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UPDATE: Vivek Ramaswamy continued to irritate his rivals, with Chris Christie saying that this was the fourth debate where in the first 20 minutes he would be labeled as “the most obnoxious blowhard in America.”
“So shut up for a little while,” Christie said.
Christie actually was coming to the defense of Nikki Haley, who has been the target of initial attacks by the other candidates, given her ascendency in the polls as the leading alternative to Donald Trump.
“This is a smart. accomplished woman and you should stop insulting her,” Christie said.
PREVIOUSLY: The fourth Republican debate opened on Wednesday with rivals setting their sights on Nikki Haley, who has emerged as the leading alternative to front runner Donald Trump, who again was a no-show.
At the NewsNation-hosted event, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy each tried to cast Haley as a creature of the corporate elite, while chiding her remarks last month in which she said that “Every person on social media should be verified by their name. It’s a national security threat.” She later softened her stance, focusing instead on the need for platforms to curb bots as a way to fight back against foreign influence.
“She said, ‘I want your name,’” DeSantis said, noting that The Federalist Papers were written by anonymous writers.
Ramaswamy, who has staked his candidacy on being as brash as possible during the debates, said that requiring verification would risk users being “doxxed by having a government issued ID tied to what they say on the internet.”
Haley, though, said that her proposal was meant to have social media platforms take on more responsibility for rooting out bots and to provide more transparency about their algorithms. “I never said the government should go in and require that,” she said.
She also defended her embrace of donations from figures like Reid Hoffman, a Democratic donor who recent gave $250,000 to a Haley backed SuperPAC, as well as from Americans for Prosperity, the grounp backed by Charles Koch. “They are just jealous. They just wish they are supporting them,” Haley said.
The remaining candidate on the stage, Chris Christie, criticized the candidates for ignoring Trump, comparing the situation to the Harry Potter franchise’s Voldemort, or “He Who Cannot Be Named.”
Trump, Christie said, “is a dictator, a bully, who has taken shots at everybody.” He suggested that the other candidates weren’t attacking him because “maybe they have future aspirations.”
“I am in this race because the truth has to be spoken,” Christie said.
The debate in Tuscaloosa, AL also has been a significant moment for host network NewsNation, Nexstar’s startup news network. Although it has a fraction of the cable news audience, the network has been able to attract a series of personalities who spent much of their careers at major cable and broadcast networks. Elizabeth Vargas, formerly of ABC News, was co-moderating, Although she is not a NewsNation staffer, Megyn Kelly, formerly of Fox News and NBC News, also was a co-moderator, along with Eliana Johnson, the editor in chief of the Washington Free Beacon.
In the debate pre-show, Chris Cuomo told viewers that the debate would focus on issues that matter to voters in their lives and to family concerns. Kelly, though, opened the debate by asking each candidate about their own liabilities and about Trump’s wide lead in the polls, something that quickly generated heated argument between the contenders.
The debate was with a much smaller field than the first: Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), who was in the debate last month, has since dropped out of the race, leaving just four candidates on the stage.
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