Trump's challengers engage in a TV mud fight
In polls on who the Republicans should put forward as their presidential candidate, Donald Trump is far ahead. His rivals want to use a TV debate to make up ground. The verbal sparks are flying.
In the fourth televised debate between the US Republican presidential candidates, up-and-coming former UN ambassador Nikki Haley took center stage. The ex-governor of the state of South Carolina presented herself as the best alternative to former President Donald Trump during the debate, but was repeatedly the target of attacks from her rivals.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, for example, accused the 51-year-old of representing the interests of large corporations and being weak in her dealings with China. DeSantis said Haley would cave in every time the left or the media went after her. Ramaswamy repeatedly called Haley "corrupt" and a "fascist". He attacked the conservative politician for her support of Ukraine, which was attacked by Russia: "This is a woman who will send your children to die in war so she can buy a bigger house."
The audience in Tuscaloosa in the southern state of Alabama booed Ramaswamy for this statement. The fourth panelist, New Jersey's former governor Chris Christie, defended Haley and called Ramaswamy "the most obnoxious blowhard in the United States".
During the televised debate, which was broadcast on NewsNation around 40 days before the start of the primaries, Haley in turn used clear words to distance herself from former President Trump, who stayed away from the debate as he had done for the first three editions. "We have to end the chaos, but you can't defeat Democratic chaos with Republican chaos," said the 51-year-old. "And that's what Donald Trump is giving us." Her approach is different to that of the right-wing populist, Haley emphasized. "No drama, no vendettas, no whining."
Trump ahead in the polls
The politician has made significant gains in polls for the Republican primary race in recent weeks and is challenging Governor DeSantis for second place behind Trump. The FiveThirtyEight website's poll average puts Haley at just under 11 percent, with DeSantis at just under 13 percent. However, the gap to Trump in first place is huge: the former president comes in at just under 60 percent, giving him a lead of almost 50 points over Haley.
Although Trump is still extremely popular with the right-wing base, there are major reservations about the 77-year-old among the Republican party establishment and conservative donors. There are fears that the most controversial US president in recent decades could lose the 2024 presidential election to incumbent Joe Biden due to his unpopularity among large sections of the population - just as he did in the 2020 presidential election.
Most recently, the influential and well-funded network of conservative billionaire Charles Koch backed Haley - in the hope that she can stop Trump in the Republican primaries starting on January 15 in the state of Iowa.
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Source: www.ntv.de
