The Daily Signal - Hits and Misses From Third GOP Presidential Debate

Episode Date: November 9, 2023

The third Republican presidential debate was held on Wednesday night in Miami. Five candidates took the stage: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.  Former President Donald Trump was again absent, choosing instead to hold a rally in a Miami suburb.  NBC News’ Lester Holt and Kristen Welker moderated the debate along with conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt. They asked candidates how they would lead on issues of foreign policy, including in matters related to Israel. Candidates also discussed border security, China, and technology concerns.  Karen Jaroch, the Florida state director for Heritage Action for America, joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to discuss her biggest takeaways from the third debate and offer analysis on the candidates’ responses. (The Daily Signal is the news outlet of The Heritage Foundation. Heritage Action for America is an independent nonprofit organization affiliated with Heritage.) Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Thursday, November 9th. I'm Virginia Allen. The third GOP presidential candidate debate was last night in Miami, Florida. Five candidates were on stage, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina, Governor Nikki Haley, Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, entrepreneur Vivek Ramoswamy, and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Former President Donald Trump was again absent on the debate stage. Instead, he held a rally just north of Miami. A lot of ground was covered during this two-hour long debate. So joining us to break down some of the biggest moments from the night is Heritage Action for America's Karen Gerouche. Karen, thanks so much for being with us. Thank you for having me. Well, Karen, you serve as

the Florida State Director for Heritage Action for America. You live in Florida right where this debate was taking place, I want to begin by asking you about a pretty big moment that happened really early on in the night. The debate was hosted by NBC News Lester Holt and Kristen Welker. They were the moderators along with conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt. And right at the beginning of the night, Vivek Ramoswamy really kind of went after the NBC moderators, the NBC news moderators. And he questioned why the media that, quote, rigged the 2016 election was hosting the debate. And he added that who should actually be hosting this debate are folks, and he named several like Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan, and Elon Musk. And he said, you know, that in this

case, we'd have, if folks like that were hosting it, we'd have 10 times the viewership asking questions that GOP primary voters actually care about and bringing more people into our party. What did you make of Ramoswami's remarks here? Well, I think he tapped a nerve that conservatives are frustrated with the liberal media and how they have interfered in the past elections. I think, you know, it is something that he knows polls well with the, the audience. audience that we're watching. So I think he truly meant it, but I also think he also understood that he would probably be winning some early, you know, banking some early points on the board

with the audience. But I think it is a fair criticism. And one, we didn't see coming. I'm sure we'll be talked about. Yeah, absolutely. Now, let's go ahead and dive into some of the meat of what we saw on Wednesday night and the policy issues. Of course, since the last GOP primary debate on September 27th, Israel is now at war, and that is an issue that is on the hearts and minds of all of America. What did you make of the questions that were asked in relation to Israel and support for Israel and what the candidates had to say in regard to how they would lead on the issue of America and the relationship between America and Israel specifically. Yeah, actually, I thought the line of questioning was fair and in depth, and I thought equally the

responses were there. You know, I wanted to see, you know, if it included, you know, why the candidates took the positions that they did and, you know, if they understood fully, you know, the impact of what this war, this attack by terrorists means not only on Israel, but in, you know, the world. So, so, yeah, I thought it, the candidates did a good job of talking about why it is important to protect Israel from, you know, the candidates did a good job of talking about why. these terrorists and, you know, they are our friends, they are our allies. I did see them going out to call out anti-Semitism that is rampant here in America. And, you know, that is, that is very troubling. So I think as far as the line of questioning went, you know, the NBC did a good job, or at least the moderators of the debate did.

Yeah. Well, right along that same vein of questioning, of course, Iran was brought up and U.S. relations with Iran moving forward. Were you pleased by the way that the candidates weighed in on these issues? Yeah. I mean, I think Iran definitely is playing a role here by funding the proxies. I think, you know, it is up to the United States to, there are things where we can help in that regards, especially when our forces are being attacked by some of these proxies. So, yeah, I mean, I think, you know, I think the responses by the candidate went to the direction that they should have. I was a little bit interested by the fact that there wasn't too much time devoted to the economy during this two-hour-long debate. And inflation was never brought up.

And we know that inflation is one of the highest issues of concern to voters. What did you make of the fact that the moderators never ask about inflation? Well, I think that did show their bias. They know what causes inflation, and that is high spending. And definitely the United States and Congress, as well as the Biden administration, have been spending way too much money, which is actually causing the problem. So if they actually called attention to the inflation, then they would be, you know, bringing to light that it is the overspending of the Biden administration, especially post-COVID, not reining back the funds. So they purpose to try and bypass that. But I think the candidates did, you know, were able to point that out, bring that to light in their discussion. Multiple, all of the candidates spoke very clearly on the issue of the southern border and border security. Many of them, you know, stress the need to send additional resources to the border,

more troops to build the border wall. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was very clear. And one of the lines that got a lot of applause for the governor was he was speaking about the cartels and standing against the cartels. And his quote is said, I'll tell you this. If so, someone in the drug cartels is sneaking fentanyl across the border when I'm president, that's going to be the last thing they do. We're going to shoot them stone cold dead. Very strong statement from the governor. What did you make of not only what the governor said,

but also the response that he received? Well, again, I think that is tapping into the sentiment of the electorate. You know, people see people streaming over the border. I think there were some other solutions that he mentioned, such as deportation, using the remittances back into Mexico to pay for the border wall. So tapping into that frustration of, you know, so many American lives have been touched by the fentanyl that is streaming over the borders. So I think that was strong. I think the other candidates as well, you know, brought up some of those points. I think also, you know, the point was brought out about fentanyl caused by mental health crisis in our country.

