Appropriately for a debate aired by NBC, Vivek Ramaswamy was the biggest loser of Wednesday night’s third Republican primary gabfest, The Post’s panel of political experts unanimously agreed.

“He was way too hot and way too nasty,” said Republican consultant Rob Ryan of the 38-year-old biotech entrepreneur. “Hurt himself big time.”

“As sanctimonious and tedious as ever,” agreed Democratic consultant Chris Coffey.

The night’s biggest talking point was the moment when Ramaswamy defended himself from criticism by Nikki Haley over his use of TikTok by pointing out that Haley’s adult daughter also dabbled in the alleged Chinese spy app.

That drew an angry response from Haley, who told her rival to “keep my daughter’s name out of your voice,” before dismissing Ramaswamy as “scum.”

Read more.

Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis also renewed attacks on each other over the Florida governor's position on fracking.

Claim: "You banned fracking," Haley said of DeSantis.

Fact: Haley brought this up at the second Republican debate, to which the Florida governor responded that his state had voted for a constitutional amendment to ban offshore drilling.

He later authorized that vote via executive order when he took office.

During his 2018 gubernatorial run, DeSantis' campaign website also included a commitment to "work to ban fracking in the state of Florida."

"With Florida’s geological makeup of limestone and shallow water sources, fracking presents a danger to our state that is not acceptable," the site states. "On day one, Ron DeSantis will advocate to the Florida Legislature to pass legislation that bans fracking in the state."

But DeSantis has never signed any such legislation.

Claim: "We are absolutely going to frack but I disagree with Nikki Haley," DeSantis said. "I don't think it's a good idea to drill in the Florida Everglades, and I know most Floridians agree with me."

Fact: DeSantis has advocated for states to make their own decisions about offshore drilling and fracking, while opposing efforts by the federal government to ban the process

“We have a constitutional amendment that does not allow offshore drilling, and so that’s something that we honor," he said earlier this year when asked about his stance. "That is not saying that I think that should apply to Louisiana or Texas and all that."

"So that will continue, and we want them to be able to do it, and we also want them to be able to use hydraulic fracturing," he added. "It’s been something that’s been very effective and it’s really taken our country to be the world’s leading energy producer. But clearly in states like Florida, because we’re a coastal state, we’ve had oil spills, we’ve put that in the constitution, our voters did, and that’s something as governor that I followed and respected.”

Haley embraced the same model at a town hall in Boiling Springs, S.C., in September.

"I think that states need to be able to make that decision because it affects the quality of life for the people of the states," she said. "For the states that want to do it, I'm all for it. For the states that don't want to do it, the people have the right to make that decision whether they want that off the coast of their state."

In a fight that has played out the press and at previous debates, Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis traded attacks over their stances on China.

"She welcomed them into South Carolina, gave [China] land near a military base, wrote the Chinese ambassador a love letter saying what a great friend they were," DeSantis said.

As governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017, Haley recruited Chinese companies to her state, more than doubling their investments from $308 million to nearly $670 million by the time she left office, according to the Washington Post.

According to the outlet's fact checker, that included the acquisition of 1,500 acres by Chinese government-linked entities — a fact Haley denied at an Oct. 9 town hall in Boone, Iowa.

One of the acquisitions involved a Chinese fiberglass company that set up shop near Columbia, S.C., not far from the US Army base at Fort Jackson.

Haley also did send a letter to then-Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai, calling him a "friend" and celebrating their "strong relationship," according to a copy obtained by Fox News.

She acknowledged having "brought a fiberglass company 10 years ago to South Carolina," before pivoting to attack DeSantis for having a chairperson of his economic development agency declare Florida "the ideal place for Chinese businesses."

"Not only that, you have a company that is a manufacturer of Chinese military planes," she added. "They are expanding to training sites at two of your airports now, one of which is 12 miles away from a naval base."

Select Florida, the state's economic development agency, had previously highlighted a 2020 report on its website that mentioned joint business opportunities between the Sunshine State and China, The Messenger has reported.

The report talked about “positioning Florida as an ideal business destination for Chinese companies," and mentioned China at least 75 times.

But the website was scrubbed last week after an earlier report by the Washington Examiner made note of it.

The Post has also previously reported on DeSantis' decision to allow a US-sanctioned Chinese aircraft company to operate fewer than 15 miles away from Naval Air Warfare Center Navy Base, a move which has drawn questions from some national security experts.

On the issue of Ukraine, Vivek Ramaswamy drew sharp contrast with most of his foes on stage, insisting that the war-torn country "is not a paragon of democracy."

From there, he rattled off a few key grievances with the Eastern European nation.

Claim: "This is a country that has banned 11 opposition parties."

Verdict: True

Shortly after the war broke out, Ukraine banned 11 parties that had ties to Russia. This came from a decree in March 2022.

Claim: "It has consolidated all media into one state TV media arm."

Verdict: True

Ramaswamy is referencing a decree that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed in March 2022.

Claim: "It has threatened not to hold elections this year unless the US forks over more money."

