As the Republican Party continues the hunt for its 2024 presidential nominee, it increasingly looks like only Nikki Haley or Ron DeSantis stand even an outside chance of ousting Donald Trump.
The former president remains the clear front-runner in nearly all polls, despite the myriad legal problems he faces, any one of which could yet derail his hopes of mounting a return to the White House.
As it stands, he has been crossed off the primary ballot papers in Colorado and Maine after those states ruled that he was ineligible under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, which bars anyone found to have violated their oath of office by engaging in insurrection from standing again.
Mr Trump has vowed to appeal those decisions and it could yet fall to the conservative-majority US Supreme Court to adjudicate on whether such a step is valid and can be applied in the case of a former commander-in-chief, even one whose reign ended in the ignominy of the Capitol riot of 6 January 2021.
But the former president is nothing if not unconventional and so far none of the controversies surrounding him appear to have deterred a majority of American conservatives from supporting him.
They also appear not to mind his blanket refusal to participate in the party’s televised debates with his fellow candidates, accepting his insistence that he has nothing to gain and plenty to lose from allowing his rivals a free shot at his record as simple good sense.
The next GOP debate – for which only Mr Trump, Ms Haley and Mr DeSantis have qualified – takes place at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, at 9pm EST on Wednesday 10 January, hosted by CNN with anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash serving as moderators.
That’s just five days ahead of the Iowa caucuses, offering a final opportunity for the candidates to impress voters before the GOP primary race kicks off in earnest.
However, Mr Trump will again be conspicuous by his absence, preferring to take part in a Fox News town hall of his own at the same time, anchored by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum.
That means the broadcast will essentially amount to a head-to-head clash between the ex-South Carolina governor and UN ambassador and the current Florida governor, presenting both with a clear opportunity to establish themselves as the best alternative to the front-runner and potentially land a knockout blow on the competition.
Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis on the debate stage— (Reuters)
Those missing out – namely entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie and ex-Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson – do so because they failed to meet the minimum requirement of securing at least 10 per cent of the vote in three separate polls, leaving them facing difficult decisions about whether to continue their candidacies without the support necessary to mount a serious challenge.
Mr Ramaswamy, who has already suspended TV advertising in Iowa, was quick to get out ahead of the news of his failure and claim he was rejecting the contest for his own reasons, announcing he would be taking part in his own “live-audience show” instead hosted by online media personality Tim Pool.
You can watch the official debate live on CNN and Mr Trump’s town hall on Fox.
The Independent will otherwise bring you all the latest breaking news lines as they happen and cover the debates in detail in our daily live blog.
