DeSantis, Haley Agree: 'Donald Trump Should Be on This Stage'

Despite an relentless exchange of barbs between former President Donald Trump's chief contenders, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, they did manage to agree on one thing: their break from Trump.

Haley, who criticized both DeSantis and Trump for being unable to address the issue of abortion like a woman can, noted Trump should have attended the GOP primary debates, including Wednesday night's in Des Moines, Iowa.

"I think he did some pro-life things when he was president; you'd have to ask him. That's why he should be on the debate stage," Haley told debate co-moderator Jake Tapper. "Don't ask me what the president thinks. You need to ask him for yourself."

DeSantis had a rare moment of agreement with his combatant in the debate that came just five days before Monday's first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses.

"At the end of the day, I agree with her on this: Donald Trump should be on this stage," DeSantis added. "He owes it to you, here in Iowa, to explain this change he has had in his positioning, to explain why he has a tough time saying whether a man can become a woman or not, explain why he wants to build a new FBI building in the heart of the swamp in Washington, D.C.

"He needs to explain why he didn't build the wall, and why he added the $7.8 trillion to the debt."

DeSantis has long contended votes are not given, they are earned, especially in Iowa — where he has completed the "full Grassley," visiting all of Iowa's 99 counties, a campaign mantra created by longtime Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.

"Every candidate needs to earn your vote," DeSantis said. "Nobody's entitled to your vote. And he comes in here every now and then; he does his thing and leaves.

"I've shown up to all 99 counties because it's important. You're a servant of the people. You are not a ruler over the people, and that's the type of president that I will be."

Trump's challengers also broke from their former ally — and in Haley's case, boss — on the issue of Jan. 6 and Democrats' weaponization of the end of his term for a "threat to democracy" battle cry for 2024.

"He says Jan. 6 was a beautiful day; I don't think it was a beautiful day," Haley said of Trump. "I think you look at that. He thinks he could go and bring it — the fact that he wanted to change what the states did, the fact that he wanted to overturn the elections in D.C.

"Those votes happen at the state level. You don't ever allow in D.C. for those votes to be changed at the federal level."

Haley also was adamant "Trump lost" and "Biden won that election."

"And the idea that he has gone and carried this out forever to the point he is going to continue to say these things to scare the American people are wrong," she said. "We have seen a lot of states come together and do more election integrity bills. We need to do more than that. We still have three or four states that I'm worried about that don't have that.

"At the end of the day I will always defend and fight for the Constitution. That's what we should do as Americans. I think what happened on Jan. 6 was a terrible day, and I think President Trump will have to answer for it."

DeSantis noted the Republican Party is risking losing the 2024 general election against President Joe Biden in the event Democrats and their lawfare attempts to damage Trump ultimately overcome long odds.

DeSantis noted, specifically, Trump is going to lose his constitutional call to protect presidential immunity with a Supreme Court precedent delivered in his fight against special counsel Jack Smith's Washington, D.C., contested election indictment.

"There is a larger issue: Donald Trump is going to lose that appeal, going to trial in front of a stacked left-wing D.C. jury of all Democrats," DeSantis said. "What are the odds he is going to get through that? That is not even talking about the validity of the charges.

"I don't think he gets through that, and so what are we going to do as Republicans in terms of who we nominate for president?"

The 2024 election should be a referendum on Biden and not Trump, DeSantis added.

"If Trump is the nominee, it's going to be about Jan. 6, legal issues, criminal trials," DeSantis said. "The Democrats in the media would love to run with that. I am not running for my issues. I am running for your issues.

"We need to make this election a referendum on the failures of Joe Biden, the failures of the Democratic Party and how we have the formula to engineer a great comeback for this country."