Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley dogfight for second place, while Trump walks around | International

This Wednesday night, while Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley attacked each other, accused each other of lying and raged in a debate on CNN, Donald Trump was laughing on Fox. She was a stage guest with an audience in which most who asked her, competed to show who admired her the most. The former president performed as a stand-up comedian, making jokes and occasionally spoofing or insulting him without anyone answering him back. He also assured that he has already decided who to choose for the post of Vice President. The double-screen debate comes less than five days before the start of the Iowa caucuses, the first leg of the primary race toward the nomination as the Republican candidate for the White House.

Trump leads the polls among likely Republican primary voters with more than 60% voting intention, while Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Governor and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley each have about 12%. The two are in a dogfight as they are in second place and voters see them as their party’s alternative to Donald Trump.

The battle between the two intensifies as the race becomes less crowded. After the withdrawal of former Vice President Mike Pence, Senator Tim Scott and Governor Doug Burgum, this Wednesday it was former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie who threw in the towel. Christie sees no chance of the nomination and sees preventing Trump from becoming president again as more important than his personal ambitions. For that reason, they believe his withdrawal could favor Trump’s alternative candidates, particularly Haley in New Hampshire, another stop in the Jan. 23 primary.

While heavy snow and extreme cold are threatening to attend the Iowa caucuses, where voters gather to debate and vote for their favorites, candidates are trying to attract maximum support and this Wednesday’s session was one of the biggest countdown highlights.

With two candidates, the debate has been more organized, but also more boring. Both candidates were very close together on a big stage, but both were looking ahead, without their eyes meeting, which made natural interaction difficult. There were a few interruptions between them and Haley looked a bit ridiculous, raising her hand almost every time DeSantis spoke to ask for her turn, when it was by definition her turn. In the case of DeSantis, when he is not speaking his complex gestures gain prominence from those two-handed arrangements. Both have talked so much and given so many speeches that almost everything they say already sounds familiar, as if they are on autopilot.

Throughout almost the entire debate, DeSantis took an aggressive stance, repeatedly attacking Haley, who as a main defense accused his opponent of lying at every turn, and referring the audience to visit DeSantisLies.com to count his lies. I asked him again and again (and again and again and again …). The two have taken more hits at each other than Trump, which would likely leave them without the nomination. They have insisted that the time has come to turn the political, judicial and generational page, but they have not dared to assert that Trump does not respect the Constitution.

In terms of content, both have returned to their common theme. In essence, DeSantis accuses Haley of not being conservative enough and caring too much about international politics. The candidate accuses him of lying and rigging the election. “You can cut Social Security benefits for septuagenarians while paying pensions for Ukrainian bureaucrats,” DeSantis charged Haley at a moment in the debate that summed up the general tone. And the candidate, who previously accused the Florida governor of lying about her support for pension money for Ukrainians, replied: “You’re so desperate, Ron, you’re so desperate.” DeSantis at other times accused his rival of “ballistic podiatry,” meaning shooting himself in the foot.

January 6, a “terrible day”

The candidate criticized incumbent President Joe Biden, for the current issue, the secret hospitalization of Defense Secretary, Lloyd Austin. “How come Biden doesn’t talk to his defense secretary every day knowing there’s a war in Europe, a war in the Middle East?” he asked. “The idea that the secretary of defense is not even in touch with the president, much less in touch with his staff, is inexcusable.”

Haley also described as “absolutely ridiculous” the immunity thesis defended by Trump’s lawyers before a Washington court on Tuesday, according to which the president cannot be prosecuted even for ordering the assassination of a political rival if there was no prior political process. (accusation) For which he has been convicted by a two-thirds majority of the Senate. He also said that January 6, 2021 was not “a beautiful day” as Trump called it, but a “terrible day”. “Trump lost that election, Biden won.”

DeSantis has focused on denouncing what, in his view, Trump is being unfairly persecuted by justice. His point is that, even if it is unfair, this persecution hinders him as a candidate. “If Trump is the candidate, everything will happen on January 6,” he said.

During Trump’s public appearances on Fox News, Trump answered non-committal questions and delivered messages that suited him.

The former president claimed who will be his running mate with him and will contest for the vice presidency in his candidacy, although he did not want to reveal who it is. “I can’t tell you, really. “I mean, I know who it would be,” he said.

When asked if he would consider any of the primary rivals, he resorted to the humorous tone that marked much of the program. “Sure, I will, I will. I’m already starting to like Christie more,” he joked. Shortly before announcing that he was throwing in the towel, Christie was caught at an open microphone that he didn’t count by saying that he didn’t think Haley had a chance. At the moment, she is fighting to become another.

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