The Republican primaries are approaching, but that is no reason for Donald Trump to take part in the TV debate between the remaining candidates. While Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis bicker, he appears on Fox News.
Before the television debate began on CNN, the Republican field of candidates had already shrunk significantly: only three candidates were still in the race. And one of them, Donald Trump, stayed away again. His motto: He leads so clearly in the polls that he doesn’t need to debate with the others.
A well-founded impression, according to the averages from the latest polls of the Republican party base on the website RealClearPolitics: Trump is at 52 percent, Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis are each at around 16 percent, with slight advantages for Haley.
Mutual tearing apart
But what did former UN Ambassador Haley and her rival DeSantis, the governor of Florida, do when they met? They didn’t primarily criticize Trump, but rather attacked each other and accused each other of lying.
“He spends more time telling lies about me than telling the truth about himself,” Haley said of DeSantis. He countered: “Nikki Haley pursues the interests of her donors. I am running to represent the interests of the voters and their families.”
When it came to content, it became clear again: DeSantis is trying to position himself even further to the right than Trump is. For example, when it comes to the border wall with Mexico: “We will finish building the wall. Do what Trump only promised: make Mexico really pay for the wall. And deport migrants more decisively than Trump did.”
Haley, on the other hand, is more moderate. For example, she speaks out in favor of aid to Ukraine: “It’s about preventing war and further aggression by Russia.” And the aid only made up 3.5 percent of the defense budget, she argued.
Trump prefers to appear on Fox News
While his opponents dueled, Trump made a solo appearance on Fox News, fielding mostly friendly questions from the audience. How does he plan to prevent future wars? “Peace through strength,” was his answer. “The Ukraine war would never have happened with me as president, and the recent attack on Israel would never have happened,” he is certain. Now we have a weak president in the country and are doing things that were previously unthinkable.
Next Monday, all three will be on the ballot together in the Republican primaries in Iowa. The most exciting question, according to most observers, will be how far Trump will win in Iowa. According to surveys, the next primary election in New Hampshire could be closer – here Haley is only a few percentage points behind Trump.
After this evening of televised exchanges between Haley and DeSantis, the bottom line is that Trump can rub his hands again.
Ralf Borchard, ARD Washington, tagesschau, January 11, 2024 6:17 a.m