Republican debate recap: Highlights and analysis from the third GOP face-off

Before tonight’s debate ended, the candidates made their positions known when it comes to women’s ability to make decisions about their own bodies. 

Scott touted a national abortion ban with the lie that women are just aborting babies willy-nilly before birth. (Women are not doing this by the way.) Haley said she will sign whatever she can get 60 votes for in the Senate. To me, that sounds a lot like, “Yes, I will sign a national abortion ban if you have the votes.” Then Ramaswamy was just nuts — calling abortion "murder" and suggesting we need sexual responsibility in the country. 

The facts are important here. The truth matters. The truth is… women are not aborting babies just before birth because they feel like it. That is a painful decision for the roughly 1% of mothers who are forced to make it. Every candidate on the stage tonight including Christie and Desantis made comments that were untrue and unchecked. 

Given last night’s election results, I do not think anyone staked out an answer that gets them beyond the Republican Party primary electorate.

DeSantis took a lot of extremist stances tonight — on abortion, immigration and the Israel-Hamas war, to name a few. But when it came time for him to really drive home his platform, he didn’t really say anything of substance.

In his closing pitch, DeSantis made vague allusions about leading the country forward and pitched himself as a warrior who will take the “hits,” “arrows” and “barbs.” He talked about fighting for you and your family and leading “this country’s revival.” But it was more a statement littered with buzzwords. 

Oh, and he ended with an awkward tongue-smile that will probably be a meme by the morning.

During the first two Republican debates, candidates were given the opportunity to respond to whichever other candidate had mentioned their name. Good in theory, perhaps, but the result was a maddening series of back-and-forth shouting matches where the candidates talked over each other.

At the beginning of tonight’s debate, the moderators explained that one wouldn’t automatically get to respond at the mention of one’s name.  That appeared to make a world of difference.  It seemed to rob the candidates of the incentive to say something instigatory to enter into the back-and-forth loop.

But beyond that, the moderators had the right demeanor and tone throughout and didn’t become a part of the story of the debate. Ramaswamy, who used the rules of the previous debate to provoke and insult, attempted to provoke and insult the moderators in his first response.

They didn’t respond. They simply moved on. And took all the wind in Ramaswamy’s sails with them.

In hindsight, I wish moderator Kristen Welker took the bait on Ramaswamy’s attempt to slam NBC News. Ramaswamy essentially parroted Trump’s claims that the news outlet engaged in election interference with its coverage of the Trump-Russia scandal. And Trump, of course, has suggested this coverage amounted to “Country Threatening Treason.” 

Reflecting on the moment now, it seems that could have been a great opportunity to press Ramaswamy — and get other Republicans on the record — about whether they agree with Trump that media should be investigated, and potentially prosecuted, for coverage Republicans dislike. It’s a valid question for presidential hopefuls who belong to a party that's growing increasingly averse to independent media.

Ramaswamy bashed a referendum Ohio voters passed last night to create a constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights in the state. He condemned the measure for allowing abortion through "birth."

But that's just not true; the amendment prevents restrictions on abortion access before fetal viability (around 22 to 24 weeks of pregnancy).

We don't know for sure whether Ramaswamy is simply ignorant of the facts or if he chose his words intentionally to mislead.

Despite Ramaswamy’s presence, this has been the most serious GOP primary debate we’ve had thus far. It obviously helps having fewer people on stage, but it was also refreshing to not have people talking over each other, with moderators who took control. The race may not have changed in a meaningful way, but voters at least got clearer pitches from the candidates. Here’s to hoping there are even fewer of them on stage next time. 

Across the board, the GOP candidates when confronted with abortion brought up increasing adoptions. But here’s the thing: Adoption is expensive, costing tens of thousands of dollars to do so through an agency or internationally. And, like abortion in this post-Roe world, different states have different rules and regulations on that front.

If these people were really serious, they’d talk about how they would want to bring down those costs. Let’s hear about how they want to pass a bill in Congress to have a uniform adoption process and subsidize those costs for would-be parents. Or let’s hear about how states like DeSantis’ own Florida covers almost all the costs of foster care adoptions and make that more appealing to potential parents, adopting the baby that needs a home, rather than shopping for the baby that looks the way they want.

Christie clearly decided going nuclear on Trump wasn’t exactly working for him in the Republican primary. He was a more sober, and maybe a little bit more boring version of himself onstage, but he also sounded more like a sane person who wasn’t solely doing poll tested, overly prepped lines (with a few exceptions).

Finally — a rational argument about abortion rights. Haley was the only one who took any sort of sympathetic stance on reproductive rights, arguing for a more comprehensive, even humane, approach that includes expanded access to contraception and not punishing people who have abortions. 

“I don’t judge anyone for being pro-choice, and I don’t want them to judge me for being pro-life. Let’s find a consensus. Let’s agree on how we can ban late-term abortions,” Haley said.

“Let’s make sure we encourage adoptions … let’s make sure we make contraception accessible. Let’s make sure that none of these state laws put a woman in jail or give her the death penalty for getting an abortion. Let’s focus on how to save as many babies as we can and support as many moms as we can, and stop the judgment.”