GOP debate updates: TV ratings plummet as Haley addresses ‘scum’ spat

The height of political conversation has shifted from focusing on Florida Gov Ron DeSantis’s hypothetical heels to his tongue after the presidential hopeful participated in the third GOP debate.

Social media users have been pointing out Mr DeSantis’s inability to keep his tongue in his mouth, posting clips showing the Florida Republican licking his lips in interviews and his tongue popping through a smile on the debate stage.

“WTF is going on with his snake tongue?” Meidas Touch editor-in-chief Ron Flipowski posted on X, alongside an interview of the governor on NBC News.

One user commented with a snake emoji, others posted gifs of snakes for comparison. “Lizard people are real,” another user commented.

Kelly Rissman has the story.

South Carolina Senator Tim Scott appeared to “soft launch” his girlfriend at the Republican debate in Miami.

Mr Scott, whose bachelor status has regularly been reported on during the campaign, brought Mindy Noce, an interior designer and a mother of three from Charleston, up on stage after the debate to pose for a photo.

Initially, it was unclear who Ms Noce was as she stood next to Mr Scott, but her appearance sparked online speculation that she could be his often-mentioned but never-before-seen partner.

Mr Scott, 58, told the press after the debate that they have been dating for “about a year”.

Gustaf Kilander reports.

Vivek Ramaswamy has been slammed by social media users for “going to far” after he brought up Nikki Haley‘s daughter during the third GOP debate on Wednesday night.

In a heated moment – that culminated in Ms Haley branding him “scum” and refusing to shake his hand at the end of the debate – the far-right candidate singled out his Republican presidential rival’s child on stage.

“In the last debate, [Ms Haley] made fun of me for actually joining TikTok while her own daughter was actually using the app for a long time,” Mr Ramaswamy said, bringing up a month-old comment the former UN ambassador made about his use of TikTok.

“So you might want to take care of your family first,” he added.

His quip prompted booing from the shocked audience while Ms Haley was visibly outraged by the personal attack.

Rachel Sharp has the story...

“Think about who is moderating this debate. This should be Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan and Elon Musk,” Mr Ramaswamy said. “We’d have 10 times the viewership, asking questions that GOP primary voters actually care about and bring more people into our party.”

The 2024 candidate claimed Democrats would not allow a conservative news anchor or media personality to host their debates.

Mr Ramaswamy then attacked Ms Welker, an NBC News anchor, accusing her of being part of the “corrupt media establishment.”

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Shortly before the candidates took the stage for the third Republican primary debate in Miami on Wednesday, the Pentagon announced that US fighter jets struck a weapons storage facility in eastern Syria used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and affiliated groups, the latest sign of the tense security situation in the Middle East amid the Israel-Hamas war.

Once the spotlights came on, the GOP candidates called for a further ratcheting up of military operations, urging Israel to annihilate Hamas and the US military to directly attack Iran.

Josh Marcus reports.

The third Republican primary debate was an ugly slugfest reminiscent of the earliest Trump debates of 2015 — except the former president wasn’t even there.

A group of five candidates, minus their party’s frontrunner, appeared onstage Wednesday evening in Miami for what was billed as a presidential debate but in the end may have just been an exercise in futility, given the continued dominance of Donald Trump in every available poll of the GOP primary.

What transpired over two hours served as a reminder of what Mr Trump has done to this party, and raised the question of whether his shadow will loom over Republicans long after he fades from relevance.

Let’s look at the main takeaways from Wednesday’s showdown:

The 2024 Republican candidates turned on each other in Donald Trump’s absence during a spirited third GOP debate on Wednesday with former UN ambassador Nikki Haley branding Vivek Ramaswamy “scum”.

The tech entrepreneur was booed by the crowd in Miami after attacking Ms Haley’s daughter during a heated exchange over security concerns about TikTok and China – a touchy topic of previous debates.

“In the last debate, [Ms Haley] made fun of me for actually joining TikTok while her own daughter was actually using the app for a long time so you might want to take care of your family first,” Mr Ramaswamy shot at Ms Haley.

The former UN ambassador responded furiously, “Leave my daughter out of your voice.”

As the crowd booed, Ms Haley shook her head, adding: “You’re just scum.”

Donald Trump has slammed his “Weak and ineffective” Republican rivals for the party’s presidential nomination as he again skipped the latest GOP debate.

The former president urged the party establishment to ditch his opponents and get behind his campaign to try and retake the White House in 2024.

“You have about seven or eight candidates left. I think they are at a debate tonight no one is talking about it, everyone is watching…it’s 61 per cent for your favourite president – me – 10 per cent for Ron DeSanctimonious and 7 per cent for Bird Brain (Nikki Haley),” said Mr Trump at his counter-programming debate in Hialeah, Florida, on Wednesday evening.

“Our nation is in very serious trouble and it is time for the Republican establishment to stop wasting time and resources trying to push weak and ineffective RINOs and Never Trumpers that nobody wants and nobody is going to vote for.

“I watched these guys coming in and they are not watchable. The last debate was the lowest-rated debate in the history of politics, so do you think we did the right thing by not participating?”

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Republican presidential candidates descended on Miami for a debate on Wednesday – and the third one without former president Donald Trump sharing the stage.

All of the Republican candidates continue to trail behind the twice-impeached, four-times-indicted former president. Still, some of the sharpest exchanges took place when discussing foreign policy, the Israel-Hamas war, Russia’s incursion into Ukraine and China’s rising influence. Many of the Republican presidential candidates once again attacked Vivek Ramaswamy as the millennial businessman came out swinging.

Here are the winners and losers from the third Republican debate.

Chris Christie battled with Morning Joe’s Mika Brzezinski over the issue of abortion on Thursday after a raucous GOP debate the night before reflected on Republican losses on the abortion rights front in Ohio and Virginia.

The former New Jersey governor is a frequent guest of the Morning Joe crew and typically receives a warm welcome on the show; Thursday morning, however, saw him accused of dishonesty by Brzezinski on the issue of abortions in the ninth month of the pregnancy.

Specifically, the MSNBC host claimed that Mr Christie had accused Democrats of supporting limitless abortion that late into the pregnancy.

“I’m not calling you a liar; it’s not honest,” Brzezinski told Mr Christie. She added: “There isn’t abortion in the ninth month.”

John Bowden has the story.