UPDATED: 06 DEC 2023 08:58 PM EST
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie turned to his fellow candidates shortly after Wednesday night’s presidential primary debate began and implored them to go after the man who wasn’t there: Former president Donald Trump.
“I’m looking at my watch now. We're 17 minutes into this debate, and except for your little speech in the beginning, we've had these three acting as if the race is between the four of us,” he stressed, referring to his GOP rivals on stage.
And then, the rest of the field largely ignored him.
Trump was off stage literally and figuratively for much of the fourth primary debate in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He was occasionally referenced and obliquely criticized, like when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis noted that Mexico had not — as Trump promised — paid for a border wall; or when former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley said he was good on trade but bad on everything else related to China.
But, largely, he skated.
It wasn’t for lack of opportunity. Trump clearly impacted the debate without being there. The questions often were geared around him or the things he said, like a query about whether the fellow candidates would also want to repeal and replace Obamacare. The other presidential aspirants often found themselves discussing moments of Trump’s presidency without prompt: like when tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy insisted that the attacks on the capital on Jan. 6 were an “inside job.”
He remained the axis around which the debate spun, even without being on stage.
At the halfway point, moderator Megyn Kelly pressed the candidate’s specifically about Trump’s call for a Muslim ban. Haley didn’t criticize him, just said she would limit immigration without applying ideological screening. DeSantis then jumped in and took the opportunity to criticize Haley, not Trump.
Later, Christie again tried to re-orient the debate back to Trump, after he was asked about the former president’s comments, a day before, that he would be a dictator for a day to put in place his border and oil drilling policies.
"There is no mystery about what he wants to do," Christie says of Trump. "This is an angry, bitter man."
He once more called out the rest of the stage for “failing to speak out against” the former president. But found few takers.
Trump became the subject of a bitter exchange between him and DeSantis, who declined repeatedly to say whether he believed Trump was fit to serve. Instead, the Florida governor went after Trump on his age, noting that he could only serve four years and would, upon taking office again, be older than Joe Biden was when he was elected. “We need somebody who is younger.”
Ramaswamy says he wants to give guns to Taiwan
When asked about defending the lengths to which he would go to defend Taiwan, Ramaswamy said he thought the Taiwanese needed a second amendment.
“It worked in America, why wouldn’t it work in Taiwan?” he asked.
Christie, mockingly, shot down Ramaswamy’s suggestion, saying "you know, I don't think we have constitutional authority over Taiwan to give them a second amendment."
The U.S. has long supported Taiwan and its opposition to Chinese aggression in the region. Both the Trump and Biden administrations have spent billions to send military equipment to Taiwan with the expectation that Beijing may eventually try and attack.
All of the candidates, besides Christie, refused to answer whether they would go so far as sending American troops to defend Taiwan if China were to invade. Christie said he would.
DeSantis dodges on Obamacare
After Trump renewed his threat to repeal the Affordable Care Act — widely referred to as Obamacare — DeSantis said he would replace it with something better.
But on Wednesday night, he declined to detail exactly what his plan would include if elected, saying only that he intends to “go after the cost” of healthcare.
“Florida did not expand Obamacare," he said, referring to the provision of the law that expanded Medicaid to more people. "I think the states that did that, I think are struggling financially so that yes, we declined to do that. And I don't think that that was the right policy to do."
Haley: TikTok is causing a rise in antisemitism
Haley took aim at the popular social media app TikTok when asked about the rise of antisemitism on college campuses.
“For every 30 minutes that someone watches TikTok every day, they become 17% more antisemitic, more pro-Hamas,” Haley claimed.
The statistic appeared to be drawn from a survey by Generation Lab that showed a relationship between antisemitic and anti-Israel views and how much time people under the age of 30 spend on TikTok, Instagram and X.
He brought signs
Ramaswamy and Haley snapped at one another — continuing a pattern that has played out in the previous three debates.
At one point, Ramaswamy picked up his notebook and waved it in the air, which said that “Nikki is corrupt,” referring to her money-making after she left the United Nations.
Ramaswamy also went after Haley for playing “identity politics,” noting that she had previously accused him of having a “woman problem” because of his attacks on her and Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel.
“Nikki, I don't have a woman problem,” he said.
Asked to respond, Haley remarked thusly: “No, it's not worth my time to respond to him.”
DeSantis, Haley and Ramaswamy compete over trans youth restrictions
In response to questions about health care and bathroom usage by transgender minors, DeSantis and Haley sought to bash each other as not doing enough.
Haley criticized DeSantis for not campaigning on a so-called “bathroom bill” — legislation requiring people to use public restrooms that match their sex assigned at birth — when he ran for governor in 2018. DeSantis responded that he signed such a bill as governor. He also equated medical procedures for trans children to child abuse.
“As a parent, you do not have the right to abuse your kids,” he said.
Haley added her strong support for banning trans participation in sports, saying that “boys playing girl's sports” is the “women’s rights issue of our time.”
Ramaswamy went a step further, arguing the federal government should threaten to withhold funds to blue states that continue to what he referred to as “chemical castration,” a reference to gender-affirming procedures that can impact fertility.
