. “And the reason you have to deport them is they're cutting the line. … That is actually what will get them to stop coming, is when they do realize they get to the wall and they have to turn around and go back.”

DeSantis was actually asked the question first and skirted directly answering it. He promised that the “number of people that will be amnestied when I'm president is zero” and said he’d take away federal incentives and crack down on sanctuary cities. But he did not discuss deportation.

DeSantis sort of clarifies on Flat Tax

DeSantis clarified his recent comments supporting a flat tax, which would apply the same rate to all income levels.

“I would only do it if they are better off now. I want people paying less taxes,” DeSantis said.

DeSantis repeatedly sponsored a Fair Tax bill when he served in Congress. But there is concern within the Republican Party that the proposal brings with it major political vulnerabilities, as someone making $50,000 would be paying the same personal tax rate as a multi-millionaire. Grover Norquist, a longtime anti-tax advocate, has called it “suicidal.”

Haley and DeSantis open with laundry list of attacks on each other

The two candidates wasted little time in running through a range of quick attacks on each other touching on everything from education, previous praise of Hillary Clinton, being in the pocket of big donors, China, votes to raise the retirement age for Social Security, whether America needed an accountant or a leader, the gas tax, the grocery tax and so on.

Many of the lines were similar to those that have populated TV and digital ads targeting early state voters over the past few months.

DeSantis referred to Haley as a “mealy-mouthed politician” and pointed to more recent comments in New Hampshire that her opponents have argued denigrated Iowa voters, while attacking her on education and universal school choice.

Haley retorted by directing listeners to a website launched by her campaign to catalog DeSantis’ “lies.” She then accused him of flip-flopping on raising the debt limit, as well as on support for Ukraine, and pointed to his support for legislation to ban the renewable fuel standard, an issue with particular salience in Iowa.

“Every time he lies, Drake University, don't turn this into a drinking game because you will be overserved by the end of the night,” she quipped.

It was, in short, an oppo dump more than a debate opening. It foreshadowed a long night.