Andrew Harnik/AP
As Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis squared off in Wednesday’s Republican presidential debate, one name loomed large—and it wasn’t the man all but certain to defeat them for the nomination. Instead, it was “DeSantis Lies Dot Com.”
The website was mentioned relentlessly as Haley attempted to portray her opponent as—you guessed it—a liar. At first blush, the line seemed innocuous, nothing more than routine evidence that all political candidates are, by law, humiliating. But the alacrity with which the former South Carolina governor sought to promote the site quickly became unnerving. She plugged the site over and over again, until it appeared to possess the power of incantation. Perhaps a better use of her time would have been directing Republican voters this way.
So did people actually flock to DeSantis Lies Dot Com, or did they pass out from all the weird mentions of it? Unclear. But as DeSantis fights to finish second in the fast-approaching Iowa caucuses, it could be Haley’s bizarre insistence that you visit her damn website that gets him there.
