The third Republican debate was just a fiery as the other two. In the wake of this debate, how are you feeling about the candidates?

From The Christian Post. The top contenders for the GOP presidential nomination, excluding former President Donald Trump, faced off Wednesday night as they tried to make their cases to voters in the third Republican presidential debate in Miami, Florida.

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Have you taken your place on the wall?

This NBC News debate featured fewer participants than the previous two, with former Vice President Mike Pence now out of the race and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum failing to meet the requirements to appear on stage. Another candidate, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, could not meet the criteria to appear on stage for the second debate in a row.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., fielded questions from anchors Lester Holt and Kristen Welker, as well as conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt.

Topics of discussion included Israel, Tuesday’s election results, foreign policy, immigration, the economy, government spending and abortion.

Here are five highlights from the third Republican presidential debate.

Vivek slams RNC chair, laments 2023 election results

At the start of the debate, candidates were asked why voters should select them over Trump, who remains the frontrunner in the race with less than two and a half months until the Iowa caucuses kick off the presidential primary season.

Ramaswamy used his opening remarks to declare that he was “upset about what happened last night.” In Tuesday’s elections, Republicans came up short in several key races and ballot initiatives one year after the 2022 midterms failed to produce the results the GOP hoped for two years after President Joe Biden defeated Trump.

“We’ve become a party of losers at the end of the day,” he said. “It is a cancer in the Republican establishment.”

He pointed the finger at RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, who has served in that position since the beginning of Trump’s presidency in 2017.

“Since Ronna McDaniel took over as Chairwoman of the RNC in 2017, we have lost 2018, 2020, 2022,” he said. “No red wave that never came. We got trounced last night in 2023, and I think that we have to have accountability in our party.”

Ramaswamy invited McDaniel to “come on stage tonight” and “look the GOP voters in the eye and tell them you resign,” vowing to yield his time to her if she accepted his invitation. In addition to calling out McDaniel, the head of the organization that commissions the presidential debates, Ramaswamy took a shot at the moderators.

“This should be Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan and Elon Musk,” he said. “We’d have 10 times the viewership, asking questions that GOP primary voters actually care about and bring in more people into our party.”

The candidate suggested that the moderators were too biased to moderate the debate effectively, asking, “Do you think the Democrats would actually hire [Fox News host] Greg Gutfeld to host a Democratic debate?”

“They wouldn’t do it,” he said.

Ramaswamy took a shot at “the corrupt media establishment,” slamming Welker for pushing “the Trump-Russia collusion hoax.” Directing a question at Welker, Ramaswamy asked, “Was that real or was that Hillary Clinton made-up disinformation?”

While the crowd erupted into applause, Ramaswamy declared, “This is how we get our country back.”

“We need accountability because this media rigged the 2016 election. They rigged the 2020 election with the Hunter Biden laptop story, and they’re going to rig this election unless we have accountability,” he stated.

Welker declined to answer the question, and Holt immediately transitioned to Christie.

Tim Scott: ‘America does not work without a faith-filled Judeo-Christian foundation’

Scott insisted that “the loss of faith in this nation” has led to the “deep challenges” currently engulfing the U.S.

The South Carolina senator spoke of the importance of “restoring faith, restoring our Christian values that will help this nation once again become the city on the hill.”

He noted how former President Ronald Reagan’s description of the U.S. as a “city on the hill” originated from Matthew 5.

He also cited former President Abraham Lincoln’s warning that “a house divided against itself cannot stand” as a reference to the Gospel of Mark.

“Our founding documents speak to the importance of the faith foundation,” he added. “You don’t have to be a Christian for America to work for you, but America does not work without a faith-filled Judeo-Christian foundation.”

Scott made his pitch to voters as a leader who can help “restore faith in God, faith in each other and faith in our future.” He contends that “without that focus, none of the issues, the policies matter.”

“We have to get back to being a nation that is, in fact, the city on the hill that believes in each other enough for us to fight for that future,” he concluded.

Candidates vow to treat fentanyl addiction as ‘national emergency’

While candidates were divided over many issues, specifically on foreign policy, they all promised to take decisive action to address the fentanyl crisis currently plaguing the U.S.

