DeSantis, Haley take aim at Trump during Miami debate

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who are neck and neck for second place in the GOP presidential primary, took aim at front-runner former President Trump during the third Republican presidential debate Wednesday.

DeSantis took aim at Trump over skipping the third Republican debate in Miami and over some of his promises, including having Mexico pay for the construction of a wall along the U.S. southern border. Trump is holding a rally in Hialeah, Fla., during the third debate as a way to counterprogram the debate.

“Now, if you look where we are now, it’s a lot different than where we were in 2016, and Donald Trump’s a lot different guy than he was in 2016,” DeSantis told the audience. 

“He owes it to you to be on this stage and explain why he should get another chance. He should explain why he didn’t have Mexico pay for the border wall,” he continued. “He should explain why he racked up so much debt. He should explain why he didn’t drain the swamp and he said, ‘Republicans, we’re gonna get tired of winning.’ Well, we saw last night. I’m sick of Republicans losing.”

Democrats won a series of major victories in Tuesday night’s elections, including the Kentucky governor’s race, Ohio’s constitutional amendment protecting abortion access and Virginia’s legislative elections for both the state House and Senate.

Haley also took aim at Trump’s handling of the national debt and his foreign policy stances.

“I can tell you that I think he was the right president at the right time. I don’t think he’s the right president now. I think that he put us $8 trillion in debt, and our kids are never going to forgive us for that,” she said.

“I think the fact that he used to be right on Ukraine and foreign issues, now he’s getting weak in the knees and trying to be friendly again. I think that we’ve got to go back to the fact that we can’t live in the past.”

The remarks by DeSantis and Haley come as both are still trailing Trump by a wide margin in national and state polls, raising questions of whether any candidate will be able to narrow the gap and consolidate anti-Trump votes.