As in the first two debates, former President Donald Trump chose to not participate in the third GOP presidential debate last night. Trump is leading national polls with 58 percent, followed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in a distant second place with 14.4 percent, according to RCP average polling data.
The five candidates who participated were Senator Tim Scott (S.C.), Governor Ron DeSantis, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley.
One of the more contentious points during the debate was when Ramaswamy brought up Haley promising to ban the Chinese-run app TikTok — “We’re going to ban TikTok. Ban TikTok everywhere” — and pointed out that “her own daughter was actually using the app for a long time, so you might want to take care of your family first.” In response, Haley insulted Ramaswamy, saying, “You’re just scum.”
The next GOP presidential debate will be hosted by NewsNation next month, and will be moderated by Megyn Kelly.
