MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — Republicans around the country were following two political events held on Wednesday night in Miami-Dade County. Both included personal insults and talk of war.
Gov. Ron DeSantis and four other candidates vying to become the party’s 2024 presidential candidate were participating in the Republican National Committee debate in downtown Miami.
Former President Donald Trump, the frontrunner, was hosting a dueling rally in Hialeah. His son Donald Trump Jr., referred to DeSantis as a “high-heeled drag thing.”
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, Roseanne Barr, and fighter Jorge Masvidal were among those in attendance.
In downtown, there were about 1,700 in the audience. Police officers and law enforcement personnel from other agencies closed the neighboring section of Biscayne Boulevard to traffic in both directions until 1 a.m.
DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott started the debate at 8 p.m., at the John S. and James L. Knight Concert Hall in the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, at 1300 Biscayne Blvd., which has a capacity of about 2,200 people. It ended at 10 p.m.
Trump’s rally started at 7 p.m., but he didn’t arrive on stage until about 8:20 p.m., at the Henry Milander Park’s Ted Hendricks Stadium, at 4700 Palm Ave., which has a capacity for over 5,200 people. The venue was not full.
Huckabee Sanders introduced Trump as her former boss, friend, and “everybody’s favorite president” and said, “We need him to finish what he started.”
Trump claimed he was standing “in front of tens of thousands of people,” but the stadium was not even close to full capacity.
“That’s a lot harder to do than a debate,” Trump said.
PERSONAL INSULTS
At the rally, Trump referred to the president as “Crooked Joe” and to his main Republican opponent as “Ron DeSanctimonious.”
During the debate, Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur, said voters did not want to elect “Dick Cheney in 3-inch heels.”
It was unclear if Ramaswamy was referring to Hailey, a former ambassador to the United Nations and the only woman, or DeSantis, who recently faced criticism for allegedly wearing lifts in his cowboy boots to appear taller.
The topics
US-CHINA RELATIONS
DeSantis and Haley argued about who had welcomed Chinese investments to their states.
Haley said the Chinese needed to “stop murdering Americans” with fentanyl. The discussion veered off into a personal attack.
The discussion on TikTok showed an emerging rivalry between Haley and Ramaswamy. The entrepreneur said Haley’s daughter had used the popular app founded by Chinese entrepreneurs.
“Leave my daughter out of your voice,” Haley said. “You are just scum.”
If elected, Christie said he would “ban TikTok.” Scott and DeSantis agreed.
“I think that China’s the top threat we face,” DeSantis said. “They have been very effective at infiltrating different parts of our society.”
DeSantis, who served in the U.S. Navy as a lawyer, said the “future of freedom” is going to be determined in the Indo-Pacific.
“We have a strategy not just with military but decoupling from the economy and fighting them here at home,” DeSantis said.
ABORTION
Haley said Republicans need to agree on how to ban late-term abortions without violating women’s rights.
“Let’s make sure we encourage adoptions. Let’s make sure we make contraception accessible. Let’s make sure none of these state laws put a woman in jail or give her the death penalty for getting an abortion,” Haley said.
Scott said he supports a 15-week federal limit. Ramaswamy said men need to have more “sexual responsibility.”
IMMIGRATION
DeSantis criticized Trump for not finishing the U.S.-Mexico border wall and for not forcing Mexico to pay for it as he had promised.
Trump’s promise if elected: “On day one, I will terminate every open borders policy of the Biden administration.”
ECONOMY
DeSantis’s promise if elected: On “Bidenomics,” he said that he would “rip it up” and “throw it in the trash.” Haley promised tax and spending cuts.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
During the rally, Trump said the United States has “never been closer to World War III” than now.
Ramaswamy suggested that Russia should continue to control the areas of Ukraine that were already occupied and said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyya, who is Jewish, was a Nazi and a “comedian in cargo pants.”
Ramaswamy also said that Ukraine was not a “paragon of democracy” and the Russia-Ukraine war was not “some kind of battle between good versus evil.”
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
Some of Trump’s supporters arrived at the rally with Israeli and U.S. flags.
At the debate, DeSantis said Israel needs to “finish the job once and for all with these butchers, Hamas.” Ramaswamy agreed and said, “Smoke those terrorists.”
Haley agreed with Scott on Iran’s influence in the conflict between Israel and Hamas and she also said Iran was engaged in an “unholy alliance” with Russia and China.
Scott also expressed his support of Israel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“You have to cut off the head of the snake, and the head of the snake is Iran,” Scott said.
AFTERNOON COVERAGE
Watch the 6 p.m. reports
Watch the 5 p.m. reports
Watch the 4 p.m. reports
Local 10 News coverage: Milberg reported from downtown Miami. Stanwood and Ramos reported from Hialeah. Fernandez reported from Pembroke Park. Kennedy reported from Washington, D.C. Torres reported from Miami.
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