Three Candidates, Two Stages, One Alternate Reality on the Economy

It was a split screen debate for the three leading GOP presidential contenders Wednesday, with Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis squaring off on CNN, and Donald Trump taking to Fox News for a counterprogramming town hall.

But across the two stages in Iowa—the state that will host the first 2024 caucuses on Monday—the three rivals had one big thing in common: an account of the U.S. economy that was completely divorced from reality, along with a host of plans that would actually exacerbate the problems they enumerated.

With Iowans, like most voters, naming the economy as their No. 1 issue, the three candidates were all asked about how they’d run things from the White House. And while Trump characteristically glossed over his own record and avoided offering many specifics on what he’d do with a second term, Haley and DeSantis delved into some details on their tax programs, intentions for Social Security, and plans to address inflation.

Read more at The Daily Beast.