A 3D party symbol of the Republican party is placed against the background of the US national flag.

The fifth and final presidential nominee debates of the Republican Party saw two candidates left in the field, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley. Chris Christie, former governor of New Jersey, dropped out as he suspended his presidential campaign before the last round. Donald Trump, who is leading the Republican polls, had not taken part in any of the debates.

The question was: why are DeSantis and Halley fighting it out when they are not sure whether they will get to be nominated because their chances of doing so are so much less if Trump is in the field? The two do not have much of a chance to give a fight to Trump, one on one, and they are pretty aware of it.

The only hope they have is that of the many legal cases that Trump is facing, and one of them is before the Supreme Court, is whether he should be allowed to contest for the president’s office in the first place, he gets eliminated due to legal sanction. The other option is that a triumphant Trump would choose either DeSantis or Halley as his vice-presidential partner.

In the last round of the debate, DeSantis and Haley tried to make clear where they stand on core issues. DeSantis that he was the true conservative, and the Republicans are conservative, and he said that Haley would go with the ‘woke mob’ – the radically liberal political group – implying that she is too soft to be a conservative.

Similarly, he defended his clash with Disney in Florida when he cancelled their licence when the corporation stood up against his stand on teaching about homosexuality in schools. He said that he protected the children and stood up to the corporation and that is what is expected of a leader.

He took a jab against Haley saying that she would succumb to corporate pressure. Haley on her part argued that it is the role of the leader to unite people and not play on differences, and she said that is what she did when dealing with Black Lives Matter protests in South Carolina when she was governor.

Meanwhile, Trump seems to have partly toned down his belligerent statements like he would be a dictator on the first day of his presidency, and that there would be retribution for people who had been trying to get him.

He said in a town hall meeting that there would be no retribution and that there is no question of being a dictator even for a day. But what hangs over the head of Trump like Damocles’ Sword is the bunch of legal cases. The case against business fraud which closed in New York and where Trump made a closing statement in court, which was a political speech, will be a big test. The judgment is reserved.

The first Republican primary in New Hampshire is at the end of January to be followed by primaries in key states like Illinois. But opinion polls among Republican voters show that Trump is far ahead of DeSantis and Haley. The only chance of their getting the Republican nomination is if Trump is legally disqualified.

The moderate Republicans would want Trump to be out of the race but they are aware that they are in a minority among the Republican voters. This is the first time since 1964 when Barry Goldwater, the hardened right-wing conservative, got the presidential nomination to fight against Democrat Lyndon Johnson, that the Republicans face an uncomfortable situation of having to nominate a populist and authoritarian politician like Trump.