Wednesday’s Republican debate may have been the most obnoxious yet. Both Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley dedicated the majority of their time to accusing each other of lying about various issues over the years. Haley even went so far as to make a new website dedicated to calling out DeSantis’ lies, and she won’t stop until we all see it.
Most of the debate Wednesday, hosted by CNN, was made up of petty, childish swipes between Haley and DeSantis. Rather than answer most of the questions asked of them by hosts Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, the candidates insisted on debating which of them is a bigger liar.
Ahead of the debate, Haley’s campaign whipped up the website DeSantisLies.com, and in pretty much every answer she gave, she namedropped the site, telling viewers to go to that URL.
I’m all for calling out DeSantis’ lies but after hearing Nikki Haley say the words “go to DeSantis lies dot com” literally dozens of times, I desperately need my brain to power down for a long restorative hibernation.
What is DeSantisLies.com?
OK, to be fair, as irritating as Haley’s unending repetition of her URL was, it worked. I, along with many others, did go to check out the site.
The site features a range of “documented lies,” from transgender issues to immigration and refugees to Haley’s “conservative record.” The fact-checks alternate between lies Haley says DeSantis has told about his own record (such as “DeSantis falsely claims he never banned fracking and off-shore drilling in Florida) and lies about hers (“DeSantis falsely claims Haley wants to accept Gaza refugees into the United States”).
What both types of lies boil down to is that both candidates are clamoring to declare themselves the most conservative candidate—which really means who is the most bigoted and the worst for America. DeSantis was less environmentally destructive than he claimed! I’m way more dangerous for trans people than he says! These are things Haley really wants us to know.
In the end, both Haley and DeSantis want to convince voters that the other is a liar, but neither was willing to even tepidly call out the biggest liar in the race: Donald Trump. They are still obviously scared to offend him or his fans and they really think they can win this race (and serve the American people) by leaving him alone.
(featured image: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
