Five Republican presidential hopefuls clashed on the debate stage Wednesday over Ukraine, China, and the future path of the party, while saving some of their ire for the absent frontrunner, Donald Trump.
While they appeared united in their support of Israel and its war against Hamas, the challengers engaged in a tense third televised debate barely two months before the all-important first votes in the White House nomination battle.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy voiced fury about their party's recent political losses, one day after state election results highlighted voter aversion to restrictions on abortion rights.
Meanwhile the ex-president, leading in every major Republican nomination poll, snubbed the Miami event and instead held a rally just a few miles away, maintaining his strategy of refusing to debate challengers.
The remaining candidates in a thinning field have little prospect for meaningful breakthroughs against the populist leader of the hard-right Make America Great Again movement -- even though Trump faces multiple criminal indictments and will spend much of the next year ahead of the 2024 election in courtrooms.
But DeSantis, currently polling in second, swiftly pointed out Trump's absence and delivered a glancing blow, telling viewers: "He said Republicans were going to get tired of winning. Well, we saw last night. I'm sick of Republicans losing."
Trump "owes it to you to be on this stage and explain why he should get another chance."
- 'Party of losers' -
But it was Ramaswamy who offered a devastating early assessment of the Republican Party's performance in recent years including on Tuesday, when conservative-leaning Ohio voted to enshrine abortion rights in the state's constitution.
"We've become a party of losers," he fumed.
"We have lost 2018, 2020, 2022 -- no red wave that ever came. We got trounced last night, in 2023," he added. "And I think that we have to have accountability in our party."
After an initially brisk start to his campaign, DeSantis is struggling to become the new face of the Republican Party -- casting himself as an equally hard-right but more youthful, and scandal-free, version of the 77-year-old Trump.
He however lags behind Trump by nearly 45 percentage points, according to polling aggregator RealClearPolitics.
Closing in on DeSantis is Nikki Haley, Trump's onetime envoy to the United Nations who has benefited from DeSantis's decline and promotes a more centrist view on abortion.
She appeared eager to take advantage of the depth of discussion on foreign policy -- a first in the Republican debates -- when all five displayed unconditional support for US ally Israel.
Haley declared she would "finish" Hamas and that "the last thing we need to do is to tell Israel what to do."
- 'Dick Cheney in three-inch heels' -
Fireworks erupted between Haley and political novice Ramaswamy, who slammed her for business positions on China and, in a bid to denounce the party establishment, branded Haley "Dick Cheney in three-inch heels," referring to the former Republican former vice president.
Haley retorted: "They're five-inch heels. And I don't wear 'em unless you can run in 'em."
Also on stage were US Senator Tim Scott, who said of Hamas benefactor Iran: "You have to cut off the head of the snake," and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie.
Christie stands out as the only pretender to the Republican crown willing to mount harsh attacks on Trump, as he did following Tuesday's elections, which saw a Trump acolyte lose to the incumbent Democratic governor in conservative-leaning Kentucky.
At his rally in Hialeah, Trump declared the debates "not watchable," and sought to present himself as a commander-in-chief who protected the nation and its allies.
"I kept America safe. I kept Israel safe, I kept Ukraine safe, and I kept the world safe," he told his supporters.
"Israel, Ukraine would have never happened under the Trump administration."
Abortion emerged as a key topic late in the debate after Tuesday's elections, with Haley urging Americans to "find consensus" on the issue.
The Republican primaries kick off January 15 in the Midwestern state of Iowa, where DeSantis recently won the governor's prized endorsement, sparking vocal outrage from Trump.
The eventual nominee will face off against President Joe Biden in next November's presidential election.
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