Republican presidential hopefuls make their case to voters but remain far behind Trump

Amna Nawaz:

Five Republican presidential candidates took the stage in Miami last night for the third debate of the primary. Missing from the stage once again was former President Donald Trump.

Political correspondent Lisa Desjardins takes a deeper look at the divides in the party over policies abroad and at home.

Lisa Desjardins:

Perhaps it was the moderators.

Lester Holt, NBC Anchor:

Good evening. everyone. Welcome to the Republican presidential debate.

Lisa Desjardins:

Or perhaps the smaller number of candidates, five, who made the stage.

Lester Holt:

And, to our audience, please, please hold your applause.

Lisa Desjardins:

But, in Miami, Republican presidential candidates cut down the interruptions and raised the substance level, especially on foreign policy.

Gov. Ron Desantis (R-FL):

We will stand with Israel in word and in deed, in public and in private.

Lisa Desjardins:

Candidates echoed support for Israel and calls to wipe out Hamas.

Nikki Haley (R), Presidential Candidate: As I said, finish them. Finish them.

Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), Presidential Candidate: As president of the United States, my foreign policy is simple. You cannot negotiate with evil. You have to destroy it.

Lisa Desjardins:

Early on, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy aimed to cast Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley as out-of-touch warmongers.

Vivek Ramaswamy (R), Presidential Candidate: Do you want a leader from a different generation who's going to put this country first? Or do you want Dick Cheney in three-inch heels, in which case we've got two of them on stage tonight?

Lester Holt:

All right, Mr. Ramaswamy…

Lisa Desjardins:

Haley was ready.

Nikki Haley:

Yes, I'd first like to say they're five-inch heels, and I don't wear them unless you can run in them.

(Cheering and applause)

Lisa Desjardins:

The two quickly moved into a deeper debate over the Ukraine war. Ramaswamy echoed a Russian argument about separatist areas.

Vivek Ramaswamy:

These are Russian-speaking regions that have not even been part of Ukraine since 2014, and other people probably couldn't name those provinces for you. Those are the hard facts. And so, to frame this as some kind of battle between good versus evil, don't buy it.

Lisa Desjardins:

But many who speak Russian in those regions still identify as Ukrainian. Haley fired back.

Nikki Haley:

I am telling you, Putin and President Xi are salivating at the thought that someone like that could become president. We all know that half-a-million people have died because of Putin, and here is a freedom-loving, pro-American country that is fighting for its survival and its democracy.

Lisa Desjardins:

Former Governor Chris Christie added another theme, Iran.

Fmr. Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ), Presidential Candidate: Iran is in the middle of this as well, and so is North Korea, and they are all working to support Russia right now. And the reason they're doing it is because dictators work together. People who believe in democracy work together.

Lisa Desjardins:

South Carolina Senator Tim Scott went further.

Sen. Tim Scott:

If you want to stop the 40-plus attacks on military personnel in the Middle East, you have to strike in Iran.

Lisa Desjardins:

China and Chinese technology also arose, as Ramaswamy attacked Haley for her adult daughter's use of TikTok.

Vivek Ramaswamy:

She made fun of me for actually joining TikTok, while her own daughter was actually using the app for a long time.

So, you might want to take care of your family first before preaching to anybody else.

Nikki Haley:

Leave my daughter out of your voice.

Lisa Desjardins:

There were a host of issues. The border.

Sen. Tim Scott:

We should go to our Southern border and close our Southern border with the resources necessary.

Lisa Desjardins:

Fentanyl and addiction.

Fmr. Gov. Chris Christie:

We're going to call this what it is. It is a disease, like heart disease, diabetes, or any other disease, like cancer, that can be treated, should be treated.

Lisa Desjardins:

And Social Security. While Haley is open to raising retirement ages, Scott and DeSantis were not.

Gov. Ron Desantis:

When life expectancy is declining, I don't see how you could raise it the other direction.

Lisa Desjardins:

Missing from the stage was the front-runner of the field, former President Donald Trump.

Audience:

We want Trump! We want Trump! We want Trump!

Lisa Desjardins:

He held his own show, a rally nearby, where he bragged about the 91 felony charges he faces.

Donald Trump, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: But every time I'm indicted, I consider it a great badge of honor, because I'm being indicted for you. Thanks a lot, everybody. I appreciate it.

(Cheering and applause)

Lisa Desjardins:

At the debate, Christie raised the counts as disqualifying for Trump.

Fmr. Gov. Chris Christie:

Anybody who's going to be spending the next year-and-a-half of their life focusing on keeping themselves out of jail and courtrooms cannot lead this party or this country.

Lisa Desjardins:

Others tiptoed into Trump criticism.

Nikki Haley:

I think he was the right president at the right time. I don't think he's the right president now.

Gov. Ron Desantis:

And Donald Trump's a lot different guy than he was in 2016. He owes it to you to be on this stage and explain why he should get another chance.

Lisa Desjardins:

Woven in, the fight over Republican identity and this week's election losses.

Vivek Ramaswamy:

We have become a party of losers, at the end of the day. There's a cancer to the Republican establishment.

Lisa Desjardins:

The Republican establishment has decisions to make. The best chance any of these candidates has to beat Trump is for the others to drop out, fast.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Lisa Desjardins.