*** GOP Debate Livewire *** And Then There Were Five Left on Stage As Donald Trump Rallies

The GOP clown car primary for everyone not named Donald Trump is getting roomier, ever so slightly, as now there only remain five Trump opponents on the debate stage as candidates meet in Miami, Florida, for the third GOP presidential primary debate.

Former President Donald Trump, the far-and-away frontrunner who is essentially the presumptive GOP nominee with his gargantuan polling lead even though nobody has voted yet, will hold a counter-programming rally down the street in nearby Hialeah, Florida. Most Republicans will probably watch Trump instead of the debate, which is set to be moderated by NBC News’s Lester Holt and Kristen Welker and Salem’s Hugh Hewitt. Nonetheless, here we are for the first GOP debate this cycle not moderated by one of Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News or Fox Business properties.

Given the abysmal ratings of the first two and the failure of anyone not named Trump to break through in the GOP primary — the only thing bigger than Trump’s polling lead is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s high heels hidden inside his boots — pressure is building intensely on the Republican National Committee (RNC) to call it after this one and not have any more debates. The RNC has not scheduled another one yet, and assuming this one is as much of a train wreck as the first two for Republicans, then it is likely that will be all she wrote — unless the RNC is a glutton for punishment and decides to announce another one, which is, of course, a possibility given how wise Republicans have proven to be lately.

So, with all that said, this is the last chance of last chances for everyone up there. Former Vice President Mike Pence dropped out of the race since the second debate, and the push for DeSantis, for former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, for former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, for South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, and for businessman Vivek Ramaswamy to do the same will almost certainly intensify aggressively after Wednesday night. As evidenced by Tuesday’s election results where Democrats slightly exceeded expectations — no, it was not 2022 all over again, but they did hold Kentucky’s governor’s mansion and flipped one-half of one state’s legislature their way by winning a handful of House of Delegates seats in Virginia — the Republicans have a heck of a battle ahead of them heading into 2024, and the time for games is basically over. Congress just went through a disastrous month for Republicans after eight House GOP members joined all the Democrats to oust now-former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) before a series of multiple speakership elections eventually elevated the Louisiana back-bencher Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) to the speakership. After that fiasco, voters are now looking for certainty and stability from the GOP–and the lack of a serious path forward for anyone not named Trump is likely to lead Republicans nationwide to move away from the others rather than towards them after this debate heading into the critical final weeks before the Iowa caucuses.

How the GOP will confront the thorny issue of abortion — the other big result on Tuesday, while no surprise, was Ohio’s ballot referendum protecting abortion — may begin to come into focus on Wednesday evening both at Trump’s rally and at the debate. But Republicans need to address it and have an answer to it.

But perhaps the biggest story of the night could be DeSantis and how he confronts his failures as a presidential candidate. He has dropped double digits in polls everywhere, has fallen out of second place in every early state — he is in third or worse in New Hampshire and South Carolina, and has fallen to a second-place-tie with Haley in Iowa — and his event on Monday where Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds endorsed him already seems to have been another failure as it has only dragged him down with Reynolds’ unpopularity instead of lifting him up. The race has gotten increasingly personal, too, as DeSantis’s choice of footwear has become a running joke about the Florida governor — he wears boots that seem to have lifts in them while falsely claiming to be 5-foot-11-inches tall — and the Trump team guts him nonstop in deeply nasty ways. Whether his brewing rivalry with Haley — and his long-running one with Ramaswamy — brings these nasty attacks to the debate stage on Wednesday evening remains to be seen, but if he does not move up in polls very, very, very soon, things could get a lot worse than just not winning the GOP nomination for him.

As everything kicks off Wednesday night, follow along here on Breitbart News for live updates, breaking news, and analysis throughout the evening.

UPDATE 8:38 p.m. ET:

Haley fires back in her answer, arguing that Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping “are salivating” at the possibility that Ramaswamy could become president. She then continues to argue for more taxpayer dollars to go to Ukraine.

UPDATE 8:37 p.m. ET:

Ramaswamy outright bashes Ukraine funding, arguing that Ukraine is not a bastion of democracy–and also argues that others on the stage are coming around to his position. He attacks Haley again, arguing that she wants to use U.S. taxpayer money to fund the banning of Christians in Ukraine.

UPDATE 8:35 p.m. ET:

Scott goes all in for more Ukraine funding. He argues that breaking down the Russian military is in the American national interest. He also attacks Biden’s package for Israel and Ukraine aid package, saying tying the two together is wrong. He also argues that the U.S. needs to seal the border, and argues that there are terrorists in the United States now.

Scott equivocates a bit later when asked again by Welker.

UPDATE 8:28 p.m. ET:

Scott says he would deport people in the country who espouse antisemitism if they are here on a student visa. DeSantis echoes Scott in his answer.

UPDATE 8:25 p.m. ET:

Brooks’s second and final question, over Jewish students in the country feeling unsafe over pro-Palestinian protesters, defends Jewish students and calls for leaders at the top of schools across the country to block antisemitism. He fires at DeSantis and Haley, too, for trying to engage in censorship.

