The CNN debate closed on Jan. 10 with awkward smiles from both Mr. DeSantis and Ms. Haley.
After CNN’s Jake Tapper pitched the network's coverage of the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 15, Mr. DeSantis folded up his notes and walked toward stage right, the opposite direction of Ms. Haley. His son, Mason DeSantis, ran onto the stage for a hug.
The network cut away and the next shot was the Florida governor embracing his young son and his wife, Casey DeSantis. Florida’s First Family walked off the stage waving to the crowd.
In his closing debate remarks, Mr. DeSantis told viewers that former President Trump is "running for his issues" and Ms. Haley is "running for her donors' issues."
"I'm running for your issues, your family's issues, and solely to turn this country around," he said.
"I'm the only one running that's delivered on 100 percent of my promises, and I'm the only one running that has beaten the left time and time again from the teachers' unions to [Dr. Anthony] Fauci to the Democratic Party."
In conclusion, Ms. Haley said that America cannot afford “four more years of chaos” whether it’s under President Biden or President Trump.
Ms. Haley touted polls that show her handedly beating President Biden whereas they show President Trump barely beating President Biden.
“We can't go through another nail-biter of an election,” she said.
After what the moderators called a lively debate, the candidates were challenged to say something positive about each other.
Mr. DeSantis said he thought Ms. Haley “spoke out strongly on some key issues and I appreciated it” while she was representing the U.S. at the UN.
The Florida governor changed the subject somewhat saying his wife went to South Carolina’s College of Charleston and her family lived in the Palmetto State for years.
Mr. DeSantis decried President Biden’s green agenda. He said he would get out of the Obama-era Paris Climate Agreement, which the United States re-entered on President Biden’s first day in office after the United States withdrew from it under President Trump. He called out the hypocrisy of President Obama and climate envoy John Kerry in that they preach climate change but they themselves have a huge carbon footprint.
“John Kerry hasn't given up his private jet,” he said. “Obama hasn't given up his Martha's Vineyard seaside mansion.”
Ms. Haley blasted President Barrack Obama for what she said was not holding China and India, two of the world’s biggest polluters, accountable.
On the campaign trail, many voters are really concerned about mental health, particularly with kids in school and people coming out of service to our country, Mr. DeSantis stated.
"We're going to put a big emphasis on mental health," he said. "I've actually delivered on some of these things in Florida."
Mr. DeSantis argued that the federal government's response to COVID led to "devastating mental health consequences for the school closures."
When asked about her healthcare policy proposals, Ms. Haley said the U.S. needs to deal with its problem of having the most expensive healthcare system in the world. Her solution is to “open it all up from the hospitals to the insurance companies to the doctor's offices to the pharmaceuticals to the [Pharmacy Benefit Managers] and make them have to show us everything.”
Ms. Haley vowed to establish a healthcare system where patients know how much they will be charged for something before a visit or procedure.
“We're going to take the patient out of the backseat and put them in the driver's seat,” Ms. Haley said. “We're going to go and make it transparent so that we can see everything so they have to show us their warts.”
Mr. DeSantis said the Appeals Court will rule against former President Donald Trump in his claim that immune from Special Counsel Jack Smith's prosecution over his attempts to challenge the 2020 election results.
Mr. DeSantis said it would be detrimental if President Trump were the nominee amid his legal troubles.
“What are the odds that he's going to get through that and that they've been talking about the the validity of the charges. I don't think he gets through that,” he said.
Ms. Haley disagrees with former President Trump about Jan. 6 and is concerned that he will carry out the 2020 election battle "forever."
"He said that January 6 was a beautiful day. I think January 6 was a terrible day, and we should never want to see that happen again," Ms. Haley said.
She called for fair elections and pointed out "some discrepancies" in the 2020 election "that should be concerning."
Ms. Haley demurred when asked about President Trump’s unclear stance on abortion.
“Don't ask me what President Trump thinks you need to have him on this debate stage and ask him for yourself,” she said.
Mr. DeSantis slammed President Trump for objecting to 6-week abortion ban in Iowa enacted by GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds. Mr. DeSantis enacted such a ban as Florida's governor.
Mr. DeSantis proposed a "28th Amendment" to the Constitution that says, "Congress shall make no law respecting the citizens of the United States that does not also apply to members of Congress themselves."
He cited members of Congress "making a killing in the stock market," alluding to Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who "could run a very lucrative hedge fund."
As a result of Congress spending Social Security's massive surpluses, Mr. DeSantis proposed various ways to fix Washington.
