SHOTS FIRED
Nikki Haley calls Vivek Ramaswamy ‘scum’ after swipe at daughter as Ron DeSantis vows to ban TikTok in fiery GOP debate
The debate got hot, but the polls stayed cold for these presidential hopefuls.
FIVE 2024 presidential hopefuls have fought to make their way out of former President Donald Trump's shadow at the latest Republican debate.
The event heated up on Wednesday night when Vivek Ramaswamy made a biting comment about Nikki Haley's daughter, which led her to call him scum and say that Russia was "salivating" to see him in office.
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Haley, the former Governor of South Carolina, was making a powerful statement about TikTok when entrepreneur Ramaswamy made the low blow.
Haley and others, like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, called for a nationwide ban of the China-owned app, and Haley slammed Ramaswamy for taking his campaign to the social media platform.
Ramaswamy hit back by saying that her daughter was a user on the app and warned her to "take care of your family first" before criticizing him.
It came after he slammed Haley for being "Dick Cheney in three-inch heels" with her foreign policy on war in the Middle East.
The mama bear immediately hit back, blasting "leave my daughter out of your voice" before adding "you're just scum."
Of the three-inch heels jab, she warned that her shoes were actually "five-inch" heels that doubled as ammunition.
The savage blows between the pair followed more discussion about TikTok at the second debate on September 27, when Haley told Ramswamy: "Honestly, every time I hear you, I feel a little bit dumber for what you say.”
Wednesday night's debate involved a slimmed down panel of candidates.
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DeSantis, Haley, and Ramaswamy were joined by South Carolina Senator Tim Scott and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on the main stage in Miami to bid for America's vote of confidence.
The candidates were immediately asked by NBC News host Lester Holt to distinguish themselves from Donald Trump, who has been crushing the polls since his announcement nearly one year ago.
He has failed to show up to a debate and instead was hosting a rally in Hialeah, Florida, about a half hour's drive from where his rivals took the stage.
DeSantis, who was once thought to be a front-runner, ripped into Trump for cranking up the national debt during his presidency and failing to force Mexico to fund a border wall.
Meanwhile, Ramaswamy said there was a "cancer" in the Republican Party and used Holt and the other moderators as his example.
He said that Tesla CEO Elon Musk, podcaster Joe Rogan, and former Fox News powerhouse Tucker Carlson should be the ones moderating and questioning the next RNC leader.
Part of the debate centered around the war between Israel and Hamas, with the majority of candidates holding strong support for the Jewish state.
Haley urged Israel to eradicate Hamas with US support but clarified that Americans should not step foot on Gaza Strip soil.
She found a cheerleader in Scott, who said: "You have to cut off the head of the snake. And the head of the snake is Iran."
There was more division on the stage over the Ukraine war with Haley and Scott voicing their support for Volodymyr Zelensky's cause.
Haley said: "We should give them the equipment, the ammunition to win," and Scott added: "Every day we get closer to the degradation of the Russian military, and that's good news."
Ramaswamy deemed the war a fool's errand and brought up the steep population differences between the states before making jabs at Haley.
She hit back: “I am telling you, Putin and President Xi are salivating at the thought that someone like that could become president," referencing the Russian leader and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
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After the debate, Haley addressed Ramaswamy's comment about his daughter, telling : "I'm a mom. The second you start saying something about my 25-year-old daughter I'm going to get my back up."
The candidates also answered questions about abortion, Social Security and retirement age, and foreign policy.
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