So I think that the candidates were really, you know, tapping into how Americans feel about the policies of the Biden administration. I wish they would have drawn the line a little bit stronger. But, you know, I think that's why he elicited such a strong response is because he tapped into how Americans really are feeling about the issue. Yeah. Well, another issue that all the candidates weighed in on and spent quite a bit of time talking about was China. There was a lot of talk about how do we protect America's interests. How do we make sure that America is prepared? to stand against China.

When you look at the comments that the candidates made, was there anything that really stood out to you in regards to what was said about how these individuals have given the opportunity to be president, how they would handle standing against the threats that China poses to America? Yeah, I mean, I think there was a lot of discussion about the naval ships and how our capacity has declined, especially under the leadership of Obama and then Biden, you know, our defenses always played second fiddle to other priorities, lesser priorities. So it was really good to see the discussion about strengthening, you know, our naval capacity

to deal with China. I think TikTok was brought up. You know, I've heard it said TikTok is like having, the CCP in everyone's pocket. And of course, the security risks of allowing, you know, sensitive infrastructure to have China buying land right nearby where they could launch, you know, spy mission. So, yeah, I mean, I think it was worse all the time the candidates spent on it. China is one of our biggest threats to national security. and I might have liked to see a little bit more about, you know, some of the ESG policies, which are social credit scores. I think it was mentioned that, you know, if we're not careful, we're going to be importing more than just, you know, goods and trinkets from China.

I also like to what I heard about bringing manufacturing back to our country as, you know, it's vital to our national interest. critical. So the China, it was very robust discussion. And, you know, I think that will play well. Yeah, definitely on the minds of voters. How would you rate the moderators overall their line of questioning the topics that they did and didn't bring up? You know, I will say, I think overall the line of questioning was well as far as what the candidates did with the question. I mean, they talked about a wide range topics about Israel, about China, they went into, you know, abortion, Venezuela, they went into so many areas. So we were able to elicit where the candidates stand on each of those topics. Of course, the questions were, you know, very careful to straddle, you know, what, for example, on the border questions, and you mentioned the inflation, the lack of of direct acknowledgement of the high inflation.

So, you know, they did okay in my book. They didn't do as well as they could have, but it could have been a lot worse. You mentioned the issue of abortion. That was an issue that for so many conservatives was on our minds tonight after seeing issue one fail in Ohio. I'm wondering if you thought, that the candidates, the five candidates, were clear enough tonight on the issue of abortion

and on how they would protect life if given the opportunity to be president? Well, I mean, I think we could read between the lines on some of the candidate responses. Again, I don't know there was some missed opportunities there. I didn't hear much about chemical abortions where half of all abortions occur. You know, some of the solutions that I think would be a little bit, that area might have been an area riper to delve into and to state their positions on. They also didn't discuss what Senator Tuberville has been doing in the federal funding of the federal funding of. abortions through the military memo, kind of an illegal action. Again, I think a lot of Americans would agree that, you know, there are differing opinions on the abortion issue, but having

taxpayer funding for that is something that used to get very wide agreement. So I think those are a couple of areas that could have been mentioned a little bit further, but I think it was clear you know, again, without them being too direct, you know, which ones were stronger on protecting the lives of the unborn than others. Sure. Before we let you go quickly, I do want to ask you about former president Donald Trump's absence in the night. This is the third debate, the third time he chose not to participate.

How do you think his not being on the stage affected the tone, the atmosphere, of the debate tonight? Well, I think it did. The candidates were attacking each other because they are fighting, unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your outlook, for second place. So it kind of leaves one thinking,

you know, if they're fighting for second place, is there ever going to be the opportunity to vie for first place? And, you know, honestly, if I had the polling numbers and not being in the debate wasn't going to affect that, I probably would have made the decision that President Trump has been making. But it would be nice to have at least one debate. I think there will be at least one more. I think Alabama is next where all the candidates are in the room so that you can kind of judge them.

So that would be my hope. I don't know that that will happen. But there was a big void, I think, due to his absence tonight. Well, we will have an opportunity to find out before the end of the year. December 6th is the next and fourth GOP presidential debate. Karen Geroche of Heritage Action for America, thank you for being with us. We really appreciate your time. Thank you for having me. And with that, that's going to do it for today's edition of the Daily Signal podcast.

Thank you for joining us post the presidential debate. If you haven't had the chance, make sure that you check out our evening show right here in this podcast feed. Every day, around 5 p.m., we bring you the top news of the day. Also take a moment to subscribe to the Daily Signal podcast wherever you like to listen and help us reach more listeners by taking a moment to leave a five-star rating and review. Also make sure that you check out the Daily Signal website. That's DailySignal.com for more in-depth reporting on last night's debate. Have a great day. We'll see you right back here around 5 p.m. for our top news edition.

The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. Executive producers are Rob Luey and Kate Trinko. Producers are Virginia Allen and Samantha Asheras. Sound designed by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, and John Pop. To learn more, please visitdailySignal.com.