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DeSantis: I would say his biggest failing of character is that he didn’t build the wall. That is what I would be sure to fix. Also, he is not here, which makes me sad. I love to see him. If I got to be president, I would be an even better Trump than Trump.
Moderator [trying again an hour later]: Does Trump have a different understanding of the Constitution than you do?
Haley: In the sense that I understand that Joe Biden won the election, yes. I also do not think Jan. 6 was a beautiful day. It was a terrible day [taken aback by her own bravery]. The last thing we need is unelected people in Washington trying to take away the voices of the people in the states! States’ rights! I believe one of those people even sat at a desk at one point, which makes him the worst kind of threat to our democracy: a bureaucrat.
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Moderator: Look, even though the ending got a little weird there, I am still amazed you said that. Governor DeSantis?
DeSantis: I know he likes to spout off on social media, but I would like to believe he understands how elections work. Obviously, I barely even feel like we need to say this, if I were president I would uphold the Constitution.
Moderator: No, I’m genuinely glad you said it! At his town hall right now Trump is saying he won’t be a dictator, in a way that raises some questions for me! Relatedly: Do you think that Trump could, as his lawyer argued, be immune from prosecution if he ordered the assassination of a political opponent while in office?
DeSantis: I think it is not a winning legal argument! Remember, I am a lawyer. I think this argument means he will lose the election, which I hope he will accept. I would sure like it if he does!
Moderator: Governor Haley?
Haley: Yeah, I think that’s an insane argument. Yikes!
Moderator [sobbing]: I’m just so relieved to hear you say this.
DeSantis: We are profiles in courage.
Moderator: For a given value of profile and a given value of courage, kind of, yes!
Haley: If elected, I promise to make life miserable for lots of people, though!
DeSantis: Oh, yes, goes without saying.
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Somewhere deep in the bowels of the Earth, where no sunshine has penetrated for a thousand years, under mounds of discarded principles and what appears to be the skeletal remains of an elephant, is a bar. It is so low that scientists wondered whether it even existed. Other scientists wondered whether, even given its location, it was still impossible to clear. But good news, for a given value of good news that can almost be seen with the naked eye: On Wednesday night, at their final debate before the Iowa caucuses, two of the Republican presidential candidates cleared that bar.
Not Donald Trump, of course (he was having his own town hall on Fox News at the time), nor Vivek Ramaswamy, who didn’t qualify for the debate — but Nikki Haley and, to a degree, Ron DeSantis. Amid the usual slugfest (this sounds like something fun that could be ended with salt), after an unpromising start in which they kept telling us to visit their websites — Haley has a special one, DeSantisLies.com, dedicated just to pointing out DeSantis’s lies (I visited; it was odd; you might think it would say things like, “Ron DeSantis exaggerates his achievements in Florida,” but instead all the entries were along the lines of “Ron DeSantis claimed Nikki Haley once smiled at a trans kid; this is categorically false; Gov. Haley was just baring her teeth in a show of anger and dominance!”) — they did manage to criticize Trump!
It was like pulling teeth, if pulling teeth takes several attempts from moderators Dana Bash and Jake Tapper, but it did happen! The exchange went about as follows:
Moderator: Does Trump have the character to be president?
DeSantis: I would say his biggest failing of character is that he didn’t build the wall. That is what I would be sure to fix. Also, he is not here, which makes me sad. I love to see him. If I got to be president, I would be an even better Trump than Trump.
Moderator [trying again an hour later]: Does Trump have a different understanding of the Constitution than you do?
Haley: In the sense that I understand that Joe Biden won the election, yes. I also do not think Jan. 6 was a beautiful day. It was a terrible day [taken aback by her own bravery]. The last thing we need is unelected people in Washington trying to take away the voices of the people in the states! States’ rights! I believe one of those people even sat at a desk at one point, which makes him the worst kind of threat to our democracy: a bureaucrat.
Moderator: Look, even though the ending got a little weird there, I am still amazed you said that. Governor DeSantis?
DeSantis: I know he likes to spout off on social media, but I would like to believe he understands how elections work. Obviously, I barely even feel like we need to say this, if I were president I would uphold the Constitution.
Moderator: No, I’m genuinely glad you said it! At his town hall right now Trump is saying he won’t be a dictator, in a way that raises some questions for me! Relatedly: Do you think that Trump could, as his lawyer argued, be immune from prosecution if he ordered the assassination of a political opponent while in office?
DeSantis: I think it is not a winning legal argument! Remember, I am a lawyer. I think this argument means he will lose the election, which I hope he will accept. I would sure like it if he does!
Moderator: Governor Haley?
Haley: Yeah, I think that’s an insane argument. Yikes!
Moderator [sobbing]: I’m just so relieved to hear you say this.
DeSantis: We are profiles in courage.
Moderator: For a given value of profile and a given value of courage, kind of, yes!
Haley: If elected, I promise to make life miserable for lots of people, though!
DeSantis: Oh, yes, goes without saying.
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