President Donald Trump responded during his town hall with Fox News to questions on whether his second term would be more about “retribution” than policy.
“There are questions about how much a second term of a Donald Trump presidency second term would be about retribution and looking backwards and grievances and how much would be looking forward,” Fox News anchor Brett Baier said.
President Trump quickly replied, “I’m not going to have time for retribution. We’re going to make this country so successful again, I’m not gonna have time for retribution.
While the candidates were discussing social security policy, the debate turned personal.
“That’s not true. That’s such a lie, Ron,” Ms. Haley said.
“That is wrong you’ve supported all that money going over there,” Mr. DeSantis said referring to Ukraine.
President Donald Trump clarified his stance on abortion, in response to a question from a pro-life voter who said that the issue was the most important for her.
In his past campaigns, President Trump presented himself as strongly pro-life, pushing for the end of Roe v. Wade and strongly criticizing abortion.
The voter pointed out that recently President Trump has spoken out against some of the strictest anti-abortion statutes. Trump has said that these statutes are politically unpopular and bad for the Republican Party. Specifically, President Trump has criticized some bills that effectively ban abortion at six weeks.
Mr. DeSantis wants to stop relying too much on China by being strategic and methodical and focusing "on the things that are of national significant."
He cited pharmaceuticals, military, and weaponry as "important things" that the U.S. should not depend on Beijing in the event of a worldwide conflict.
"You got to be smart about it," Mr. DeSantis said.
Ms. Haley called for education to be state-centric including for school choice to be determined on the state level. Ms. Haley noted she tried to get school choice enacted when she was governor of South Carolina but the GOP state legislature blocked it.
Mr. DeSantis touted enacting school choice in Florida and taking on teacher’s unions.
Mr. DeSantis repeatedly blasted Ms. Haley for not getting school choice through to which she fired back and asked Mr. DeSantis how he can lead the country when his campaign has been losing money.
Mr. DeSantis accused Ms. Haley of siding with Disney in his battle against the entertainment company and invited it to South Carolina despite being involved in "transing kids."
This is part of her broader representation of the corporate element in the Republican Party, he noted.
She supported $900 million in subsidies to Boeing when she was governor of South Carolina, Mr. DeSantis said. When Ms. Haley left office, she took a seat on the company's board and made millions of dollars, he added.
Mr. DeSantis defended his record as Florida governor that has included signing a parental rights in education law – which was blasted by Disney and the left.
“It is wrong to sexualize the curriculum,” he said, adding “this is something that's important to us personally.”
Ms. Haley believes President Joe Biden has been slow to respond to the escalation in the Middle East, saying that "he's been hiding in a corner, and he hasn't dealt with it."
"What bothers me is how does Biden not talk to his Secretary of Defense every single day, knowing that we have a war in Europe, a war in the Middle East, with strikes going on them?" Ms. Haley said.
The idea that the Secretary of Defense is not in constant contact with President Biden and his staff is "unforgivable," she explained.
Ms. Haley called out Mr. DeSantis for campaigning with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who has voted against pro-Israel measures.
“It's really rich that Ron is going to act like he suddenly cares for Israel. When he brought the person to Iowa with it's the most anti-Israel Republican in the [country],” Ms. Haley said. “The person that went and voted against Israel's right to exist in Congress, the person that voted with the squad against anti-semitism on college campuses.”
Mr. DeSantis dismissed the accusation as “cheap garbage.” In response, he touted his state’s status as what he called a haven for Orthodox Judaism and his executive action to help Americans flee Israel when war broke out. He also called out recent measures in Florida to protect religious expression.
Mr. DeSantis called on Israel to "finish the job” in destroying the terrorist group Hamas, which launched its latest attack on the Jewish state on Oct. 7, carrying out, as he noted, the greatest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
Mr. DeSantis objected to the idea of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian state.
He would not say whether Israel should remove Palestinians from Gaza, though he said “there would be a lot of issues with that.”
President Donald Trump joked during his Fox News town hall that he’s “already started to like [Chris] Christie better.”
President Trump’s joke alluded to the former New Jersey governor’s decision to drop out of the race hours before President Trump’s town hall appearance.
“It’s clear to me tonight that there isn’t a path for me to win the nomination,” Christie told voters hours before President Trump’s comments. “Which is why I’m suspending my campaign for president of the United States.”
Ms. Haley reiterated no U.S. troops and cash for Ukraine amid its war with Russia, which invaded the eastern European country in February 2022.
