Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley was, in some surveys, polling higher than any other candidate at Wednesday’s presidential debate.
Given all this attention, Haley was targeted by the other contestants… and even by moderator Megyn Kelly.
Kelly, the host of a popular podcast on SiriusXM, asked Haley about her relationship to big money.
“You left government service in 2018 with just $100,000 in the bank. Five years later, you’re reportedly worth 8 million thanks to lucrative corporate speeches and board memberships like you had with Boeing. Weeks ago you met with Wall Street heavyweights including leaders from JP Morgan Goldman Sachs and BlackRock, several other billionaire investors are reportedly ready to endorse you or recently have all of which comes with expectations,” Kelly began, reading from a text.
“Aren’t you too tight with the banks and the billionaires to win over the GOP’s working-class base which mostly wants to break the system, not elect someone beholden to it?”
Haley denied any donor influence on her platform.
“In reference to donors coming on board, look. We will take support from anybody we can take support from, but I have been a conservative fighter all my life. I was a Tea Party candidate when I became governor. We opposed every single corporate bailout we possibly could,” Haley said.
“When it comes to these corporate people who want to suddenly support us, we’ll take it. But you can — They don’t — I don’t ask them what their policies are. They ask me what my policies are, and I tell them what it is. Sometimes they agree with me. Sometimes they don’t. Some don’t like how tough I am on China.”
Politicians can decline endorsements from controversial donors. Former State Secretary Hillary Clinton declined the Koch brothers’ endorsement in 2016, citing their views on global warming. Former President Donald Trump self-funded his 2016 campaign without any help from donors.
Entrepreneur-turned-author Vivek Ramaswamy wasn’t satisfied with Haley’s answer.
He suggested she was too close to corporate interests as she gets new attention from donors. He touted his own willingness to pick high-profile fights with his critics and went after Haley just moments into the debate, reflecting the rivalry between the two candidates reflected in dueling early-state television ads.
He even brought a prop.
Take a look —
Megyn Kelly: "Aren't you too tight with the banks and the billionaires to win over the GOP's working class base?"
Nikki Haley: "We will take support from anybody. I don't ask them what their policies are, they ask me what my policies are." pic.twitter.com/WQWRbtwIX4
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) December 7, 2023
Prop comic Vivek Ramaswamy. #carrottop pic.twitter.com/ywPrmy1CDp
— Jason Selvig (@jasonselvig) December 7, 2023
Interrupting Haley, DeSantis accused her of allowing Chinese investment in South Carolina when she was governor and suggested her corporate donors would never allow her to be tough on Beijing.
“First of all, he’s mad because those Wall Street donors used to support him and now they support me,” Haley retorted before accusing DeSantis of being soft on Chinese investment in Florida.
Ramaswamy, always the most eager to deliver personal barbs on the debate stage, turned a foreign policy discussion into another attack on Haley, seemingly trolling her to name provinces in Ukraine and suggesting she does not understand the country. As he kept piling on, Christie stepped in to declare Haley “a smart, accomplished woman” and dismiss Ramaswamy as “the most obnoxious blowhard in America.”
The focus on Haley reflected how other candidates perceive her as a threat to their chances of taking on Trump directly. Aside from former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, most the candidates have spent more time in debates going after each other than taking aim at Trump, reflecting the former president’s popularity among Republicans and what many see as diminishing returns in attacking him.
The last scheduled debate before Iowa’s GOP caucuses on Jan. 15 may have limited impact on the race, airing on a lesser-known television network, NewsNation, from a state Republican presidential candidates have carried in every election since 1980.
Trump remains dominant in national and early-state polls. And after holding counterprogramming rallies during the first three debates, he didn’t bother this time and instead went to a closed-door fundraiser.
With Trump absent, the atmosphere around the debate lacked some of the buzz sometimes associated with such affairs, especially in ostensibly open primaries. Less than two hours to go before the opening salvo, the media room, which is normally the practice hall for the University of Alabama’s Million Dollar Band, was barely half full.
The television and radio platforms around the periphery — the spin room, in debate parlance — were noticeably quiet, lacking the high-profile surrogates or campaign staffers who might normally be appearing live on cable news or talk radio to pitch on their candidates’ behalf.
Outside Moody Music Hall on campus, more buzz came from state high school football championship games being played in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
The debate may have been hard to find for many prospective viewers. It aired on NewsNation, a cable network still trying to build its audience after taking over WGN America three years ago. Kelley moderated alongside NewsNation’s Elizabeth Vargas and the Washington Free Beacon’s Eliana Johnson.
Kelly, a former Fox News anchor, moderated her first debate since 2015. At the time, she faced pushback for her pointed questions targeted at Trump
“She gets out and she starts asking me all sorts of ridiculous questions,” Trump said on CNN at the time. “In my opinion, she was off base.”