Verdit: Mixed

Recently, Zelensky outlined his concerns about hosting an election in the middle of a war.

"We all understand that now, in wartime, when there are many challenges, it is utterly irresponsible to engage in topics related to an election in such a frivolous manner," Zelensky said in an address Monday.

But Zelensky did not appear to tie move the election to getting more aid from the US.

Prior to the war, the election had been slated for March 2024. Zelensky was first elected in 2019.

Claim: "It has celebrated a Nazi in its ranks — the comedian in cargo pants, a man called Zelensky — doing it in their own ranks."

Verdict: Misleading

Many observers interpreted Ramaswamy's comment as calling Zelensky a Nazi. There is no evidence that Zelensky, who is Ukraine's first Jewish president, identifies as such.

When asked by The Post about his comments, the Ramaswamy campaign cited an article about Yaroslav Hunka, a 98-year-old Ukrainian-Canadian, who purportedly served in the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division, which was under Nazi command during WWII.

Back in September, the Canadian Parliament drew international controversy when members applauded Hunka during a Zelensky speech.

Regardless of what Ramaswamy meant, his wording was clumsy at best, and an inflammatory attack on a Jewish head of state at worst.

Tim Scott, who has played coy about his love life when asked by the press, didn't seem too shy when he pulled a mystery woman on stage to pose for a photo after the debate.

The pair embraced and smiled for the camera briefly before exiting stage right.

Axios reporter Sophia Cai later caught up with the senator and broke the news that he had brought his girlfriend Mindy for the big occasion, saying the two had been dating for "about a year or so."

For the third time in a row, Donald Trump skipped a Republican debate.

Trump has cited his monster lead in the polls as reason to boycott the feted event. In lieu of the debate, the 77-year-old former president held a counter programming rally in Hialeah, Fla.

During that rally, he rolled out a key endorsement from Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

There is at least one more next Republican debate on the docket — one slated for Dec. 6 in Alabama. Trump appears poised to skip that one as well.

Vivek Ramaswamy ended his closing remarks by calling on the Democrat Party to drop their presumptive nominee, President Biden.

"I also want to close with one message to the Democratic Party: End this farce that Joe Biden is going to be your nominee," Ramaswamy said of the 80-year-old commander in chief.

"We know he's not even the president of the United States. He's a puppet for the managerial class," he added. "So have the guts to step up and be honest about who you're actually going to put up, so we can have an honest debate."

"Biden should step aside," he concluded, " so we can see whether its [California Gov. Gavin] Newsom, Michelle Obama, or whoever else. Just tell us the truth so we can have this debate."

The third Republican debate has concluded, with Lester Holt thanking the candidates for their time and for "this spirited debate."

"Really good, deep conversation," he adds. "We appreciate you all being here."

Tim Scott drew some applause when asked in his closing statement to address an issue that didn't get mentioned in the debate.

"There are basic truths that built this country: If you're able bodied in America, you work. If you take out a loan, you pay it back. If you commit a violent crime, you go to jail," he said.

"And if God made you a man, you play sports against men," Scott continued, to cheers from the crowd.

Tim Scott backed a 15-week national ban on abortion before pitching his "parents' plan."

"There are a number of ways that we can say to the expectant mother that we stand with you. We should not only be pro-life before the child is born, we should be pro-life after the child is born just as much," Scott said.

Vivek Ramaswamy decried the referendum outcome in his home state of Ohio and argued that "men deserve more responsibility."

Chris Christie, like Haley, argued that states should take the lead in setting their own abortion regulations.

Nikki Haley applauded the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, but begged both political parties to "stop the judgment" around the issue.

"As much as I'm pro-life, I don't judge anyone for being pro-choice," she said. "But when it comes to the federal law, which is what's being debated here, let's be honest, it's gonna take 60 Senate votes, a majority of the House and a president to sign it."

"We [Republicans] haven't had 60 Senate votes in over 100 years," Haley pointed out. "No Republican president can ban abortions, any more than a Democrat president can ban the state laws."

"So let's find consensus," she went on, suggesting common ground on banning late-term abortions, encouraging adoptions, providing over-the-counter contraception and ending laws that jail or impose the death penalty on women who get abortions.

"Let's focus on how to save as many babies as we can and support as many moms as we can — and stop the judgment," she concluded. "We don't need to divide on this issue anymore."

Ron DeSantis says Republicans " have been caught flat-footed" by state ballot measures about abortion.

The Florida governor touted his statewide experience and encouraged the GOP "to work from the bottom up" in promoting a "culture of life."

"I think of all the stuff that's happened to the pro-life cause, they have been caught flat-footed on these referenda," DeSantis said, referring to Ohio having passed constitutional protections for abortion 24 hours earlier.

"A lot of the people who are voting for the referendum are Republicans who would vote for a Republican candidate," he added.

"The Democrats have taken a position [where] they will not identify the point at which there should be any protection [for life], all the way up until birth. That is wrong, and we cannot stand for that."