DeSantis asserts electoral strength, clashes with Haley over sex changes at fourth debate

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Gov. Ron DeSantis clashed with other candidates during the fourth Republican presidential primary debate in Tuscaloosa, Alabama Wednesday.

DeSantis joined former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

The moderators started off the debate on the topic of electability.

“We have a great idea in America that the voters actually make these decisions, not pundits or pollsters. I’m sick of hearing about these polls, because I remember those polls in November of 2022,” DeSantis said.

“They said there was going to be a big red wave, it was going to be monumental, and that crashed and burned,” he said. “The one place it didn’t crash and burn was in the state of Florida.”

“I’m looking forward to Iowa and New Hampshire, the voters are going to be able to speak and we’re going to earn this nomination,” he said.

DeSantis also attacked Haley for not supporting some of his conservative policies as governor, specifically criticizing her for her stance against banning sex change surgeries for minors.

“She said the law shouldn’t get involved in that,” he said. “And I just ask you, if you’re somebody that’s going to be the president of the United States and you can’t stand up against child abuse, how are you going to be able to stand up for anything,” he said.

Haley denied DeSantis’ comments, saying he mischaracterized her position.

DeSantis also scathed Haley for supporting the removal of social media and internet anonymity.

“You can roll the tape, she said ‘I want your name’ and that was going to be one of the first things she did in office. And then she got real serious blowback, and understandably so, because it would be a massive expansion of government,” he said.

“We have anonymous speech. The federalist papers were written with anonymous writers,” he added.

DeSantis emphasized that “we have to look out for our people” when the moderators directed the topic to the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Christie and Ramaswamy confronted each other on the foreign policy topic while DeSantis joined them in three-way attacks on Haley.

DeSantis spoke on his plans to be the “new sheriff in town” when it came to enforcement at the U.S.-Mexico border.

“We need to build a wall at our southern border,” he said. “I’ll get it done. And Mexico was supposed to pay for it, remember?”

“Here’s how you do that. I am going to have fees on remittances from foreign workers – when they send the money back to foreign countries, we’re going to tax it, and we’re going to build a wall with it,” DeSantis said.

“We have to lean in on this problem, I am not going to sit there and allow mothers to lose more kids because of fentanyl overdose. I’m not going to sit there and let sex trafficking go unabated or human trafficking go on unabated. There’s going to be a new sheriff in town and these drug cartels better buckle up,” he added.

Haley accused DeSantis of having a “Chinese company” that gave him a total of $340,000 in combined campaign donations. DeSantis noted the company she falsely referred to as “U-Gas” is an American company. Haley was likely referring to iGas USA.

“I banned China from buying land in the state of Florida,” he also said in response. “I ejected the Confucius institutes. Nikki Haley brought Confucius institutes to the universities in South Carolina.”

On the topic of former President Donald Trump, DeSantis said he would go in and “wreak havoc” on the federal bureaucracy.

“Here’s what I can promise people: 100% of things I promised as governor, I delivered on those promises,” DeSantis said. “I beat the left time and time again, and that’s what I’ll do for you as president. We’ve got to start winning again as a party.”

Christie attacked DeSantis for not directly saying if Trump was unfit to be president in 2024.

“Look, father time is undefeated,” DeSantis responded. “I don’t know how [Trump] would score on a test. But I know this: we have an opportunity to nominate someone and elect someone for two terms who’s going to be spitting nails on day one and for eight years, delivering you the big result.”

DeSantis also spent time slamming sex-change surgeries for minors, accusing Haley for being soft on the issue.

“As a parent, you do not have a right to abuse your kids […] This is mutilating these minors! These are irreversible procedures,” he continued. “I signed legislation in Florida banning the mutilation of minors because it is wrong.”

“We can not allow this to happen in this country,” he said. “And I know Chris [Christie] disagrees with me and I think he has an honest position. Nikki disagree with me, she opposes the bill tat we did to ban that.”

The Florida governor pointed out how unjust it was for agencies like the FBI to target Trump on Russian “collusion” after the 2016 presidential election.

“What they did to Donald Trump with the Russia collusion was one of the biggest abuses of power in the history of our country,” he said. “These agencies need to be cleaned out. With me you’ll have a new FBI director on day one, we’re going to clear out the DOJ, the IRS, all these places.”

The governor also called for a national “reckoning” over federal policies surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.

“CDC, NIH, FDA – we’re gonna clean house […] Nobody’s been held accountable for any of the damage. And they’re gonna try to do it again,” DeSantis said.

The candidates met for the fourth debate following DeSantis’ spar with California Gov. Gavin Newsom in the Red vs. Blue State debate on Thursday.

In order to qualify for the debate, candidates had to poll at least 6% in two national polls and a minimum of 80,000 unique donors.

Since the last primary debate, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum dropped out of the race.

Trump, the frontrunner in the primary, was absent from the stage yet again, reportedly choosing to instead attend a fundraising event for his campaign.