GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy was roundly jeered when he whipped out a prop to insult fellow candidate former Ambassador Nikki Haley.
The four remaining candidates who aren’t named Donald Trump — Former Amb. Nikki Haley, Governors Chris Christie (R-NJ) and Ron DeSantis (R-FL), and Vivek Ramaswamy — gathered at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama for the fourth Republican presidential primary debate. Hosted by NewsNation and broadcast on NewsNation and The CW, the debate’s moderators were Elizabeth Vargas, Megyn Kelly, and Eliana Johnson.
Ramaswamy took a hard beating at Christie’s hands, but tried his best to dish out the insults to Haley — a tactic that backfired. In one exchange, Johnson pressed Ramaswamy about some of his harsher attacks on Haley’s background, and Ramaswamy ratcheted up his attacks.
He earned the loudest jeers of the night when he whipped out a notepad on which he had scrawled “NIKKI=CORRUPT”:
ELIANA JOHNSON: When discussing your Hindu faith in September, you seemed to take a shot at Ambassador Haley, who is also Indian-American and who converted to Christianity as an adult. You said an easy thing for me to do, being a politicia,n is to shorten my name, professed to be a Christian, and then run. Make Vivek Vicky or whatever, end quote. Are you questioning Nikki Haley’s Christian convictions? And why is your campaign made a point of referring to Ambassador Haley by her given first name, Nimrata, even though she’s gone by Nikki for her whole life?
VIVEK RAMASWAMY: Well, my whole deal is if Nikki Haley, of all people, should know how to pronounce my name correctly, the rest of the news media can learn it. My deal is I’ll call her Nikki when she can say my own name right. That’s our little fun side bet there.
Here’s what I will say is deeper. I don’t question her faith, but I question her authenticity. And I think that’s deeper here. We were just talking about the trans issue. This is a symptom of a deeper cancer in American life, identity politics, this new religion that says your race, your gender and your sexuality are your identity. It is anti-American. It is meritocratic. It’s anti-meritocratic. And it is dividing this country to a breaking point. And I’ve spoken about this to the left. My books are all about this. I preach this to the left. But it’s even worse when Republicans try to play the same game. We’re talking about that trans issue.
In Nikki Haley’s campaign launch video sounded like a woke Dylan Mulvaney Bud Light ad talking about how she would kick in heels. At the first debate. She said that only a woman can get this job done. That’s what she said. After the third debate. When I criticized Ronna McDaniel after five failed years of leadership of this party and criticized Nikki for her corrupt foreign dealings as a military contractor. She said that I have a woman problem. Nikki. I don’t have a woman problem. You have a corruption problem. And I think that that’s what people need to know.
(holds up pad) Nikki is corrupt. This is a woman who will send your kids to die so she can buy a bigger house.
(jeers and boos) This is the problem. Using identity politics more effectively than Kamala Harris is a form of intellectual fraud and inaction. When you stand, there’s her donor puppet masters wielding their puppet right up here tonight. This is how this game is played. The puppet masters put up their puppet, and I reject the use of identity politics in this party. It has been a cancer coming from the left, and I’m sick and tired of the double standards. The people of this country are too. Having two X chromosomes does not immunize you from criticism.
ELIANA JOHNSON: Thank you, sir. Thank you. Governor Haley, would you like to respond?
NIKKI HALEY: No. It’s not worth my time to respond to him.
VIVEK RAMASWAMY: You have been using identity politics at every step, she knows it.
Watch above via NewsNation.
