Republican debate updates: Rivals brawl over China, economy, border and Trump

Ramaswamy followed Christie’s skewering of Trump by saying that while he respects Trump’s legacy, the “America first” agenda is not Trump’s alone.

He said it would take a younger generation to take that agenda “to the next level.”

As the debate wound to the end, Perino asked the candidates to vote someone “off the island,” in the style of “Survivor.”

The candidates, in disbelief, wondered if she was serious. DeSantis called it “disrespectful.”

Christie, however, said Trump is the one who needs to go.

DeSantis called out Trump for his recent comments about abortion and said Trump should be on the debate stage to explain himself.

“I reject this idea that pro-lifers are to blame for midterm defeats. I think there’s other reasons for that. The former president, you know, he’s missing in action tonight. He’s had a lot to say about that. He should be here explaining his comments to try to say that pro-life protections are somehow a terrible thing. I want him to look into the eyes and tell people who’ve been fighting this fight for a long time,” DeSantis said.

Trump recently called Florida’s six-week abortion ban a “terrible thing” and criticized the way Republicans have talked about the issue, suggesting it would hurt them in a general election.

—Sarah Fortinsky

Burgum took credit for doing what his GOP rivals have proposed, saying he has already done them in his home state of North Dakota.

“When you say nobody else has done it — the energy plans that have all been announced in the last month by these other folks on stage, we’re already doing it North Dakota,” he said.

“The border plans they are already talking about — we’ve got troops down at the border flying helicopter missions from North Dakota from San Diego to the Gulf Coast, trying to stop transnational criminal organizations from inflicting the invasion and the mass casualties in our state,” he continued.

When asked about how we would downsize the government, Burgum responded that he has already done it in North Dakota.

“We’ve done it in North Dakota. When I took office, we shrunk the state budget general fund by 27 percent in the first four months I was in office, and … all trains still running on time. Why? Because you had a business leader that was actually there inside of every government job,” he added.

—Lauren Sforza

Haley took aim at Scott’s record, claiming Scott has fallen short of accomplishing the policies in the Senate that he vows to complete as president.

“Look, I appreciate him, we’ve known each other a long time, but he’s been there 12 years and he hasn’t done any of that,” Haley said. “They’ve only given four budgets on time in 40 years and he was part of that. He increased the national debt, he voted for the spending.”

Scott interrupted Haley, firing back: “You actually asked for a gas tax increase in South Carolina.”

— Miranda Nazzaro

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley took a swing at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over his record on fracking.

“He always talks about what happens on day one,” Haley quipped. “You better watch out, because what happens on day two is when you’re in trouble.”

“Day two in Florida, you banned fracking; you banned offshore drilling. You did it on federal lands and you took green subsidies that you didn’t have to take,” Haley said to DeSantis.

—Tara Suter

Republican discontent with the Federal Reserve boiled over during Wednesday night’s debate when businessperson and presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy accused it of going “rogue.”

“We have to put the Federal Reserve back in its place. This is an agency that has gone rogue,” he said.

Republicans have blasted regulators at the agency this year for failing to stop the failures of several large banks that then got backstopped with taxpayer money through a special line of credit supported by the U.S. Treasury.

They’ve also fumed about the central bank’s handling of high inflation, saying it put too much money into the economy and started its program of quantitative tightening too late.

Ramaswamy promised to fire current Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.

“In January 2026, when I have the opportunity as the next commander in chief, we will have a new chairman of the Federal Reserve who places priority on dollar stability,” he said.

— Tobias Burns

Ramaswamy caused a slight uproar among his peers on stage when he suggested he would not support Ukraine in the war against Russia. 

“The reality is, just because [Russian President Vladimir Putin] is an evil dictator does not mean that Ukraine is good,” he said.

His comments caused a clash with Haley — as he did in the first GOP debate — who said a “win for Russia is a win for China, but I forgot, you like China.”

He said continuing to support Kyiv would drive Russia closer to China.

“China is the real enemy and we’re driving Russia further into China’s arms. We need a reasonable peace plan to end this,” he said.

Ramaswamy in the last debate made his stance that the U.S. shouldn’t continue to back Ukraine.

— Ellen Mitchell

Vivek Ramaswamy defended his recent decision to join TikTok, arguing that the Republican Party needs to reach younger generations in order to win elections.

“I have a radical idea for the Republican Party. We need to win elections,” Ramaswamy said. “And part of how we win elections is reaching the next generation of young Americans where they are.”

“So while the Democrats are running rampant reaching the next generation 3-to-1, there’s exactly one person in the Republican Party that talks a big game about reaching young people, and that’s me,” he added.

However, Nikki Haley slammed the conservative entrepreneur’s take on TikTok, emphasizing privacy and security concerns about the Chinese-owned social media platform.

“This is infuriating, because TikTok is one of the most dangerous social media apps that we could have,” she said, adding: “I honestly, every time I hear you, I feel a little bit dumber for what you say.”

— Julia Shapero

The first ad Fox Business aired after a fiery discussion amongst the candidates about TikTok and the company’s ties to the Chinese government was for TikTok.

The social media company has come under intense scrutiny in recent months over privacy concerns as it relates to national security despite its widespread popularity, particularly with young people.

— Dominick Mastrangelo

Haley, Trump’s former U.N. ambassador, criticized his China policy while responding to a question about whether she would send troops into Mexico.

She said she would conduct special operations to go after Mexican cartels producing fentanyl but would also confront China over its role in supplying fentanyl precursors.

“This is where President Trump went wrong,” she said. “He focused on trade with China. He didn’t focus on the fact that they were buying up our farmland. He didn’t focus on the fact that they were killing Americans.”

Haley took a jab at Ramaswamy, saying he cannot be trusted due to his involvement with social media platform TikTok.

Haley responded to Ramaswamy’s push to reach younger people through social media, saying, “You’re now wanting kids to go and get on the social media. That’s dangerous for all of us.

“When you are in business with the Chinese that gave Hunter Biden $5 million, we can’t trust you. We can’t trust you,” Haley said.

— Miranda Nazzaro

Moderator Dana Perino threatened to cut off Doug Burgum’s microphone if the North Dakota governor continued to interrupt proceedings. Burgum asked to return to the moderator’s question on artificial intelligence after Perino said they were going to move on.

“I am the only person on the stage that has a career in technology,” Burgum, who is at the end of the stage, argued.

“Sir, we’ll have to cut your mic, and I don’t want to do that. I don’t,” she told Burgum.

— Lauren Sforza

Former Vice President Mike Pence avoided answering a question from moderator Ilia Calderón about what he would do as president to address increasing violence against LGBTQ people.

“I’ll stand up for the safety and the civil liberties of every American from every background,” Pence said, before pivoting to the issue of school choice.

“We’re going to stand up for the rights of parents, and we’re going to pass a federal ban on transgender chemical or surgical surgery anywhere in the country,” he said. “We’ve got to protect our kids from this radical gender ideology agenda.”

—Brooke Migdon

Vivek Ramaswamy responded to a question about parental notification policies by saying being transgender is “a mental health disorder.”

“We have to acknowledge the truth of that for what it is,” he said. “It is not compassionate to affirm a kid’s confusion. That is not compassion. That is cruelty.”

Ramaswamy vowed to ban gender-affirming health care as president.

—Brooke Migdon