Christie insisted that there was a need to “lower demand” for fentanyl, maintaining that “the way to lower demand is to start treating people again.”

“When I’m president of the United States, we’re going to call this what it is. It is a disease,” he remarked. The former New Jersey governor likened fentanyl addiction to “heart disease, diabetes or any other disease like cancer that can be treated, should be treated.”

Haley agreed, calling addiction to fentanyl a mental health issue that amounts to a form of “cancer.”

DeSantis discussed his plan to declare the fentanyl epidemic “a national emergency on day one” of his presidency and designate the cartels peddling the deadly drug into the U.S. as “foreign terrorist organizations.”

As part of the effort to combat the cartels, the Florida governor signaled his intention to “authorize the use of deadly force” by shooting anyone caught sneaking drugs across the southwest border “stone cold dead.”

Ramaswamy shared DeSantis’ commitment to shoot fentanyl smugglers “stone cold dead” while rejecting the use of the term “overdose” to describe what happens to those who lose their lives to fentanyl.

“That is not an overdose. That is poisoning,” he said.

Additionally, Ramaswamy referred to the distribution of fentanyl in the U.S. as a form of “bioterrorism.”

DeSantis tells the story of Florida Supreme Court Justice almost aborted

After Welker brought up the victories for pro-abortion activists in Tuesday’s elections, she asked DeSantis to outline his vision for a “path forward for Republicans on this issue.”

After stressing that he stood for “a culture of life,” the Florida governor asserted, “it’s important that everyone get a shot.”

“I’m reminded of a story about a young mother who was struggling in Jamaica about 40 years ago, 45 years ago,” he said. “She was counseled to not have a baby because she was poor. The baby wouldn’t have opportunity, and she came close to having an abortion.”

DeSantis detailed how “she decided to have the baby, born poor in Jamaica.” He said, “the reason I know that story is because that baby girl ended up emigrating to the state of Florida, becoming a lawyer and a judge. And I appointed her to the Florida Supreme Court in August of 2022.”

Desantis appointed Justice Renatha Francis to the state Supreme Court in August 2022.

“We’re better off when everybody counts. We’re better off when we can promote a culture of life,” he proclaimed.

Ramaswamy calls on Biden to drop out of the race

Ramaswamy used his closing remarks to deliver “a message to the Democrat Party.” He urged his political opposition to “end this farce that Joe Biden is going to be your nominee.”

“We know he’s not even the president of the United States,” he asserted. “He’s a puppet for the managerial class. So have the guts to step up and be honest about who you’re actually going to put up so we can have an honest debate.”

Ramaswamy’s analysis reflects a belief among some conservatives that Biden does not have the mental capacity to serve as president due to his advanced age. The candidate took it a step further by proclaiming, “Biden should step aside, end his candidacy now so we can see whether it’s [California Gov. Gavin] Newsom or Michelle Obama or whoever else” that will be the Democrat presidential nominee.

Ramaswamy takes a shot at Haley’s daughter

While the debate featured less sparring than the previous two televised exchanges between the candidates, the night did have its fair share of fireworks.

When the conversation moved to the threat posed by the Chinese-linked social media platform TikTok, Ramaswamy expressed disappointment that Haley did not answer a question by Hewitt requesting that she “speak to parents out there” about the dangers of the app embraced by many of their children.

“I want to laugh at why Nikki Haley didn’t answer your question, which is about looking at families in the eye,” Ramaswamy told Hewitt. “In the last debate, she made fun of me for actually joining TikTok.”

After saying “her own daughter was actually using the app for a long time,” he encouraged his rival to “take care of your family first before preaching.” This did not sit well with Haley, who instructed Ramaswamy to “leave my daughter out of your voice.”

Ramaswamy bringing up Haley’s daughter elicited boos from the audience. Haley made her displeasure with Ramaswamy perfectly clear.

“You’re just scum,” she said.

Did you watch the debate? What did you think of it?

(Used with permission. By Ryan Foley from The Christian Post. Photo Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)