Christie on Trump: ‘There is no mystery to what he wants to do’
Christie continued to take the most aggressive stance on Trump from the stage and warned that the former president has been clear about what a second administration would look like. The former New Jersey governor was asked about Trump saying he would be a dictator for “one day” in order to seal the Southern border and enact mass deportations.
“Do I think he was kidding when he said he was a dictator? All you have to do is look at the history,” Christie said. But the crowd disagreed – and booed – when Christie said Trump doesn’t care for the American people. “It is Donald Trump first,” Christie said.
DeSantis, meanwhile, suggested Trump’s policy threats are more bark than bite.
“The media is making a big deal about what he's said. I would remind people that is not how he governed. He didn't even fire Dr. Fauci or Christopher Wray. He didn't clean up the swamp. He said he was going to drain it, he did not drain it,” DeSantis said. “Some of these policies he ran on, I was cheering him on then, but he didn't deliver it.”
DeSantis defends shooting people at the border; Ramaswamy points to mental health
Faced with questions about the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border, DeSantis defended previous comments that he would shoot people crossing the border illegally if they were wearing backpacks. He compared the situation to what he faced while serving in Iraq.
He also made an oblique criticism of Trump, saying there would not be a problem if the border wall had been finished, something the former president emphasized as a campaign promise but never finished. (DeSantis did not mention Trump by name, however.)
Ramaswamy took a different tack, saying he would support using the military to secure the border but saying the solution must include addressing the “demand side of it” and broader questions of mental health.
Christie and Ramaswamy are mixing it up
The former New Jersey governor attacked the multimillionaire businessman, accusing him of persistently denying statements that he made earlier on the trail. Then Christie went after Ramaswamy in more personal ways.
“This is the fourth debate. The fourth debate that you would be voted in the first 20 minutes as the most obnoxious blowhard in America,” Christie said, referencing some of Ramaswamy's attacks on Haley.
"We disagree about some issues," Christie said, gesturing to Haley. "What we don't disagree on is this is a smart, accomplished woman. You should stop insulting her."
Ramaswamy swung back, referencing the “Bridgegate” scandal that tarred Christie’s career.
“Chris,” he said, “your version of foreign policy was closing a bridge from New Jersey to New York. So do everybody a favor, just walk yourself off that stage, enjoy a nice meal and get the hell out of this.”
Christie would send U.S. troops to Gaza
Christie was the only candidate on the stage to say that he would send American troops to the Middle East in order to find and recover American hostages held in Gaza.
“I would absolutely send American troops,” Christie said.
Christie was answering a question about the war between Hamas and Israel and the potential for the war spilling over to other countries in the region. The former New Jersey governor said he would send the troops in as long as the U.S. could ensure their safe return.
The Biden administration, which has for years attempted to drawback assets from the Middle East, has vowed not to send additional troops back to the region. Instead, the U.S. has continued to ratchet up its military support for Israel and has proposed additional aid packages to help support its Iron Dome.
Despite the billions of dollars the U.S. is spending to support Israel, DeSantis and Haley said it is not enough. Both dodged the moderators’ question about sending American forces.
Chris Christie: Say Trump’s name!
During his first time speaking, Christie criticized his debate competitors — and debate moderators — for not bringing up Trump or clearly denouncing his falsehoods and recent comments about being "dictator."
“I’m looking at my watch now. We're 17 minutes into this debate, and except for your little speech in the beginning, we've had these three acting as if the race is between the four of us. The fifth guy who doesn't have the guts to show up and stand here, he's the one as you just put it is way ahead in the polls,” said Christie.
Christie said Ramaswamy, Haley and DeSantis treated Trump like the Harry Potter villain Voldemort, whose name was forbidden from being spoken. The former New Jersey governor suggested they were afraid to take on Trump, whom he called a “bully,” directly and speak the truth because they have “future aspirations.”
“I'm in this race because the truth needs to be spoken. This is a guy who said this past week he wants to use the Department of Justice to go after his enemies when he gets in there. The fact of the matter is he's unfit to be president. There's no bigger issue in this race than Donald Trump and those numbers prove it,” Christie said.
Haley defends herself on social media verification
Haley insisted that she never said she would require social media companies to authenticate people before they can post on their apps, saying instead that she wants social media companies to “show us their algorithms.”
Except she did: “Every person on social media should be verified by their name,” she had said earlier this fall. But amid criticism she quickly walked it back and focused instead on the algorithm remark.
It's something that she received criticism from DeSantis and others, who said her proposal ran afoul of the First Amendment.
Haley pressed on private earnings and paid speeches
The former U.N. ambassador, who has recently surged into second place in some polls, faced an opening question about her corporate board memberships and ties to Wall Street — after DeSantis had already gone after her in his opening remarks, singling her out as not conservative enough.
In response, Haley touted her recent endorsement from Americans for Prosperity, the Koch brothers-linked group that opted to back her over DeSantis, as well as her conservative record.
From her account on X, Haley’s campaign tweeted the following right as she was answering the question: “I opposed the Wall Street bailouts when many Republicans supported them. I tell donors what I believe. They don’t tell me.”
After she finished Ramaswamy attacked her for the news that broke this week that prominent Democratic donor Reid Hoffman had given $250,000 to her allied super PAC.
Hoffman, he said, “is effectively George Soros Jr.”