Ms. Haley said that U.S. support for Ukraine would “prevent war” as Russia entering NATO territory would ignite a war as the United States is a member of the alliance. She reiterated her support for sending weaponry to Kyiv.
“If Russia wins, China wins,” she said. If Ukraine wins, she said, China will not invade Taiwan.
Mr. DeSantis said that those in the United States illegally would not get citizenship under his watch and would have no benefits. Additionally, he would “crack down” on sanctuary cities.
He called out California for giving benefits to illegal aliens.
“We should not let states provide these benefits,” he said.
Ms. Haley believes that the federal government needs to do more than build a wall to stop illegal immigration.
"You can't just build a wall. You have to do more than build a wall," she said. "It was having the wall and everything else."
Mr. DeSantis accused his opponent of opposing the border wall in 2016 and ridiculed former President Donald Trump.
Mr. DeSantis blasted James Madison High in Brooklyn for housing illegal immigrants and therefore having students learn virtually.
He said this was “putting Americans last.”
“You're putting these kids out of an education because you can't control the border,” remarked Mr. DeSantis.
Mr. DeSantis, when asked about a tax proposal he’s shopping, said the IRS is “weaponized against conservatives going back to the Obama administration.”
“No one’s been held accountable for that,” Mr. DeSantis said.
Mr. DeSantis went on to say similar behavior by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Justice, and other federal agencies “ends the day I become the president of the United States.”
When asked if he would support a flat tax—a single income tax rate for every American—Mr. DeSantis conceded that he would only support it "if people are better off than they are now."
"I want people paying less taxes actually," he said.
The federal government generated the highest percentage of taxes from the economy since the Second World War, Mr. DeSantis noted.
Ms. Haley reiterated her economic agenda: have spending at pre-COVID levels, “clawing back $100 billion of unspent COVID dollars” and fire 87,000 IRS agents. She said she would reign in spending and eliminate earmarks, pet projects and the federal gas and diesel tax. She would also simplify tax brackets, cut taxes for the middle class and make the small business tax permanent.
Mr. DeSantis said, “We don't need an accountant in the White House. We need a leader in the White House and that's what I would bring.” He went on to say he would reduce spending and open up American energy production.
Ms. Haley also called out Mr. DeSantis for voting to lift the debt limit when he was a member of Congress.
Mr. DeSantis targeted Ms. Haley on China, saying that her top achievement as governor of South Carolina was bringing China into her state.
"She wrote a love letter," Mr. DeSantis said, adding that Ms. Haley is on video "saying China's friend."
"There's a video of her on the website right in front of a Chinese flag saying that she works for them now," he said.
Ms. Haley said the next president needs to have “moral clarity” to govern. Clarity is needed, she said, to understand the difference between spending taxpayers money and their own money, to deal with dictators and fight for democracy.
“When you look at Donald Trump, I have said I think he was the right president at the right time. I agree with a lot of his policies, but his way is not my way,” Ms. Haley said. “I don't have vengeance. I don't have vendettas I don't take things personally.”
Ms. Haley said she does not take things personally, she doesn't believe in drama or whining. Instead, her agenda is getting things done.
The CNN debate opened with the question why Republicans should vote for each candidate over Trump.
Mr. DeSantis said he is running on policy for the people while President Trump is “running to pursue his issues” and that “Nikki Haley is running to pursue her donors’ issues.”
“I'm running to pursue your issues and your family's issues,” he said. “And to turn this country around. I'm the only one running that's delivered on 100% of the promises that I've made.”
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Jan. 10 announced he was suspending his campaign for the White House.
“I’ve always said that if there came a point in time in this race where I couldn’t see a path to accomplishing that goal, I would get out. And it’s clear to me tonight that there isn’t a path for me to win the nomination, which is why I’m suspending my campaign tonight for president of the United States,” Mr. Christie said in Windham, New Hampshire.
He made the announcement at what was supposed to be a town hall campaign appearance. It came only hours before the 9 p.m. ET kickoff time for the fifth Republican presidential debate and just five days before the Jan. 15 Iowa caucus.
DES MOINES, Iowa—Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley will square off Jan. 10 in the fifth and final Republican presidential debate before the Iowa caucuses.
Former President Donald Trump, who holds a commanding lead in polls of likely Iowa caucusgoers, will again skip the debate to hold an event of his own.
The stakes are high for both debate participants in this debate, coming just five days before the caucuses.
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