UPDATE 8:24 p.m. ET:

Donald Trump Jr., at his father’s rally across town, bashes Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell:

Don Trump Jr mocks Mitch “glitch” McConnell pic.twitter.com/6sEFBsgeKP

— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) November 9, 2023

UPDATE 8:22 p.m. ET:

Haley fires back finally–after getting asked a question from the Republican Jewish Coalition’s Matt Brooks about Iranian-backed proxies attacking U.S. forces in the region–about her heels, noting they are five inch heels and says she wears them not for fashion purposes but for “ammunition.”

UPDATE 8:19 p.m. ET:

The first high heels line of the night came from Ramaswamy at Haley. He called her Dick Cheney in heels:

Vivek calls Haley Dick Cheney in 3 inch heels and moderators move right on??

— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) November 9, 2023

But there are some who think he might DeSantis:

When Vivek called out “Dick Cheney in three inch heels,” was he attacking Nikki Haley or Ron DeSantis?

— Robby Soave (@robbysoave) November 9, 2023

UPDATE 8:17 p.m. ET:

Ramaswamy says he supports Israel smoking out the terrorists on its border, but is wary of the United States getting dragged into another war in the Middle East. He attacks Haley for joining the board of Boeing–and warns against neocons. Haley does not respond.

UPDATE 8:15 p.m. ET:

Both DeSantis and Haley are arguing that Israel needs to eliminate Hamas. “Finish them,” Haley says. She also argues the Iranians are behind forces of evil throughout the Middle East.

UPDATE 8:12 p.m. ET:

Christie is next, and he goes on a rant about Vladimir Putin. Then Scott, and he’s talking about values the nation needs to emulate.

UPDATE 8:09 p.m. ET:

Ramaswamy is next, same question. He says the GOP has become a “party of losers,” and attacks RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and calls for her resignation. Then he attacks the RNC for bringing in NBC anchors to moderate the GOP debate–arguing that it should be Tucker Carlson and Elon Musk moderating instead. Then, Ramaswamy fires a question at Kristen Welker who just smiles and refuses to answer it.

UPDATE 8:06 p.m. ET:

Second question, the same one that went to DeSantis, goes to Haley. She says Trump was the right president in 2016 but not the right president now. She attacks Trump for “being friendly” when it comes to Ukraine.

UPDATE 8:05 p.m. ET:

The first question goes to DeSantis who is asked why Trump should not be the nominee. He attacks Trump for not coming to the debate. DeSantis argued that he is sick of Republicans losing, and argues Trump is the cause for it.

UPDATE 8:04 p.m. ET:

Moderator Lester Holt admonishes candidates to not talk over each other or risk losing future questions. Strong start.

UPDATE 8:02 p.m. ET:

The debate is beginning now with the moderators introducing themselves and the candidates.

UPDATE 7:57 p.m. ET:

Looks like the DeSantis campaign screwed up bad before their candidate even took the stage:

Is @TheStevenCheung now writing press releases for the DeSantis campaign too? https://t.co/uyFaCUZBLC

— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) November 8, 2023

Inbox from DeSantis campaign: “Ron DeSantis will enter the third GOP debate on the heels of a historic endorsement from Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds…”

— Rick Klein (@rickklein) November 8, 2023

By using the word “heels,” the DeSantis campaign is–whether on purpose or accidentally, not that it really matters–playing right into the caricature of the race Trump has portrayed. The Trump team, of course, is all too happy to rub it in:

Team DeSantis has been mind-fucked so bad they’re sabotaging their own candidate. https://t.co/erGa75b5Kd

— Steven Cheung (@TheStevenCheung) November 8, 2023

UPDATE 7:50 p.m. ET:

Donald Trump Jr., the former president’s eldest son, knocked it out of the park at the Hialeah rally tonight. Here’s a clip:

“What was Donald Trump right about? EVERY damn thing.” — Donald Trump Jr. @DonaldJTrumpJr in Hialeah, Florida

Watch Trump’s rally LIVE ➡️ https://t.co/BlshsrWxFr pic.twitter.com/XC7kvhI2CZ

— RSBN 🇺🇸 (@RSBNetwork) November 9, 2023

UPDATE 7:47 p.m. ET:

There’s a massive crowd there for Trump in Hialeah:

We Will Rock You at Trump Hialeah Rally pic.twitter.com/e496j5T7gn

— Jayne Zirkle (@JayneZirkle) November 9, 2023

UPDATE 7:45 p.m. ET:

Democrats in Florida are already out with an attack ad against DeSantis on abortion signaling how they would go after him if he ever did emerge as the GOP nominee, however unlikely that is at this stage:

[embedded content]

It’s worth noting this Democrat attack against DeSantis–which calls him “Hurricane Ron”–opens with what Democrats view as their most serious and potent issue: abortion. DeSantis, as governor, has implemented a six-week abortion ban, something unlikely to appeal to swing state voters in bluer states than Florida.