In the end, the debate seemed to be a wash.
Haley played it safe and didn’t build on her potential momentum from Christie’s dropping out today. DeSantis, though, also failed to put Haley away as he’s potentially betting his candidacy on Monday’s outcome.
Haley plugs anti-DeSantis website a dozen times
The final DeSantisLies.com tally from tonight’s debate? Twelve.
Haley mentioned the website throughout the evening, saying it rebuts DeSantis’ attacks on her.
Haley’s anti-DeSantis website pops in Google Trends
Say what you will about Haley’s incessant repetition of her website DeSantisLies.com, but it has succeeded in getting people to look it up.
Google Search Trends shows that the phrase and ones like it make up eight of the top 10 rising searches related to the debate, meaning a lot of people Googling Haley’s and DeSantis’ names are also Googling “DeSantis Lies.”
DeSantis criticizes Trump for response to 2020 protests
DeSantis, asked about Trump’s suggestion that he might try to stop violent crime by deploying American troops to Democratic-led states and cities, criticized the former president’s response to protests in 2020 in the wake of the killing of George Floyd.
“He was president during the worst rioting in the modern history of this country,” DeSantis said of Trump. “He sat in the White House and tweeted ‘law and order,’ but he did nothing to ensure law and order. As your president, I will never let our cities burn.”
On a night when Haley was set up for a big boost, aided by Christie’s departure from the race, she didn’t seem to seize the opportunity to put DeSantis away. They appeared to be relatively on par with each other. That’s not to say she won’t beat him in Iowa or compete with Trump in New Hampshire. But there aren’t a lot of big-spotlight moments, and this was a squandered chance to push DeSantis off the stage. She kicked and missed.
Haley turns to the general election in her closing statement to make a case…
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